RICHARD
I left the hospital, hardly knowing whether I was on my head or heels. The astonished doctor, after telling me that he had run the test three times to be sure of the result, had kept on asking me what I had done, to make the cancer simply disappear, and how I had known to come for a confirmatory test. I simply told him that I had just had a hunch.An elderly woman walking into the hospital looked at me oddly and gave me a wide berth as she hobbled into the building. I then realized that I was grinning from ear to ear. I didn't care though. I could not recall ever being this happy. The sky seemed clearer, the colors brighter. I was so elated that I felt like singing.Chuckling, I went down the stairs. My smile faded a little as I thought of the money in my account. I decided to carry out the system's task to see if it was all true. Buying a house from Royal Homes, the real estate company that sold the best and most exclusive condos, was a surefire way to spend a million dollars. To the office of Royal Homes, I directed my steps. The cab took me there in under twenty minutes. The offices of Royal Homes were tall, imposing, its structure passing across the silent message that only the moneyed class were welcome there. I walked into the enormous lobby. Behind the desk was a young man, immaculately dressed in a navy blue suit who was busily writing on some papers. At the sound of my approach, he raised his head, took me in at one glance and continued writing."Hi there," I said cheerily, coming to a stop in front of the desk."Yes?"I waited for him to finish what he was doing, and then attend to me. When it became obvious that wasn't going to happen, I rapped sharply on the desk."Hello? You're the salesman here, aren't you?""That I am." With a long, drawn out sigh, he laid his pen down, slowly and deliberately placed the paper into a folder before deigning to glance at me again. He looked bored out of his mind. "And you are?""I'm Richard. My name's Richard."I put out a hand to shake him. He shrank back a little, stared at my outstretched hand as though it was a hairy spider. I frowned and thrust my hand deep into my pocket. A little of the excitement I felt at being here drained away at this cold reception."I'm here to buy a house," I grumbled."Buy a house!" The salesman sat up straighter, suddenly looking very alert.I frowned. "Yes. You deal with houses and condos here at Royal homes, don't you?""We do, but we certainly don't have anything for the likes of you.""Be nice, Jake," said a blonde, fussily dressed man who came striding into the lobby from somewhere in the building. "Maybe he actually meant to ask for directions to the closest homeless shelter."Jake, the salesman grinned at me. "You have a point. Maybe I misheard him.""You did not," I said, flushing with anger, glaring at Jake, the salesman and the blonde guy. "What sort of people does this place employ? I told you that I want to buy a house. Aren't you supposed to attend to me and tell me what houses are available for you to sell, instead of disrespecting me?"Jake exchanged a look with his colleague. His face went red as he struggled not to laugh."Well, well would you look at that," the grinning blonde man drawled. "We have here a bum with an attitude." Suddenly, his face tightened into a scowl. He leaned forward and jerked his thumb in the direction of the door. "We don't accommodate homeless people here, so beat it, buster. Good luck on finding the closest homeless shelter."Jake snorted laughter from behind his hand.Unfazed, I gripped the desk and leaned close too, staring the blonde guy down. "I'm here to buy your most expensive condo, you unprofessional jerk. Now will you sell it to me or do I have to ask to see the manager of this place?"Jake and his colleague recoiled as though they had been slapped. Jake sprang to his feet and looked like he was about to release a trail of invectives when from behind me, a familiar voice said, "Good day, gentlemen."I turned to see James walking into the lobby, a proud look on his face. The salesman who refused to attend to me immediately sat upright and offered him a smile."Welcome to Royal Homes, sir," said Jake.Jake gave the blonde a warning look, a silent request for him to clear out, but the man sensed a big sale,so he remained, grinning at their would-be customer."Hello," James said, coming to a stop in front of the desk. "I want to purchase a-'' He paused, glanced over at me and did a