After connecting to a call hosted on a treasure-appraisal livestream, I find out that the "Fields of Freedom" stamp my grandpa has left me with is worth 10 million dollars.

I've been troubled as to how I should afford my upcoming wedding with my girlfriend, Danielle Dalton. Delighted by the news, I call Danielle to tell her about it.

Unexpectedly, Danielle, who's always such a prude about physical contact to the point that she refuses to let me kiss her, turns up on my doorstep that night. She spends the night draining me of my stamina with her skills and body.

When I wake up once again, both Danielle and my stamp are gone.

I visit Danielle's home to get my stamp back. But her father instantly shoves me out of the door angrily.

"We don't welcome you here! Get lost right now!"

At first, I thought there was a misunderstanding between us, so I still held back on my rudeness. But when I notice how rude Danielle's father is being to me, I decide to go all out on him.

"Sure, I can leave, but you must return the stamp Danielle has stolen from me—"

Before I can finish speaking, someone has dumped a bucket of ice-cold water onto my face. It turns out that the culprit is Danielle's mother.

As she carries the bucket, she scowls at me, her features completely twisted.

"Who the hell did you claim to have stolen your stamp, huh? Don't you dare run your mouth without any proof! I'll definitely sue you, you know!"

Having realized how vile Danielle's parents actually are, I can't help but feel a strong hint of relief.

Thank goodness I had only shown Danielle a fake copy of the stamp last night.

"Is this what Danielle wants?" I asked Danielle's parents, wiping the sweat from my forehead.

Danielle Dalton and I had been dating for three years. However, now that we were at the stage of discussing marriage, the bridal gifts issue was putting me in a tough spot.

Her mother, Gena Meloni, demanded I come up with 100 thousand dollars before she'd agree to our wedding.

I'd subtly mentioned to Danielle that this amount was too much for me, but seeing her tears softened my heart. I didn't want to make things harder for her, so I gritted my teeth and decided to bear it alone.

"Are you deaf or something, Wyatt? From now on, Danielle has nothing to do with you!"

"That's right! Get lost already! Or do I need to grab a stick to drive you out?" Patrick Dalton, Danielle's dad, barked.

The two of them went back and forth, mocking me mercilessly.

Our argument drew the neighbors out into the street. Seeing the crowd, Patrick and Gena looked a bit flustered but continued to press me.

"Scram! Don't think we won't hurt you!"

I sneered coldly. "I'm not leaving until I see Danielle."

At that moment, Danielle herself opened the door and came out.

Seeing her, I rushed forward. My expression was full of concern. "Dani, I know you're being forced to do this. Don't worry. I'll make sure you get a grand wedding—"

"Who says I'm marrying you?" Dani snapped, cutting me off sharply. "Why don't you take a look in the mirror? What part of you is worthy of me, Wyatt Pollock?"

"Since you came here on your own, I'll lay all the cards on the table. The only reason I agreed to date you before was that I couldn't stand your endless pestering.

"Now that I've thought it through, I want to follow my heart. I don't have feelings for you. We're done."

I'd been full of enthusiasm just moments ago, but now her relentless blows left me reeling. I couldn't understand it at all. Why was my girlfriend—who'd been so tender and affectionate with me last night—suddenly hurling such vicious words at me?

And she was the one who pursued me first. Why was I suddenly the one who pestered her endlessly?

"You wanted me to say it to your face, right? Well, now I've made it very clear. Please leave my house."

Her icy voice snapped me out of my thoughts. As I looked at her cold, resolute expression, all my lingering feelings for her dissipated.

Seeing the neighbors watching, my heart sank to rock bottom.

"Okay. I'll go and never bother you again. Just give me back the 'Fields of Freedom' stamp you stole from me—the one worth over 10 million dollars, and I'll leave immediately."

Even though what Danielle stole was only a fake stamp, I wanted everyone to see the true, ugly faces of her entire family.

When the crowd heard there was also the matter of a stolen family heirloom stamp, they all turned to look at the Daltons scornfully.

Seeing their disapproving looks, the Daltons panicked.

However, after a brief moment, Danielle turned to me and admonished me sternly, "Wyatt, how can you be so shameless? That stamp is a family heirloom that my grandfather left us. Why did you say it was yours?"

Then, she turned to the surrounding neighbors and spoke in a choked-up voice.

"Neighbors and friends, please be the judge. We were at the stage of discussing marriage, so I showed him our family heirloom. I never expected him to set his sights on it.

"Now, not only is he here to extort me, but he's even accusing me of stealing it. Why do I have such terrible luck to end up with such a scumbag…"

Catching on, Gena pointed at me and started yelling, "You shameless bastard! Being useless is one thing, but how can you be so despicable, too? How dare you try to extort us for our family heirloom and accuse Danielle? You… You'll die a horrible death!"

Patrick feigned heartbreak as well. "I must've been blind to ever let my daughter get involved with a piece of trash like you!"

Faced with their accusations, I quickly retorted, "Rubbish! That stamp is clearly mine! Danielle stole it from me when I was asleep—"

Before I could finish, however, the neighbors' angry voices drowned me out.

