02

I never really thought there'd come a day when I'd actually win. When I bought the ticket, I'd added ten extra lines, and this time I hit for a total of one hundred and twenty million dollars.

I froze, completely stunned. I pinched myself a few times before I could believe it was really me who'd won.

I knew this was only the beginning, but I couldn't let my brother or my stepmother find out about it yet.

While I was still out, I quietly worked out how to claim the money.

I only went home after I'd calmed myself down.

During that time, my stepmother and my brother called me over and over. I didn't pick up once.

I planned to have it out with her once I got back.

When I got home, they were still waiting for me, just as I'd expected.

Seeing me walk in, Duncan hurried over to coach me. "Ollie, where the hell were you all day? Mom's been going crazy looking for you. When she yells at you in a minute, don't you dare talk back."

Duncan was actually looking out for me, going out of his way to remind me.

I already had my answer ready, and I decided to speak first, before my stepmother could start in on me.

"Mom, I've made up my mind, I'm not going to Los Angeles. But I've already found a job doing graphic design. They provide housing, so I won't be around here getting in your way."

"The pay is a thousand a month. I'll hand over six hundred of it to you."

She'd been all worked up, but the moment she heard that, most of the fire went out of her.

In the end, what my stepmother was after was my money and keeping me out of her sight. Both were covered now, so there was nothing left for her to pick at.

Still, she kept up the huffy act. "Fine, you don't have to go to Los Angeles. But you'll do everything you just said, and you'll sign this agreement too. I promised your brother's wife this before their wedding. If you don't sign, she won't give us a grandchild."

What kind of logic was that? Duncan's wife having a baby depended on me handing over my house.

My father had built this house for me back then, so when the ownership was recorded, he'd put my name on it directly. I never imagined my stepmother and my brother had both been eyeing my house all along.

The matter of me not leaving was settled, but the signing, it seemed, was something they weren't going to let go of.

Only, when I'd taken the chance to look into it that day, I'd learned that a signature alone couldn't transfer the house.

"Mom, I can sign, sure. But signing only means I agree to transfer the house into Duncan's name. To actually make the transfer happen, we'd still have to go to the county records office."

She looked half-convinced. "Is it really that much trouble?"

"Of course. I asked about it specifically."

I turned to look at Letitia Walker, my brother's wife. She had the sunken look of someone whose hopes had just fallen through, and she kept shooting me dirty looks.

"Letitia, if you want to have a baby, just have it. I earn money and give it to Mom, and Mom passes it all on to you anyway, doesn't she?"

Letitia didn't much care for that. She rolled her eyes at me again and went back to her own room.

For me, the whole thing was over for now. But I knew it was only a temporary lull. They weren't going to let it rest.

I decided to go claim the prize the next day. All of this I was doing quietly.

Once I reached the state capital I went straight to the lottery claims center. I didn't take any photo, had the money transferred to a bank card I'd just opened, then rushed back that same night.

Back home, I shut myself in my room and studied the recent property listings. For a few years now, people had been saying big things were coming to the area where our house was. Maybe construction was finally about to start.

While I was still turning it over, the future me sent me another prompt. 【When you buy property, buy in the development at Pemberton. It's already gone on sale. There's going to be a city-run school there, so whether you rent it out or sell it later, you'll come out well ahead.】

03

Following the tip my future self had given me, I went out to Pemberton and took a look at the site in person. Sure enough, the units were already going on sale.

I found the sales office and bought twenty apartments outright, which cost me over ten million dollars. Then I handed all of them over to an agency and had them arrange renovation companies and list the units for rent.

Once that was settled, I stopped by a local gold shop and compared the current gold prices.

Gold was going for less than a hundred dollars a gram. But I noticed a problem: the price at the shop was cheap, yet there was no guarantee of purity.

While I was hesitating, my future self prompted me again, telling me to go straight to a bank and buy the bank's own gold bars.

I went right to the bank and bought a hundred kilograms of gold in one purchase, and I stored all of it there.

That much cash or valuables can only sit easy in a reliable place.

After all that, I still had tens of millions in savings. I figured I couldn't just leave that money sitting in my hands. I needed to find some other way to put it to use.

But before I could settle on what to do with it, it was time for me to head off and start work at the design company.

When I left, my stepmother's face was still sour. I didn't much care how she reacted. Once I got paid next month and handed the money over to her, she'd cheer up on her own.

Ever since I'd learned she wasn't my birth mother, I couldn't quite put a name to what I felt toward her.

My father was usually away, so she ran everything at home. Her whole reason for pushing me to move down to Los Angeles was probably that she'd found out our house was slated for redevelopment, and she wanted the payout to go to my brother.

Right as I was about to leave, I got a phone call from my father. He worked in the coal mine year-round and made it home only a few times a year, and calls from him were rarer still.

I didn't know what he wanted. When the line connected, his voice came through. "Oliver, your mom told me you're not going down south anymore, that you're taking a job at a design company. Does it pay well? You've still got to save up to get married. Your dad's got no real means, all the money ends up in your mom's hands, so getting yourself a wife is going to be on you."

