Chapter 9

On the other side of town, Chris ended the call, steadied his emotions, and decided it was time to tell his mother about the demolition payout.

He walked into Laura's room. She was sitting on the bed, carefully folding clothes, each one pressed into perfect lines and corners.

"Mom."

Chris sat down beside her.

"Hm? What is it, Chris?" Laura answered without looking up.

Drawing a deep breath, he said slowly, "The demolition compensation for Westridge Terrace came through."

Laura blinked, confused. "Oh, the money's here… wait, what? Westridge Terrace was demolished?"

She was stunned. Hadn't her son just bought a place there? And it was already being torn down?

Chris met her eyes and spoke clearly, emphasizing each word: "After paying back every single loan, we still have 537,000 dollars left."

"What?" Laura cupped her ear, certain she had misheard. "Say that again. How much?"

Knowing she needed time to process, he repeated patiently, "Five hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars."

Her eyes went wide as dinner plates. She bolted upright on the bed, the pain in her ankle completely forgotten.

"Chris! Don't you scare me like that! Is this for real? Did you misread the number? Maybe you added an extra zero—or two?" Her voice shook with utter disbelief.

Chris chuckled, pulled out his phone, and opened the banking app to the deposit notification. He handed it to her.

"Mom, see for yourself. Would I lie to you about this?"

She snatched the phone, holding it so close her nose almost touched the screen, counting every digit.

One, two, three, four, five, six…

Tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands… hundreds of thousands!

It really was over half a million dollars.

Her hands trembled so violently she nearly dropped the phone. She looked up at her son, her lips quivering, before she finally found her voice. "Good heavens… is this real? Do we actually have that much money?"

Chris nodded firmly. "Yes. I told you before—our lives are only going to get better from here."

Her excitement lasted only a few seconds before her face clouded over with worry again. She clutched his hand tightly.

"Tell me the truth, son. Did you just stumble into some crazy luck? This is too good to be true! You know what they say—easy come, easy go. A windfall this big… doesn't it scare you that something bad might follow?"

Looking at her anxious face, his heart softened. He understood her fear was born from a lifetime of scarcity. She had lived too long being afraid of losing what little they had.

He decided he couldn't keep pacifying her with superstitious talk about "absorbing misfortune."

Patting her hand reassuringly, he offered a calm, logical explanation. "Mom, think about it. If I hadn't gotten solid, reliable information beforehand, would I have dared to borrow that much money to buy the apartment units? Wouldn't that have been reckless gambling? And have you ever known me to be a gambler?"

Laura froze.

He was right. Her son might have been timid before, but he had never been reckless. Borrowing such a huge sum—enough to crush him for life—wasn't something he would risk on a whim.

Chris continued, "So this isn't about luck. It's about having inside knowledge. It was a sure-win investment. You don't need to worry. From now on, things will only get better. Nothing bad is waiting for us."

At that, the boulder weighing on her chest finally lifted.

"Oh… oh! So that's it! Heavens, you scared me half to death!" She let out a long sigh of relief, and a genuine, radiant smile finally broke across her face.

But soon, she was back to fussing. "Chris, this is over half a million dollars! That's a life-changing amount of money! You have to be smart with it—no reckless spending. Put it in a safe account. Then we can start looking for a nice place in the city, get a reliable car. And after that, you need to find a nice girl and bring me a daughter-in-law!"

Listening to her endless stream of plans, Chris could only smile wryly and wave her off. "I know, I know."

Then his tone shifted, his eyes glinting with a newfound confidence she had never seen in him before.

"Mom, a house and a car are just the beginning. This money isn't for sitting on; it's seed capital. It's meant to be invested. Just wait, this wealth is only going to grow."

Laura stared at him, utterly dazed, as if she were watching someone else.

Was this really her son? The same man who had once lived in the Jennings' house looking defeated, barely able to hold his head up?

She murmured, almost to herself, "It's so strange… When you were married to Katie, our luck just got worse and worse, never a break. But the minute you divorced her, it's like you became a whole new person—and the money just started flowing?"

At that, Chris's lips curved into a mischievous grin. He leaned in close and whispered, with dead seriousness, "Of course. She was clearly a curse on my luck. Weighed my fortune down."

For a moment, Laura was speechless. Then she actually nodded, a look of conviction dawning on her face. "You know… I think you might be onto something there!"

He laughed and stood up. "Alright, Mom. You get some rest. I'm heading out. I've got dinner plans."

Instantly, her maternal radar pinged. Her eyes lit up with curiosity.

"Dinner? With who? Is it a man or a woman?"

"A woman," he said casually.

"A woman?!"

Laura practically shot off the bed. She grabbed his arm, her voice dropping to an excited, hushed whisper. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go take a shower! Put on those nice new clothes! Make yourself presentable! Chris, you have to seize these opportunities!"

Seeing the desperate, hopeful gleam in her eyes, Chris felt a headache coming on. He gently pried her fingers from his arm, exasperated.

"Mom, your imagination is running wild."

Silently, he thought to himself, 'I'm meeting Emma. Emma's my ex-sister-in-law. That's a line one doesn't cross.'

…

Half an hour later, in an elegant restaurant downtown.

Emma had already arrived. She sat happily stabbing at her dessert with a fork.

When she spotted Chris walking in, her eyes lit up. She waved energetically, like an eager little puppy greeting its master.

"Chris! Over here!"