double take. His eyes grew as round as saucers. "Richard! What the hell are you doing here? Did you lose your way?"I made a sweeping gesture. "What does it look like I'm doing? I’m here to buy a house.”He stared and burst into laughter. "Shouldn't you be out groveling for a job somewhere instead of wasting your time in a place like this where your kind don't come. I mean, you are someone who cannot even afford three square meals a day. You're no better than a tramp. You would have starved to death long ago if Amelia's family had not been feeding and... clothing you..." His lips curled in distaste as his eyes traveled down my clothes, lingering on my dusty shoes which admittedly had seen better days. "...if you can call what you're wearing clothes."Jake and his colleagues laughed sycophantically. I felt anger rising in me but I slowly calmed myself down.I raised a brow. "Well, James, I’m here to buy their most expensive condo and your opinion of me doesn’t matter.”For a long moment, James stared at me in shock.RICHARDJames turned and stared at the salesmen, and asked, "Did you hear what this twerp just said?""Yes, sir," Jake and his colleague said in unison.James shook his head sadly."Amelia must have hit you too hard on the head. Sad that you don't have a thick skull. That is the only reason I can think of for your delusions or..." He turned to Jake again. "Do you know if cancer damages the brain when it gets to a certain stage?""No, sir. Not that I know of."I smirked, briefly considered telling him that I was completely cancer free. I imagined triumphantly waving the doctor's report stuffed in my back pocket in his face like a flag. The look on his face would be priceless.But I had to attend to the first things first. I glanced at the large clock on the wall, noted the time. In my mind's eye, I saw the timer at the hospital I had woken up in. It had been roughly three hours since my life had taken a completely different turn. I still had about twenty more hours to complete the syste
RICHARD"The payment went through," Jake said half to himself in a tone of disbelief as he looked around the room.Gasps, and murmurs echoed around the room. Grinning from ear to ear, I reflected that I would gladly have given a million dollars more just to continue seeing the look on James's face as he stared at the screen."What?" he shouted. "How is this possible? Is this some kind of sick joke?" He dragged his gaze from the machine to me, and then to the salesman. I smiled, watched him wrestled with himself as he sought for an explanation to what just happened. "The machine. It is faulty. It has to be. Check, confirm if he actually paid that amount in. In fact, I want to check it myself," he ordered.Jake nodded, turned his computer so that it faced James before he refreshed the page for payment. There, right on top of the other deposits made that day, was my name in bold, right next to the amount I had paid- one million dollars. James stared and stared at the screen. Abruptly, he
RICHARDI read the text message again, scarcely believing my eyes. To tell the truth, at the bottom of my heart, I had had some misgivings about 'throwing' a million dollars away just like that on a fancy apartment, but I had tamped that feeling down because at that moment, seeing the look of consternation on the face of the jerk that had been messing around with my wife had swamped every other consideration. One Ultra point meant that I was again one million dollars richer. Boy, was I on a roll! And it just kept betting and better with no end in sight."...sir."I blinked, raised my head as I realized the manager had been talking to me."Pardon? What was that you said?" I said, scarcely able to conceal my face splitting grin."I was saying sir, that I am very sorry for any annoyance Mr James must have cost you. If I had known that he was being so rude to you, I would have come here and intervened earlier. I just wonder why my staff didn't intervene seeing I was not present." Hayes s
