The odds seemed stacked against him from the start… but Francis Kane was determined to come out on top. Born of an unmarried mother, raised by an orphanage in the New York slums, he never knew love, security or family life, and he despised them all.

A natural leader, with no scruples, he worked out his ruthless campaign against the society that forced him into nothingness. Throughout the depression and the hard times that followed, he never lost sight of his goals. Years later, his cherished daydreams come true. But Francis Kane discovers that the pinnacle is lonely when men hold you in contempt instead of awe, and women only want you because you can pay them well.