The second blow was heavier than the first, and his losses doubled. After the third blow, due to the sharp drop in the market, even Paul showed a good face. All of a sudden, the assets he pledged were worthless, and all that was left was debt. The ensuing market is as frightening as a high platform diving.

The whole market was implicated. In six months, almost everything Paul had created was wiped out, and the stock that was once worth $200 a share was worth only a few cents.

For Paul's family, the encounter was at least catastrophic. Distraught, he sold his yacht, plane, and luxury car, and promised Caroline that he would buy them back within a year, when the market improved, or even higher. But of course, the market has not improved.

He's not just losing what they have, he's making dazzling losses on the investments he's made. As his high-risk investments fell like dominoes, he began to go into debt. At the end of the year, what was in front of him was a huge debt as when he became rich overnight.

Caroline didn't really understand what was going on, just like she didn't know when he made a windfall in his first company, because he barely explained anything to her.

He was always on the phone, running from one end of the world to the other, and yelling at her when he got home. Overnight, he became like crazy. He panicked to the extreme, and he had a good reason to be like this. Maybe he needed to be alone, Caroline thought, and didn't hit him.

Before Christmas last year. All she knew was that after losing all his money, he was in debt of $300 million, and his stock was mostly worthless. She knew that much, and she didn't know how he would make amends, or how desperate their family's situation was.

Amazingly, even in such a field, he is making multiple investments in the name of anonymous partners, and these companies do not reveal his identity. As a result, people in the business world don't know how bad his situation has become, and he doesn't want anyone to know. Half of the reason he hid it was pride. Half of it was that he didn't want people to be afraid of doing business with him.

He began to feel the smell of defeat all around him, as if he had sprayed the perfume of victory. Fear suddenly filled the air around him, and Caroline was secretly terrified. She wanted to support him emotionally, but she was very afraid of what would happen to them and the children.

When he went to Canada, she urged him to sell his house in Paris, his fancy apartment in Washington. He went there to make a deal with a group of people, and before he left, he told her that if the business was done, he would make up for almost all of their losses.

Before he left, she suggested that he sell his Hawaiian house and move back to their original residence in Richmond, which he said she was ridiculous. He assures her that things will get better soon, don't worry. But the Canadian deal didn't happen.

He stayed there for two days, during which time his financial career suddenly suffered another devastating blow. Three major companies collapsed like thatched houses in a week, and Paul's two biggest investments went down with them. In a word, they went bankrupt.

Late one night he called her from the hotel, his voice hoarse. He negotiated for hours on end, but it was all a bluff. He has no negotiating or making deals

capital too. When she listens to him, he starts crying, and Caroline comforts him by saying that she doesn't care about any of that and that she loves him anyway. But that didn't make him feel better.

For dry Paul, it's a matter of success or failure, getting to the top of the world and falling down, and then having to start all over again.

He had just turned forty a few weeks earlier, and all the success that those blows had meant to him was suddenly in vain. At least in his own eyes. is a complete loser. Nothing she said seemed to help. She told him she didn't care, and it didn't matter. As long as they have each other and have children, she will be happy even if they live in a thatched hut.

He sat on the other end of the phone and sobbed, telling her that he couldn't live this day, that he would become the laughing stock of the whole world, and that the only money he had left to really use was his own personal insurance. She reminded them that they still have a few houses to sell, and the total price is worth tens of millions of dollars.

"Do you know what kind of debt we're facing?" He asked in a hurried voice, of course she didn't understand, for he had never told her. What they're talking about is hundreds of millions. They had to sell everything, and even then they were in debt for the next twenty years. It wasn't even clear to him if he would be able to get out of it. They sink too deep.

"It's over, it's really over." She couldn't see the tears rolling down his cheeks, but she could hear the crying in his voice.

Although she couldn't fully comprehend his crazy investment strategy, borrowing to run assets, and constantly borrowing money to buy more, he lost them all. In fact, he has much more to lose than that. The debt he was carrying was overwhelming.

"No, it's not over." She said firmly: "You can Yibu go bankrupt." I'll get a job. We sell everything. So what? I don't care. As long as we're together, I don't mind even standing on a street corner selling fruit. It was a tender thought and the right attitude, but he was distraught and had the heart to listen to her.

She called him again that night, just to give him some more comfort, and she was worried about him. She didn't like to hear him talk about his life insurance, and he panicked her more than his family's finances.

She knew that men sometimes did stupid things for lost money or business failures. His whole self was wrapped in wealth. When he answered the phone, she could hear him drinking. He probably drank a lot. He slurred his words and kept telling her that he was finished. She was sad and planned to fly to Canada the next day to be by his side as he continued the negotiations, but in the morning, before she could pack up, one of his companions called her.

His voice was hoarse and he stammered. All he knew was that after everyone else had gone to bed, Paul was on deck alone. None of the crew members were on board, so he jumped off the boat alone in the middle of the night. All you know is that he must have fallen into the water sometime before the wee hours of the morning.

After the captain reported the yacht missing. The local coast guard searched for him to no avail, and it was only five days later that he was found on the beach.