RICHARD"And what's with that stupid smile you have on your face!" Amelia snapped when she didn't get the response she had anticipated."Oh that. I discovered that I've begun smiling a lot lately. Maybe it's because I'm happy.""Happy," she sneered and haughtily tossed her long, black hair over her shoulder. "You have no money, no home to come back to, and don't think for a moment that I'm going to take you back after that stunt you pulled the last time you were here. Even if you beg-""Beg?" I infused the right amount of surprise in my voice. "Whatever gave you the impression that I'm here to beg you to take me in?"She looked completely nonplussed at the idea that I hadn't returned to grovel at her feet. The same look was mirrored on the faces of her family members."Well, isn't that why you're here?" she asked.I shook my head slowly. "No. I just came to take my things. That's all."Amelia sucked in a breath. Her mother slowly rose from her chair."That is the best news I have hear
RICHARDI felt like I was walking on clouds as I shut the door firmly behind me. I could hear the hubbub of conversation from those I had left in there. I was glad James had walked in just before I left. Things could not have walked out better if I had scripted the whole thing. I ordered an Uber. Whistling a tune, I passed the security post, nodded in the direction of the lax security guards who had thrown me out a while ago..I only had to wait outside the gates for a few minutes for my Uber to arrive. Just as the driver hurried out of the car to help me with my luggage, the screen appeared before my eyes and a small smile crept to my face.[FOR YOUR NEXT TASK, YOU ARE TO SPEND 2 MILLION DOLLARS WITHIN 24 HOURS]I whistled under my breath."Two million," I murmured."Sorry?" I looked up to see the driver giving me an enquiring look."Nothing. I er- wasn't referring to you." Just then, I received a notification from the bank that my account had been credited with 2 million dollars. I
RICHARDI ignored Samson's taunts and kept moving. From my experience, I knew he wouldn't stop talking until he had exhausted all he had to say, and judging by how angry and worked up he was, he had quite a lot to say. So I tuned him out and pretended that his voice was just background noise. I headed straight for the exclusive shopping section. Just before I got there, a tall, pretty middle aged receptionist hurried from her desk and stood in my path. She shook her head slightly."Excuse me, Mr...""Richard."She gave me a cool, professional smile which faded a little as she glanced over my shoulder at Samson. He was right behind me, within touching distance and I could feel his breath on my ear. I shifted a little to the right."Mr Richard." The receptionist once more focused on me. "I'm afraid this part of the mall is reserved for exclusive customers only. Are you a premium shopper? I don't think I have seen you in this section of the mall before. But if you are a premium shopper,
RICHARD"Give me a minute, sir," the receptionist said.After a few taps on her computer, she nodded in a satisfied manner. Beaming, she handed me my debit card. Shock had made him pale considerably even under his tan."Your payment is successful, Mr Richard," she said."I can see that. Thank you." I leaned casually against the desk and turned to Samson who still had not recovered the power of speech. I brushed an invisible speck off my shirt and regarded him coolly. "What was that you were saying?"His eyes flashed and burned. The veins stood out on his forehead."You- you-" he stammered, paused."Me what? If you have something else to say to me, now is the time because I will soon go in there-" I jerked my thumb in the direction of the exclusive part of the mall. "-to buy stuff, and I don't imagine I will be out for hours. Or perhaps you don't have anything else to say. You seem to have exhausted your supply of words since you had so much to say earlier."I straightened and made it
RichardAs soon as we were out of earshot of the receptionist, Tom spoke up. "Samson's right, you know," he said, his voice low and serious. "No one uses this level of membership card without being a millionaire." I shook my head, trying to brush off the feeling of dread that was growing inside me. "I paid for this membership, Tom. I have the receipt right here." Tom raised an eyebrow. "I hope you have it, because I don't think anyone's going to believe you.“I sighed and rubbed my temples, trying to think. Meanwhile, Samson's words echoed in my mind, refusing to fade away. "But- but you can't let him go in there," he had exclaimed, his voice laced with disbelief. The irony of it all hung heavy in the air, a bitter twist to the situation.Tom led me deeper into the mall, the receptionist's instructions to guide me through my shopping trip still ringing in my ears. As I moved through the crowded corridor of shoppers, I felt eyes on me. It felt like stepping into a battlefield, wi
