how did astor make his money

Dean Smith returned from working in another place, only to hear his wife, Amy Smith, reveal that she had lost the 500,000 dollars after her close friend, Polly Nell, tempted her to gamble. And the money was urgently needed for their daughter's heart surgery. Dean suppressed his overwhelming anger. The cheating tricks he learned in the casino suddenly came flooding back to him. He disguised himself as a rookie gambler and infiltrated the gambling den.With his extraordinary skills and psychological warfare,he set up a trap step by step to make the gambling ringleader and Polly pay a heavy price, determined to reclaim his daughter's chance of survival.

Thomas Powers loses a bet and starts dating Winnie Nelson, a working-class woman, pretending to be a poor young man dying of cancer. Winnie believes him completely. Even while pregnant, she works grueling jobs and even donates her bone marrow to raise money for his “surgery”. Devastated by the deception, Winnie gets into a car accident. Thomas believes Winnie is dead and is consumed by pain and guilt. But Winnie survives and gives birth to their daughter, Bailey Nelson, raising her alone. Five years later, Thomas discovers Bailey’s existence and resolves to make amends for his wrongs.

Hugh sacrificed his chance at the National Medical Research Council to save his wife Quinn, who had late-stage liver cancer. He sold family heirlooms to fund her treatment, but Quinn used the money to buy a car for her first love, James. She became obsessed with their past together, ignoring her son Luke's feelings. Hugh and Luke gave her three chances to change, but she refused. Finally, Hugh joined the National Physician Program and left with Luke. After he departed, Quinn regretted her actions, but it was too late to make amends.

The discomfort in his heart only grew more intense when he saw someone being embraced inside the private room. Finding an excuse, he left the room and forcefully pulled the woman at the end of the corridor into his arms to fiercely kiss her. At this point, the only thing that occupied his mind was how to make her his.

My dad called me right after I got paid. He said my little brother needed money for school, Grandma had medical bills, and there was still the rent, water, and electricity. Then, at the end of the call, he admitted he’d lost money gambling. I sat in the security booth, rubbing my bad leg, completely lost for what to do. A car horn blared, and I quickly raised the security bar. Just one look and you could tell how expensive the car was. It belonged to the boss, who had a thing for amputees. Damn it.

My dad called me right after I got paid. He said my little brother needed money for school, Grandma had medical bills, and there was still the rent, water, and electricity. Then, at the end of the call, he admitted he’d lost money gambling. I sat in the security booth, rubbing my bad leg, completely lost for what to do. A car horn blared, and I quickly raised the security bar. Just one look and you could tell how expensive the car was. It belonged to the boss, who had a thing for amputees. Damn it.

While delivering food, Sara Scott accidentally collided with Toby Luke, the son of the richest man in the city. Desperate to raise money for her boyfriend's research fees,Sara,feeling guilty, sold her electric bike, worth over a thousand dollars, to Toby for five thousand. This led Toby to mistakenly think she was a gold-digger. The two, who had no prior connection, became entangled due to Toby's father's will, which stipulated that he must marry the daughter of his first love to inherit the vast fortune, and that daughter turned out to be Sara. In order to secure the inheritance, Toby schemed to separate Sara from her scum boyfriend and tried to make her fall in love with him. However, in the process of his carefully laid plans, he found himself falling for Sara first.

Edwin Cole has kept himself invisible, living quietly on the margins, drawing no attention. Then word comes that his younger sister has been seized by Tyler Thorne, a brutal criminal lord operating out of a foreign nation. The police need someone inside. He says yes. What follows is a tightrope walk through a den of violence: Edwin earns Tyler's trust inch by inch, deflecting tests and power plays from suspicious lieutenants while building a case from the inside out. His only lifeline is a police informant codenamed Rose, and together they chip away at the organization's foundations by dismantling cells, neutralizing enforcers, and surviving confrontations with genuine killers. He never loses his line. No matter how deep the cover, how high the stakes, how brutal the world he's navigating, the mission stays the same, to tear it all down, get his sister back, and make sure no one else's family ends up where his did.

Clarissa Yowell once saved Julian Slater's life. In return, he promises that if he ever becomes emperor, he'll make her his empress. Now that he has finally ascended the throne,everyone is eager to know who the new empress will be. Clarissa is certain it's her—how could it not be? But in the end, she's the last to find out that the woman Julian chooses is his childhood sweetheart, Sophia Lynch.

Yale Lopez thought Vivian Harris was the one to vote for him when he ran for P.E. rep. and became her devoted lover. Later, he caught Vivian cheating and learned it was Qara Baker who voted for him! Luckily, he had a time travel back to his high school days. How would he make everything right then?

Sierra Lowe, a genius from the future research institute, dies unexpectedly and wakes up 100 years in the past as the fiancée of Commander Ethan Nacht. Her plan is simple: lay low, earn money, and avoid trouble. And when the ninth wife finally rises to power, she’ll happily step aside. But on their wedding day, Commander Ethan hears her inner thoughts loud and clear: “So this is Ethan Nacht, the guy who secretly slept with the ninth wife?”Ethan was baffled: "Father only had eight wives. Where did the ninth come from?"

Seven years ago, Jessica was a wealthy heiress who ruthlessly abandoned Seymour, a poor boy. Later, Jessica's family went bankrupt, and her parents passed away, causing her to lose everything overnight. In her desperation to make money, she resorted to any means necessary. Meanwhile, Seymour transformed into a business magnate. Seymour believed that Jessica was trying to approach him to reconcile, but Jessica only wanted to work hard and earn money. Unbeknownst to them, their genius child was actually a millionaire...

