Chapter 1 The Call to Multi-Millions (1)
Ayes City
A young adult in the red-yellow, sweaty overworn Walmart uniform pushed a long line of stacked, unneeded carts toward the main entrance of the market.
He looked good and decent under the buzz cut hairstyle. Yet the sweat-stained patches of his old uniform, mixed with the stench of undried underwear clinging underneath, did a fine job of hiding whatever beauty the man possessed, turning him in the eyes of others into something closer to a beast.
Not a single customer passed him without holding their nose and sighing in disdain. “Walmart really has lowered their standards in employing workers, haven’t they?”
But Roy West was long accustomed to such looks.
With a rather carefree expression fixed on his face, he pushed on, stacking the carts neatly together in one piece.
RING!!!
An outdated Android phone buzzed to life in Roy’s pocket.
He stopped pushing the carts and quickly fished it out, wiping his damp palm against his trousers before answering. “Hello. Good evening.”
“Good evening. Am I speaking to young master Roy West?”
The voice on the other end was steady and professional, the kind that carried years of authority. It sounded like it belonged to a man in his late forties or early fifties.
“Young master? I-I am Roy West,” Roy corrected, frowning. “Just Roy West.”
“We’ve finally found you, young master!” the man said, a note of excitement slipping through.
Roy’s pupils dilated. He held his breath as the man continued.
“Young master, there are rights and inheritances belonging to your family that you must assume. Wealth that is rightfully yours. Do you wish to know more right now?”
Roy’s eyes dimmed.
He wasn’t merely confused or shocked anymore, he was cautious. “Inheritance and wealth from my family you say?”
“Yes.”
Roy let out a helpless, quiet laugh. “Sir, aren’t you a little too old for this?”
“…”
“My family has no such wealth or big inheritance waiting to be claimed. They are just average citizens with good income,” Roy said flatly. “And Roy West is the wrong guy to scam. They already have a real son, Byron Paul. I’m just an adopted to the Pauls.”
“But young master—”
Roy didn’t wait to hear how the man planned to patch up the fat lie. He ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket.
“Scammers these days are incredibly hardworking but they have such terrible bad luck. What could a guy like me, with barely twenty bucks left in my account possibly offer them? Tsk, Inheritance, my foot!”
He walked toward the spot where he had left his bag. Just as he was about to reach into the bag, the phone rang again.
He quickly rejected the call. Today, he refused to let any scam scheme ruin his mood.
Roy pulled out a blue gift box from the bag as his eyes shone brighter than before. A sweet smile slowly spread across his face as he noticed the small note pinned neatly to the lid.
‘Dear Valerie,
Your boyfriend, through Dior, wishes you a Happy Valentine’s Day.’
Today was the 14th of February, 2xxx. And even though Valerie, his girlfriend, had told him to focus on work, not to bother calling to check on her, not to do anything special, and not to worry about her at all, Roy still wanted to surprise the thoughtful lady he loved. Hence, the gift box.
Inside it lay a Dior handbag in her favorite color, pink. It was the exact one she had mentioned last Valentine’s Day, back when the best he could afford was a pair of sneakers as her gift.
The bag cost $20,150.
That was an amount far beyond what he could afford on half his annual salary. But that was also why he had saved 80% of every paycheck since last Valentine’s Day.
He had also taken extra shifts for months…. all for this single moment.
Roy blushed as he imagined Valerie’s reaction to this gift he worked a year off his ass for.
Carefully, he packed up his things and set off toward her dormitory.
Roy arrived at the dormitory and paused before the door. He drew in a deep breath, steadying himself, then pushed it open.
His smile quickly vanished in nanoseconds.
On the living room couch, Valerie and his stepbrother, Byron Paul were tangled together in an intimate position. For a brief second, Roy’s mind refused to process what his eyes were seeing.
The room reeked of after sex and their bodies were barely covered. The open areas were sweaty. Roy quickly understood what was going on—this wasn’t rocket science.
The blue gift box slipped from his fingers and crashed to the floor.
Valerie whipped her head around hearing the sharp sound, shock flashing across her face. “Roy?” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be working the night shift at Walmart?”
Roy stared at her, his voice bitter when it finally came. “I sacrificed $15 out of my salary to take the night off.”
He laughed, but there was no humor in it. How shameful it was to say such a thing out loud and yet… “I spent a year’s worth of savings on this bag for you. I’ve been helping with your school needs this whole time. Is this… how you repay me?”
The shock on Valerie’s face hardened into embarrassment, and then into anger. He dared speak like she begged him to do these things for her.
“You entered my home without permission,” she snapped. “You violated my privacy. What kind of repayment are you expecting?”
Roy looked at her as though she had spoken in a foreign language. “You’re cheating on me with my brother and you’re talking about privacy?”
She laughed, cold and dismissive. “You’re both from the same family anyway. Sleeping with one or the other, what difference does it make? How is that even cheating?”
Before Roy could respond, Byron Paul straightened, eyes full of contempt. “Why are you overreacting, brother?” he said. “So what if I took your girl?”
Roy’s jaw tightened.
“You were adopted into our family,” Byron continued casually. “Everything that belongs to you should’ve been mine in the first place. I’m the real young master and you, an orphan.”
“I’m not an orphan,” Roy shot back, his voice sharp.
Byron scoffed. “So where are your parents then?”
