Meet Victor Grimble, a character who could easily be mistaken for a modern-day Ebenezer Scrooge. Victor is a thin, balding man with a penchant for penny-pinching that would make even the miserliest misers roll their eyes. His wardrobe consists of frayed suits, each button threatening to pop off from strain, as he refuses to part with a single coin for new clothing. Much like Scrooge, he finds joy not in the warmth of friendships or the spirit of giving but in the piles of cash hidden away in his drawer—a veritable treasure trove of wealth that he protects as if it were the last bottle of water in the desert.
On the outside, Victor is polite, with a congenial smile designed to disarm anyone who approaches him, but underneath the surface lurks a calculating mind that thrives on deception. When it comes to business, he often resorts to dishonest practices, setting his prices sky-high and using clever tricks to outsmart his competitors. Like Pinocchio, whose nose grows longer with each lie he tells, Victor's web of deceit becomes ever more convoluted, leaving him trapped in a maze of his own making. For every ill-gotten deal he secures, a fresh lie sprouted to justify his unethical behavior.
Friends and family have long since learned to avoid discussing finances with him; debating expenses around Victor feels akin to attempting to navigate a shark-infested sea. He has an uncanny ability to find a way to shift the blame onto others while walking away with their money. Much like the infamous Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," he constantly boasts of his wealth, despite rarely spending a dime on anything other than his own comfort.
In his quest for money and his mastery of deception, Victor Grimble mirrors some of the most infamous characters in literature; he is a living embodiment of Scrooge’s miserliness and Pinocchio's treachery, trapped in a world where every coin saved is a lie told and every relationship sacrificed on the altar of greed.