On my eighteenth birthday, the High King summoned the heirs of the four great clans—the Vampires, the Werewolves, the High Serpent Clan, and the Merfolk. He laid their portraits before me and said, "Choose one to be your bondmate." I did not hesitate. I pointed to Damon—the werewolf with no noble bloodline, born in a forgotten corner of the realm. The entire court erupted in disbelief. Everyone knew who I used to love. Alpha Iris—the heir of the most powerful Lycan bloodline. For seven years, I chased him with blind devotion. No matter how harshly he treated me, I never gave up. I confessed to him over and over, sometimes right in the royal court. I even performed a blood-binding ritual—slitting my wrist—to earn the right to marry him. In my previous life, I got what I wanted—I married him and we performed the mate bonding ceremony. With that union, he inherited the High King's resources and rose to become the ruler of all four clans. However, what I did not expect was that after our wedding, he turned around and marked my adoptive sister. My parents were furious and sent her away. From that day on, Iris hated me with a vengeance. He surrounded himself with women who all looked eerily like her. One by one, they came—each more vicious than the last. With his silent approval, they tore me down, piece by piece, until I was nothing more than a joke—no longer the queen I once was. The suffering pushed me into severe depression. Only suppressants keep my wolf form from spiraling out of control. Until one day, my medication was replaced with a slow-acting poison. He was the one who did it. I died alone, locked away in the cold palace, a child still growing inside me. However, fate gave me another chance. In this life, I would not make the same mistake. When the High King once again asked me to choose a partner for the marriage alliance, I chose Damon—the one no one ever noticed—without even blinking.

On my eighteenth birthday, the High King summoned the heirs of the four great clans—the Vampires, the Werewolves, the High Serpent Clan, and the Merfolk. He laid their portraits before me and said, "Choose one to be your bondmate." I did not hesitate. I pointed to Damon—the werewolf with no noble bloodline, born in a forgotten corner of the realm. The entire court erupted in disbelief. Everyone knew who I used to love. Alpha Iris—the heir of the most powerful Lycan bloodline. For seven years, I chased him with blind devotion. No matter how harshly he treated me, I never gave up. I confessed to him over and over, sometimes right in the royal court. I even performed a blood-binding ritual—slitting my wrist—to earn the right to marry him. In my previous life, I got what I wanted—I married him and we performed the mate bonding ceremony. With that union, he inherited the High King's resources and rose to become the ruler of all four clans. However, what I did not expect was that after our wedding, he turned around and marked my adoptive sister. My parents were furious and sent her away. From that day on, Iris hated me with a vengeance. He surrounded himself with women who all looked eerily like her. One by one, they came—each more vicious than the last. With his silent approval, they tore me down, piece by piece, until I was nothing more than a joke—no longer the queen I once was. The suffering pushed me into severe depression. Only suppressants keep my wolf form from spiraling out of control. Until one day, my medication was replaced with a slow-acting poison. He was the one who did it. I died alone, locked away in the cold palace, a child still growing inside me. However, fate gave me another chance. In this life, I would not make the same mistake. When the High King once again asked me to choose a partner for the marriage alliance, I chose Damon—the one no one ever noticed—without even blinking.

Corporate slave Lucienne Farrell transmigrates into a matriarchal world where men are subservient, becoming the vicious Second Princess notorious for abusing her four beast husbands. She wakes to find herself broke, despised by four top-tier males, and constantly sabotaged by her elder sister, First Princess Henrieta Farrell. But after awakening the “Godly System,” Lucienne uses her modern-world savvy to turn everything around. She rescues the gravely injured Commander Cecil Windsor of the Wolfdog Legion, wins his loyalty with ten million in cash, and uses an S-rank Spirit Calming Technique to tame the berserk General Xavier Hampton before a massive crowd, proving to the empire that she’s no longer an F-rank failure, but a future queen who controls everything. This is a game of money, power, and emotion. When the elite men who once despised her begin competing for her favor, how will she choose?

Jamie witnessed the tragic death of her husband Ethan. With grief, she uses her magic to travel back five years and vows to save Ethan's life. To do so, she must make Ethan the heir to the Volckoski family, but things are far more difficult than she imagined.There are many sinister people in the family who want the money, including Ethan's aunt, Gloria Volckoski, who killed Ethan.Jamie and Ethan go through a lot of trouble to fall in love again and hold on to the heirship, but then fate plays tricks on them, and the two lovers face a life and death test again.

Corporate slave Lucienne Farrell transmigrates into a matriarchal world where men are subservient, becoming the vicious Second Princess notorious for abusing her four beast husbands. She wakes to find herself broke, despised by four top-tier males, and constantly sabotaged by her elder sister, First Princess Henrieta Farrell. But after awakening the “Godly System,” Lucienne uses her modern-world savvy to turn everything around. She rescues the gravely injured Commander Cecil Windsor of the Wolfdog Legion, wins his loyalty with ten million in cash, and uses an S-rank Spirit Calming Technique to tame the berserk General Xavier Hampton before a massive crowd, proving to the empire that she’s no longer an F-rank failure, but a future queen who controls everything. This is a game of money, power, and emotion. When the elite men who once despised her begin competing for her favor, how will she choose?

Mandy's son and daughter-in-law, eager to make money from a bride price, pressured and threatened her—a widow for many years—into marrying Seth, a man in a vegetative state due to a car accident. With no way to refuse, Mandy went through with the marriage, feeling scared and reluctant. However, she was surprised to be warmly welcomed and treated kindly by Seth's daughter, Kira. At first, Mandy resisted the idea of staying, but over time, she grew more willing to remain by Seth's side. What she didn't realize was that Seth was slowly regaining awareness, deeply touched by her presence and care...