of small talk, Lazer made an announcement. "It's time for the official induction." He herded us inside into a media room with another distracting view of the mountains and the sun that was threatening a showy sunset. He escorted Justin and me to a pair of seats in the front of the room and took the podium upfront.
"I would like to welcome all of you here tonight as we induct our newest member, our youngest member ever. The little bastard has taken the title from me. Overachiever!"
The audience laughed. Beside me, Jus smiled good-naturedly.
"I was dubbed the boy billionaire. I'd like to suggest we call the new guy the baby billionaire. If our members get any younger, they'll be in diapers."
I turned to Jus as he grabbed my hand.
"Don't worry. It's supposed to be a roast," he whispered. "It's tradition."
Lazer went on to enumerate Jus' many impressive accomplishments. Most of which I knew nothing about. A lot of the technical talk about Jus' contributions to the world of programming and software development went over my head.
"In all seriousness, he's a protégé of mine and I'm damned proud of him. Otherwise I wouldn't have nominated him for membership," Lazer said. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome our newest member, Justin Green."
The room erupted in applause.
"And welcome our esteemed president to the platform to present Jus his key to the club."
I plastered a proud, beaming wife smile on my face, all too aware of Lazer as he left the podium and took the chair next to me. I took my phone out and looked to Lazer for confirmation that it was okay to record and snap pictures. When he nodded, I pointed my phone at Jus and smiled reassuringly.
The ceremony was quick and perfectly timed to end as the sun set over the mountains in the most brilliant hues of pink and orange, just as it had been threatening to do all evening. I caught it all on my phone.
Lazer leaned into me and whispered, "Just don't post it anywhere." His smile was sweet, but dead serious. "We value our privacy. And it won't last long anyway if you do. Our security team will hunt it down and delete it."
Wow. Just wow.
The club gave Jus a certificate and a trophy, which looked like it was made of gold, like an Oscar. He gave a short acceptance speech, thanking his family, friends, and business partners. Lazer Grayson. And the club for inviting him in. Speaking to the crowd, he was confident and funny. He threw around a few stats about the odds of becoming a billionaire that made the crowd laugh. It was almost as if he was giving a TED Talk about billionaires.
I swelled with pride, proud he was my friend. Happy I'd made the decision to help him out. He truly had a brilliant career in front of him. Dex had been right—Jus was destined for greatness. No horrible identity thief should be able to derail his life and achievements.
As the ceremony ended, a waiter appeared and served everyone a glass of champagne.
When each person had a glass, Lazer made a toast. "As you all may have heard on the news, this is an auspicious time in our baby billionaire's life. The average age for an American man to marry is now twenty-seven. Our Justin jumped the gun and tied the knot at twenty-one. He likes to do everything young—youngest billionaire ever in the club. And now a young bridegroom.
"Now I'd like to raise our glasses, not just to Justin and his impressive accomplishment, but to the newlywed couple. Kayla, we still can't understand what you saw in him, but we wish you both happiness and joy and a long life together." He raised his glass and cheers went up. People clinked glasses with the people next to them.
"And now, business taken care of, let's do what we do best—eat and party!"
Servants appeared and opened the patio doors from the lodge to the terrace. Outside, the stars were beginning to twinkle. There was very little light pollution to interfere with them. When I looked up, the heavens seemed dizzying with their vastness and number of