Chapter 4

"Where's the money? Where did the money from just now go?"

The bank teller refreshed the page again and again, and her forehead began beading with sweat.

"The system shows that the 1,000 had indeed been deposited into Dan Hudson's account, but his balance is still showing only 200 dollars…"

At this point, even Uncle Derek and Aunt Emily were beginning to panic.

The teller realized that something was wrong and called her manager over. The manager rushed over and compared figures with the system for a long time.

"The payer's and payee's accounts are both in normal conditions. None of them is frozen or shows any anomalies. I swear on my life and entire career that the amount was definitely deposited into the payee's account!"

I inhaled deeply. "I'm calling the police."

However, before I could call 911, there was a sudden thump from the back. Dad had fainted on the ground, his face as pale as a sheet. I immediately rushed over to hold him up.

"Call the ambulance! Get a doctor!"

The ambulance arrived soon, and the paramedics rushed up to Dad, checking his eyes and feeling for his pulse.

"The patient is in shock. Get him to the hospital immediately!"

…

The emergency light was turned on. I sat on a bench in the hallway, trembling hard.

My phone began ringing incessantly. I turned the screen on, and the first thing I noticed on my socials was that the online search was trending with news of me stealing Dad's money and Dad passing out from the knowledge of it all, just like how it happened in my past life.

My full name, my job, my company, and even my home address were all doxxed and published online. There were hundreds and thousands of malicious comments throwing hate at me.

"Why is he even still alive?"

"How dare he steal his own dad's pension and house and force the dad to go dumpster-diving to survive? He's such an animal!"

"Doxx him! People like him have no place in society!"

My phone rang again. This time, it was from my landlord.

"Get back here at once, Gavin Hudson! Someone just splashed red paint all over the front door! And words like 'incel' and 'rat' have been painted all over the walls!

"Every neighbor has called the police on you, and management has also said that you must move out immediately!

"I don't care what is going on with your family, but you'd better not be dragging me down with you! I'm not renting the place to you anymore. You will move out tonight, or else!"

"But my dad's still at the hospital—"

"That's your own fucking problem, not mine! If you don't move out tonight, I'm getting someone to throw out all your stuff into the streets!"

The phone then went dead.

Just then, the emergency room light went off, and the doctor walked out with a grave face.

"The patient's condition is worsening. He's severely malnourished, and most of his organs are failing. He must undergo an operation at once, or he won't even make it through the night."

"What operation?"

"He needs a heart bypass, and his damaged organs must also be repaired. It will be 500,000 dollars."

500,000 dollars?

My mind went blank.

I opened my banking app, and I only had a balance of 200,000 dollars. This was all the savings I had. However, I was still short by 300,000 dollars.

"Go and make the payment before we proceed with the surgery," the doctor said, turning to leave.

I grabbed the doctor by the sleeves and begged, "Doctor, can you please perform the operation on my dad first? I promise that I will make the payment after I've managed to raise the money for it! I'll sign a guarantee!"

The doctor shook his head.

"No. Hospital policy states that we cannot schedule an operating room unless the fees have been paid in full."

"Please…"

I was about to fall to my knees to beg.

The doctor just sighed and said in a low voice, "All I can do is postpone the surgery for a while for you. But only for two hours at most. If you still aren't able to raise the money in two hours, then there's really nothing that I can do."

Two hours to raise 300,000 dollars?

I gritted my teeth and made a call to my boss.

"Sir, can you please give me a year's advance on my salary?"

There was a few seconds of silence on the phone.

Then, my boss replied, "You've read the things online, haven't you, Gavin?"

"It's all just a misunderstanding—"

"I don't care whether it was a misunderstanding or not. The company's reputation has been in shambles ever since the news broke out, and the PR team said that it's affecting our sales too much.

"So, the management has decided to terminate you."

"Please, sir, I promise that I will resolve this issue properly."