RICHARD’S POV—THREE YEARS LATER I ran around the living room, chasing our twins in some endless game of tag. They were shrieking with laughter, little feet pounding on the floor, and honestly, it was the best sound in the world. But just as I made a playful grab for them, Amelia walked in with a tray of biscuits and gave me one of her classic mom-glares.“Really, Richard?” she said, exasperated but trying not to smile. “If you keep chasing them like that, they’re going to fall. And then who’s getting up at night with them when they’re crying? Not me, that’s for sure.”I stopped in my tracks and threw my hands up in surrender. “Alright, alright! You win. Kids, you heard your mother. Grab a biscuit and calm down, alright? Before we all get grounded.”The twins scrambled toward the tray, wide-eyed and hungry like they hadn’t just had breakfast an hour ago. Amelia rolled her eyes at me, handing the kids each a biscuit before turning her gaze on me.“No biscuit for you, mister,” she tease
RICHARD’S POVI sat there, tapping my foot against the cold tile, waiting for the doctor to come in. Amelia was beside me, looking exhausted from my dragging her here yet again. But we were here, and I’d finally get some peace of mind.The door opened, and Dr. Geller strolled in, looking... oddly cheerful. He scanned his clipboard before smiling at both of us. “Well,” he said, “I’ve got some news that I think you’re going to like.”Amelia glanced at me, raising an eyebrow. “He didn’t find anything, right? See, I told you, Richard…”“No, no,” Dr. Geller cut in, chuckling. “Nothing bad. Quite the opposite, actually.”I held my breath, narrowing my eyes at him. “Spit it out, Doc. I don’t do suspense.”He grinned, finally setting down the clipboard. “Amelia, congratulations. You’re pregnant. Again.”For a split second, I thought he was joking. But then it hit me like a tidal wave, and I shot to my feet. “Are you serious?!” I practically yelled, and probably looked like a lunatic, but I di
RICHARD’S POV—THREE WEEKS LATER Arriving home with the bouquet in one hand and Amelia’s favorite snacks in the other, I hoped today would lift her spirits, even a little. She hadn’t been herself since...well, since the loss. Three weeks, and yet it felt like everything had been hollowed out.As soon as I opened the door, the tense vibe hit me like a wall. Amelia was sitting there on the couch, pale but trying to keep calm, while her grandmother loomed over her with that steely look. The minute she spotted me, her eyes narrowed like she’d been waiting for this.“Richard,” she spat, voice low and biting, “this is all on you. You should have done better. Protected her, watched out for her—”“Enough,” I cut in, barely keeping my voice steady. I didn’t want a scene, not in front of Amelia. But I couldn’t just let this go. “If you’re going to blame someone, find a mirror.”Her face twisted, anger flaring up, and for a second I thought she’d come closer. “How dare you,” she snapped. “How da
RICHARD’S POVDinner was quiet tonight. Too quiet. Amelia had barely touched her food, just pushing it around on her plate with this distant look in her eyes. I asked her if she was alright, and she’d just given me a tired smile and said she was fine. But something didn’t sit right. Still, I let it go, figuring she’d open up when she was ready.Upstairs, I lay on the bed waiting while she went into the bathroom. She closed the door behind her, and I stretched out, hands behind my head, staring up at the ceiling. The day had been long, and I was looking forward to nothing more than a quiet evening with her, maybe watch some dumb movie and unwind.But then I heard it—a loud voice cutting through the silence, sharp and strained. It was Amelia. A cry, filled with pain.I sat up so fast, my heart instantly in my throat. “Amelia?” I called, already on my feet and moving towards the door. There was no answer, only a muffled groan that sent my pulse skyrocketing.“Amelia, are you okay?” I ask
