chapter 4
The court date was set for a week later.
During that week, my mother bombarded me with messages from one strange number after another.
What does a college student need that much money for?
I only have one child. If you give it to me, I’m still just keeping it safe for you.
Be good and hand it over. I’ll withdraw the lawsuit.
You’re still a student. Going to court won’t look good for you.
I didn’t answer a single message.
I read them, deleted them, blocked the numbers, and moved on.
Then I hired one of the best attorneys in the city.
If my mother wanted a fight, she was going to get one.
On the day of the hearing, she looked surprised the moment she saw my lawyer sitting beside me. Then her face twisted with rage.
“Zoe Parker, you ungrateful little monster! You actually spent that much money on a lawyer just to fight your own mother?”
I didn’t bother answering.
With money in my account, why would I waste my breath arguing with her myself?
The moment the hearing began, my mother launched into her performance.
“I want justice,” she cried dramatically. “I raised my daughter all by myself. Now she’s won a huge prize and wants to abandon me. The winning ticket was bought with my money. I have the purchase record. Therefore, I demand that Zoe Parker return the full five million dollars and pay me support as her parent.”
My lawyer adjusted his glasses and spoke calmly.
“First, my client is still a full-time student with no independent source of income. The plaintiff has not yet reached retirement age and has not lost the ability to work, so my client has no current legal obligation to provide support. Second, the plaintiff’s behavior toward my client before the prize was won raises serious concerns. Providing a single book of scratch-off tickets as an entire semester’s living expenses is not normal parental support. It is neglect.”
Then I spoke.
“The ticket that won the five million dollars was not from the book my mother gave me.”
My mother’s eyes widened.
For a long second she just stared at me.
Then her face turned red.
“That’s impossible,” she stammered. “You’re lying. You’re saying that on purpose because you don’t want to give me the money.”
I looked at my lawyer. He nodded and submitted our evidence.
We had the full redemption records from the original book of tickets my mother gave me at the start of the semester.
After reviewing the evidence, the judge looked up.
“We have verified the codes. The defense’s records are authentic. The total cost of the ticket book purchased by the plaintiff was five hundred dollars. The total prize value redeemed from that book was approximately two hundred sixty-five dollars.”
The judge paused, visibly unsettled.
“You intended for the defendant to live an entire semester on roughly two hundred sixty-five dollars?”
My mother panicked.
“She—she’s lucky! Didn’t she win five million? Maybe you’re all mistaken!”
The courtroom shifted restlessly.
My attorney turned to me with something like pity in his eyes.
Then the judge cleared his throat and continued.
“We also verified the redemption records. The five-million-dollar prize did not come from the book of tickets originally given by the plaintiff. And even if it had, the plaintiff previously stated that whatever prize amount the defendant scraped off would belong to her. The court sees no legal basis for reclaiming it.”
My mother still wouldn’t stop.
“She’s never worked a day in her life! It’s not safe for a girl her age to have that much money!”
I cut her off with a calm smile.
“I’m already an adult. And besides, Mom, you said yourself that I’m lucky. Did you forget?”
The ruling was immediate.
I won.
All of my mother’s claims were rejected.
The judge didn’t even require me to pay her back for the original ticket book, because it had been clearly established as the only “living expenses” she provided me that semester.
I thought that after losing so thoroughly, my mother would finally give up on my money.
I was wrong.
She still had lower depths left to sink to.
A few days later, while I was preparing to resubmit my passport application, Professor Bennett called in a rush.
“Zoe, your mother is at the administration office causing another scene. You need to come back right away.”
My heart dropped.
I set everything down and hurried back to campus.
Before I even reached the building, I could already hear her shrill voice from inside.
“You call yourselves one of the top universities in the country? And this is the kind of student you accept? I already told you, Zoe Parker only got in because of luck! It had nothing to do with hard work. She just happened to get test questions she knew! And now she’s rich and heartless. If you won’t deal with her, then what if she goes overseas one day and becomes some kind of traitor?”
I couldn’t take another second.
I shoved the office door open.
“Mom, enough!”
For the first time, she went quiet.
Only for a moment.
Then a smug expression spread across her face, like she finally had me cornered.
“I knew you’d come. I may have lost the case, but blood is blood. A child who earns money should give it to her parents. That’s just common sense. If you don’t, then I’ll sever our mother-daughter relationship. Let’s see who you’ll have to rely on after that.”
I almost laughed.
What exactly had she ever been for me to rely on?
But on the surface, I pretended to hesitate.
After a beat, I asked, “How much do you want?”
Her eyes lit up instantly. She raised one finger.
For a second, I thought maybe her appetite had finally gotten smaller.
Then she said, “You keep ten thousand. Give me the rest.”
Even Professor Bennett, who had been holding himself back until then, couldn’t stay quiet.
“Ma’am, I was already furious when you kept insisting that Zoe’s achievements came from luck. But this is outrageous. She won five million dollars, and you want her to keep only ten thousand? Do you know this student barely ate proper meals all semester? She was starving!”
My mother rolled her eyes at him.
“I gave birth to her. I know her better than anyone. If I let her keep ten thousand, that’s already me being generous. With money like that, she’ll just buy more scratch-offs anyway. Maybe she’ll win again.”
I didn’t even get angry.
I just glanced at Professor Bennett, signaling him not to interfere.
Then I looked back at my mother.
“I only asked how much you wanted. Wanting something doesn’t mean you’re getting it.”
The smile fell off her face.
Realizing she’d been played, she lunged at me, one hand raised, nails out like claws, aiming straight for my face.
But the security guards who had already been waiting at the door rushed in and dragged her away.
I exhaled slowly.
I needed to get my passport finished as fast as possible.
Once I left the country, no matter how crazily she acted, it would no longer be able to touch my life the same way.