His voice sounded worn out. I'd never seen him at work with my own eyes, but I could picture the conditions and how hard the labor was.

"Dad, don't worry about me. Just take care of yourself. If it really comes to it, come home. I'll support you."

I couldn't tell my father I was rich now, but supporting him was something I truly could manage.

"I'll be coming home soon. Two more years and the mine won't want me anymore, and then it'll be time to go home. So your dad won't be able to earn much more for you."

He said it so sadly that it left me uneasy just hearing it.

"Dad, don't think like that. I'm your son. Raising me was already more than enough. You really don't need to worry about me."

"You know she isn't your birth mother now," my father asked carefully.

I made a small sound of yes. Then he sighed. "It's not that I didn't want to tell you. Your real mom passed when you were one, and the mom you have now raised you. I think she's given a lot for this family too. I just want the four of us to have a plain, happy life."

It was the first time my father had ever said these things to me. In my mind, he'd only ever been the man who broke his back earning money to keep the family fed.

"To be honest, I didn't agree with your mom sending you south this time either. It's just as well you didn't go."

The two of them had been married so many years that it had become the norm for my stepmother to be the one in charge.

Whatever she decided, my father wasn't allowed to object.

I never expected that by not going south, I'd unknowingly fallen right in line with my father's wishes.

At the end, my father told me, "There's one thing I've kept from you all these years. Your mom and your brother's household registration aren't under our home. In other words, legally, the only relatives here are you and me, father and son."

Hearing that, it suddenly clicked why my stepmother was so set on my signing the property transfer. If the house really became my brother's, his registration would naturally fall under our household too.

My father and I had given them our whole hearts, and I'd never imagined the two of them could be scheming this deep.

That call was the longest my father and I had ever talked. What I never expected was that, soon after it, disaster struck him.

04

I'd been working at the design firm for about a week when a call came in from a landline.

I picked up, and a hurried voice came through. "You're Leon Gilbert's son, right?"

"I am..."

"Your father had an accident down in the mine. He's trapped underground with a dozen or so miners. The odds of survival aren't good. He left a farewell letter before he went down. Come to the mine site, quick."

I don't know how I hung up the phone, and I don't know how I got to the mine site. When I arrived, the place was packed with people, wall to wall, the crying and the shouting never letting up.

The families of all those trapped miners must have come. My mother, Summer Fox, was already there too, held up by my brother, Duncan Gilbert. The whole site was in tears. Only the two of them looked like they were searching for something.

The moment Summer saw me, her expression changed, and she came striding toward me with Duncan.

"What letter did your father leave you? They said he left it only to you."

I hadn't even seen anyone from the mine yet. How was I supposed to know what my father had left me?

"I don't know."

"Liar. You two always had it in for me and my boy. Your father can't even write a farewell letter without shutting us out. And you call us family."

Summer flew into a rage. I didn't know how she'd found out about my father. Maybe the mine had notified both of us at once.

I wasn't in the mood to fight with her here. I found the man in charge of the site, told him who I was, and he handed me my father's letter.

"Writing a farewell letter before going down is standard procedure. We just never thought it would actually be needed this time."

Seeing my father's familiar handwriting, my eyes went wet for the first time. Before, maybe because I didn't know how bad it was, I'd stubbornly told myself he'd be fine. But standing there, seeing it all with my own eyes, I felt the helpless pull of a reality I couldn't refuse.

With trembling hands I opened the letter my father left me. 【Oliver, it's my fault. I put you through so much. Let me say this to you now: if something happens to me, the mine will pay compensation. You're the son who shares my blood, and the money will all be yours. Summer and Duncan won't get a cent of it.】

【I've known for a long time what they were plotting against you. I just never found a way to change it. I was away for years, and if I didn't go along with Summer, she'd have made life hard for you at home. It's your father who was useless.】

【If there's a next life, I'd still choose to be your father. That's all. Hold on tight to your own house. As for my old house, if Summer wants it, let her have it.】

Signed, Leon Gilbert. I stared at the letter, tears streaming down my face. I never knew how much his silent love had been carrying all this time.

The families couldn't accept that people who'd been fine were just gone like this.

The people from the mine were all urging the families to sign the consent forms to abandon the rescue.

Some signed. Some flatly refused. Before it was even our turn, Summer snatched a form and was about to sign, and my fogged head snapped clear.

I stepped forward and grabbed the form away. "You don't sign. The golden rescue window hasn't passed yet. There's still a chance he's alive."

Summer glared at me like she wanted to swallow me whole, teeth clenched, nails digging hard into my arm. "What do you know? The sooner you sign, the more compensation you get."

I could see it plainly, that face of hers that only wanted the money. I told her without the slightest hesitation, "I'll transfer the house you're living in over to you. Now leave. I'm going to save my father."

The words stunned Summer for a second. Then she smiled. She had me write the transfer agreement right there, and only then did she stop getting in the way of what I was about to do.

I got someone to contact the most experienced rescue team in the country right away. I felt my father still had a chance.

After three days of searching, the golden rescue window was almost up. The hope in front of me was shrinking by the hour, and everyone was telling me to give up.

I was still wavering when the good news came.