Jon gave a maniacal laugh. He stood up abruptly and read the message again. Surely a joke... and an expensive one at that. He laughed. My surname isn’t ‘Stone'.He looked at the message again, taking care to count how many zeroes were in the figure. “Seven zeroes.” He whistled. “One hundred million dollars, Oh boy!” I had better call the bank. There must be some sort of mistake. He dialled the bank customer care service. As he waited for someone to come online, he whistled a tune he vaguely remembered from his childhood. Even though he was certain no one played that song in the Foster home that he grew up in. Damn, no one played any song in that house. Not unless you wanted an intense ass-whooping. He smiled absently. “Hello. Citibank, Washington D.C” A voice said mechanically, startling out of his little trip into memory lane. “How may I help you?” “So, um... I received a message of a credit alert.” Jon said. “I’m sure it was just a mistake that can be –“ “Hold on, sir.” The

CHAPTER 4IT ALL FELT like a movie or prank of some sort. "Cops?" Jon asked. His heart hammered in his chest as he took a step back uncertainly. The receptionist was already dialling on her land-line, smiling and looking happy to be putting Jon where he belonged. "Yeah. Hello… this is the continental Hotel…" She said into the mouthpiece of the phone. "Why are you calling the cops?" Jon asked. "I have done nothing wrong." He exclaimed. "Oh, you haven't, yeah?" The manager asked, sneering. "Why are you sweating and panicking then?" Jon touched his forehead and it was wet. "Hey, that's not what you thi–""Shut up, you poor bastard." The manager snapped. "... yes. We would need some sergeants here urgently…" The receptionist continued to the phone. "... and yes, they should be heavily armed…" She threw a dirty glance at Jon. "...the culprit looks like who would cause a lot of trouble and resistance… Yes, thank you." Then she dropped the mouthpiece with a satisfied smile plastered

"NOW WHERE THE fuck are you, Nic?" The voice asked again. The lady took a sharp breath in before she said, "I was at a bar… and I took one glass. Just one, I swear." Her voice started sounding uncertain. "... but then I got drunk. Very drunk." "I didn't ask for all of these…" The voice snapped on the phone. "Where the fuck are you?" "Some hotel… I guess." She glanced at Jon who stood near the door. He nodded at her to affirm what she said. "You guess?" The man on the other end gave a dry laugh. "So you're not sure. How did you get there?" "I don't know." The lady shrugged. "I woke up here… on a fluffy bed and pillow." "So maybe you were not so drunk after all." The manager snorted. "Get back home, Nic. Now!" And the dial tone came on. The line went dead. The lady scoffed. "Typical. He hangs up the phone." Jon cleared his throat softly and that caught her attention. She pinned him with her clear grey eyes. "What happened here yesterday?" Jom shook his head. "Nothing. I can as

"WELL, WHAT DID you decide, sir?" The salesgirl assigned to Jon drew his attention away from his thoughts of revenge. "Sorry, yes yes." Jon said, rubbing his temple, "What was it you said, again?""I was saying that the things you picked are limited editions from the designer. Are you sure you want to buy them?""Yes. I am." Jon said, nodding his head. "Okay, sir." The sales girl said. She came out from behind the counter to get the items Jon had picked. On a normal day, with a normal customer and any other salesgirl, it should be another free salesperson – most likely her – that would be sent to fetch the items for the attending salesperson. But she wanted to avoid any other outburst from her colleagues so she went to get the items by herself. She picked up the LV bag and Channel perfume from their respective showcases and walked back behind the counter. Kim and her boyfriend, Rico, looked on with interest as the sales girl dropped the items on the counter and asked, "How do you w

JON SMILED AND shook his head. Chris bent over and placed his hands on his knees and laughed loud and long. Then he stood up straight, still chuckling and said, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He tried to regain his composure as Jon and Amanda looked on. "What's the matter?" Jon asked, a smug smile plastered to his lips. "I mean, we can all clearly see that," Chris said. "That is a big fake." He looked at Amanda who was still caressing the bag gently with her fingers, "It looks pretty like an original to me. It even feels original." "It's a good fake." Chris argued, "You know how much an original designer item costs?" "Yes, Chris." Amanda deadpanned Chris with a killer stare, "I do know how much a Louis Vuitton original cost." "Y-yes y-yes. I didn't, um, m-mean that question to you." Chris stammered, "I was talking about him. How would he afford it?" "I don't know. But I am glad he brought it –" Her hands had touched a piece of paper. "Oh wait, what is this?" She removed the small slip