RICHARD’S POVAmelia stared at me, her arms crossed, her eyes hard. I knew that look. It wasn't good.“He deserves whatever he's getting. Richard. You know that, right?"Her words hit me like a slap. I frowned, trying to keep calm. “Amelia, come on. He's still my brother. I know he messed up, but he's still family.” She shook her head, almost scoffing. "So what? Family doesn't mean you get a free pass to be a complete asshole and try to ruin someone's life.”I sighed, leaning back against the chair. "I'm not saying he should get a free pass. l'm just saying.. maybe he did what he did out of anger, or resentment, or-""Maybe?!" she cut me off, her voice rising. “Richard, he tried to kill you. He tied me up and used me as bait! I don't care if he was angry or resentful, that doesn't give him a damn excuse to behave like a psychopath!”I winced at her words. She wasn't wrong, but still… “Look, I know he crossed the line. A million times over. But people do stupid things when they're des
RICHARD’S POV I froze, my breath catching in my throat as the bang reverberated through the room. For a second, everything was still. Silent. I looked down. Blood. Not mine. William gasped, his eyes wide with shock as he stared at the wound in his side. The gun slipped from his hand, clattering uselessly to the floor. I stumbled back, hands slick with blood, heart pounding so hard it felt like it was about to explode. The sound of the gunshot kept echoing in my ears like a bad dream, but this wasn’t a dream. William—my brother—was bleeding out on the floor. “Shit,” I gasped, rushing toward him. “Will… Goddamn it, stay with me!” His face was pale, eyes half-closed as he struggled to breathe. Blood poured from his side, seeping through my fingers as I pressed down hard. Too hard. It didn’t matter. “You’re gonna be fine. Hear me? You’re gonna be fine. Just hold on.” He coughed, a weak, bitter laugh escaping his lips. “Richard… you always… always screw things up, don’t you?” “Shut
RICHARD’S POV “William," I said out loud. His body stiffened. He turned slowly to face me, his mask still on, but I knew it was him. The way he moved, his voice earlier—it all made sense now. “Take off the mask, man,” I said, my tone calm but laced with anger. “I know it’s you.” For a second, William didn’t move. Then, with a slow, deliberate motion, he pulled the mask off, revealing that familiar face. There was a twisted smirk on his lips, his eyes gleaming with hatred. I hated how much we looked alike—same damn smirk, same sharp features. “Smart as always, aren’t you, Richard?” he spat, lifting a gun and pointing it straight at me. “But not smart enough.” Great, now two guns were aimed at my head. Just another day in paradise. I grinned at him, trying to ignore the sweat dripping down my back. “William, c’mon. I don’t want trouble. I just want Amelia. Give me my wife, and I’ll walk out of here. No drama.” William let out a harsh laugh, shaking his head. “Oh, you’re funny. Rea
RICHARD’S POV We arrived at the building, and it looked dead—no lights, no signs of life, just an old, worn-down structure. My heart pounded in my chest, but I didn’t have time to feel fear. Not when Amelia was in there. Somewhere. The police moved quietly, guns raised, signaling me to stay back. But there was no way in hell I was sitting this one out. As we entered the place, it smelled of damp wood and dust. My stomach churned, my instincts screaming that something was wrong. But then, just as I was about to dismiss the silence as a bad sign, I heard it—a voice. One I recognized. I froze. Was that…? “Goddamn it!” The voice was angry, echoing through the hollow space. “The bastard’s smarter than I thought. Papers! Can you believe this shit?” He was yelling into the phone, furious about something. The guy kept going on and on, cursing me for filling the bag with papers instead of the ransom money. I crouched behind a half-broken wall, trying to get a better listen, my breath sha
RICHARD’S POV Morning came quicker than I wanted. I stood in front of the mirror, staring at my own reflection, trying to calm my nerves. My heart was pounding in my chest, but I had to keep it together. Today was the day. The bag of fake cash sat on the bed, looking too light for the weight of what was at stake. I picked it up, slinging it over my shoulder like I was just going to the gym. If only it were that simple. The police were already outside, setting up, tapping into my phone like we’d planned. I headed out, feeling the cold air hit me as I got into my car. The drive to the location was tense, my hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles turned white. I knew they were following me. Harris was in an unmarked car a few blocks back, probably sipping coffee like this was just another day for him. The location was a grimy parking lot, empty except for a few abandoned cars. The place looked like the kind of spot you’d find in a crime movie, the kind where not