chapter 6
On the first month’s agreed payment date, she called me first thing in the morning back home.
“Zoe, it’s time to send my living expenses, isn’t it? I haven’t even given you my bank information yet.”
Because of the time difference, it was already late at night where I was. Half asleep, I yawned and said lazily, “I didn’t forget. I already left it in the mailbox outside your house. The one where the newspaper goes.”
She muttered something and hung up.
I didn’t wait around for her reaction. I turned my phone off and went back to sleep.
When I turned it on the next day, it vibrated nonstop for almost ten minutes. Missed calls. Angry texts.
Zoe Parker, where’s the money?
What do you mean there’s a book of scratch-off tickets in the mailbox?
I knew it. You’re getting revenge on me, aren’t you?
Don’t ever come back if that’s how you’re going to be!
When you do come back, I’ll beat you to death, you ungrateful girl!
Zoe, how about this—just give me the money you spent buying the scratch-offs instead?
I deleted everything with one tap.
Compared to the single book she had given me for an entire semester, my sending her one book a month was already more mercy than she deserved.
For a long while after that, I ignored every unfamiliar number from back home and focused on my classes abroad.
Every month, right on time, I had someone place one carefully chosen book of scratch-off tickets into her mailbox.
And yes, I chose them carefully.
Scratch-off patterns weren’t completely random. After studying them for a while, I learned how to avoid the batches that still had major prizes remaining. The books I sent her would never turn her into another miracle story.
Then one afternoon, while I was studying in the classroom, my advisor abroad pushed the door open.
“Zoe, we received a message from your school back home. They say your mother is critically ill and wants to see you one last time. When are you planning to return?”
For a while, I just sat there staring at him.
He didn’t know any details. Neither did the message.
In the end, after thinking it through again and again, I took leave and flew back.
The moment I pushed open the door to the house, I knew something was wrong.
The air felt off.
I had barely stepped inside and looked around when a huge man suddenly lunged out from nowhere and wrapped his arms around me.
“Heh,” he laughed. “An educated girl who’s lived overseas really is something else.”
I struggled violently.
Then my mother came out of the bedroom, looking far too pleased with herself for someone who was supposedly on the verge of death.
“Hmph. Zoe Parker, since you’ve become so disobedient, then as your mother it’s my duty to find you a proper husband and teach you some manners. Parents decide these things. I say you’re marrying Big Dan, then you’re marrying Big Dan. He has more land than anyone back in my hometown, and his wife just died. You should be grateful.”
Then she turned to the man.
“Big Dan, we agreed, right? Once you marry her, her money comes to me for retirement. And you still owe me a hundred thousand dollars as a bride price.”
A chill ran through me.
I had known my mother was cruel.
I had not known she was capable of pretending to be dying just to trick me back into the country and sell me off to some widower from her hometown.
In that instant, something inside me hardened.
During my time in the U.S., after regaining my health, I had also started taking self-defense classes. Living alone in a foreign country had made me cautious.
So I drove my elbow hard into Big Dan’s stomach.
The second he bent over in pain, I kicked him sharply between the legs.
He yelped and stumbled backward, eyes wide with fear.
“Mrs. Parker, your daughter’s too fierce! There’s no way she’d ever obediently bear me children. Forget it. Find someone else.”
Then he scrambled for the door and ran.
My mother cursed after him until she ran out of breath. Then she turned back to me and raised her hand, clearly wanting to hit me.
But after what she had just seen, she hesitated.
I looked at her and smiled coldly.
“Don’t bother. He won’t get far. I already called the police before I came. I wasn’t sure what I’d find, but I guessed you might pull something like this. If I’d guessed wrong, maybe I’d just get scolded for wasting their time. Luckily, I guessed right.”
As if on cue, sirens sounded outside.
Big Dan, who had tried to escape, was soon brought back in by two officers.
My mother instantly panicked.
“Officers, this is all a misunderstanding! He’s just an old family friend. I invited him over, that’s all. This crazy girl called the police for no reason!”
I didn’t waste time arguing.
I took out my phone and played the audio I had recorded in my pocket the moment I entered the house.
When my mother tried to rush me to grab it, one of the officers pinned her arms behind her back.
The whole conversation played clearly.
After it ended, I looked at the officers calmly.
“My mother conspired with someone else in order to control me and take my money. I want to pursue this matter fully.”
My mother went wild.
“You heartless little thing! I should have gotten rid of you before you were born!”
I watched the police lead her away and said quietly, “Too bad you didn’t. Because, as you always said, I’m lucky.”
This time, her own words had truly become prophecy.