"How can you be so despicable, young man? Not only did you trick their daughter, but you want to extort their family heirloom, too?"

"You say they stole your heirloom, but where's the proof? If you don't have proof, then it's just slander. You could go to jail for that."

"Do you think a stamp worth over ten million dollars would be that easy to steal? I think you failed at extorting them, so now you're just crying wolf! Get lost, or we'll call the cops!"

Seeing that the neighbors were siding with them, Patrick and Gena took the chance to stir things up. They took off their shoes and hurled them at me.

"Scram!"

The neighbors followed suit, grabbing brooms and bottles to throw at me.

When she saw me in such a sorry state, Danielle put on a smug expression. It was as if she were saying, "This is what you get for going against me."

Her arrogance made my blood boil. I snatched a broom that was hurled at me and threw it to the ground.

"You say I have no evidence that you stole the stamp, and that I'm slandering you," I yelled, pointing at Danielle. "Then, what about the 80 thousand dollars you borrowed for me and haven't paid back? The transfer records are right there. You can't deny that, can you?

"Pay up! Now!"

Gena was beside herself with panic when she heard I wanted the money back. "What nonsense are you spouting? Since when have we ever owed you money?"

I pulled out my phone and showed everyone the transfer records.

"Take a close look, everyone. On May 3, Danielle's dad borrowed 20 thousand dollars from me to buy a car. On June 4, her mom borrowed 30 thousand dollars for surgery. On August 9, they borrowed another 30 thousand dollars so they could buy a small apartment.

"Each transaction is clearly recorded. I'm not falsely accusing them of this now, am I?"

When the neighbors saw the records on my phone, their hostility toward me eased considerably, and they began urging the Daltons to back down.

"Since things have already blown up like this, you should pay him back and end things cleanly."

"You're already broken up, so you definitely should pay the young lad back. Even though he was wrong to try to extort the stamp, it's still a separate matter."

"Looking at it now, it's hard to say who's extorting whom with the stamp…"

As Danielle heard the crowd, her expression darkened dramatically. She glared at me viciously and snapped, "It's just 80 thousand dollars. We'll just pay you back."

A surge of joy rose in my heart when I heard Danielle agree to pay back the money.

Even though the 80 thousand dollars wasn't a huge deal to me, forcing this greedy family to cough up what they owed me still felt great.

Danielle pulled out her phone and started tapping away. I glanced over and realized she was taking out online loans. That delighted me even more.

A few minutes later, 80 thousand dollars hit my account.

She shoved the transfer record in my face. "Take a good look. The money's been transferred. Can you get lost now?"

To keep her from noticing anything unusual, I arranged my face into a scowl.

"Danielle, don't think I can't do anything to you. We still have to settle your theft of my family heirloom. It's far from over!"

She sneered and leaned close to whisper in my ear, "I'm about to be a multimillionaire. What could a broke loser like you do to me?"

"We'll just see about that," I said, scoffing coldly. "Let's see who really comes out on top."

With that, I turned and walked away.

The Daltons continued hurling insults after me, but I pretended not to hear them. I had both time and money now. I could play their game all day—and I was curious to see how long they'd last.

After leaving the Daltons, I immediately called my childhood friend Galvin Stabler. He had connections and knew how to get things done, so he was the perfect person to help me both sell the stamp and deal with the Daltons.

We soon met at our usual spot. He was with his younger sister, Lucy Stabler, who had just returned from studying in Jomera. Both were excited to see me.

They were furious when I told them about the stamp.

Galvin couldn't help grumbling, "I told you ages ago that woman was bad news. You wouldn't believe me, and you kept throwing your hard-earned cash at her. Now you see, right?"

"Wy, don't be too sad," Lucy teased as well. "Losing a bad person means the universe is looking out for you. There are plenty of good women out there, and I happen to be one of them. How about it? Will I do?"

"That's right," Galvin chimed in, egging her on. "My sister beats Danielle by miles in both looks and character."

Truth be told, they'd made these jokes before, but since we grew up together, I'd always seen Lucy as a younger sister and never thought of her that way.

The first time I met the Stabler siblings, Galvin was 12 years old, while Lucy was only seven. Back then, their father had gone to prison, and the siblings only had each other. More often than not, they went hungry.

As their new neighbor and classmate, I often stole money from home to help them out.

Later, when their father got out and became a big shot, things skyrocketed for them, and they moved out of our neighborhood.

However, our friendship remained.

After they got rich, they repeatedly offered me financial help, but I'd always refused. I didn't want our precious friendship to be tainted by money.

So when they learned that I'd obtained a stamp worth over 10 million dollars, they were even more excited than I was.

Galvin had barely sat down before he started reaching out to buyers. Eventually, he reached an agreement with a well-known collector and arranged the transaction for two days later.

After settling the stamp matter, he suggested teaching the Daltons a lesson, and I readily agreed.

We knew they had no real channel to quickly fence the stamp for cash, and that they'd be eager and impatient. So, if someone were to offer them funds right now, they'd definitely go on a crazy spending spree.

By the time they found out the stamp was fake, they'd already be speeding down the road to ruin.

Galvin chuckled when he heard my plan.

"Just sit back and enjoy the show, buddy."