Clenching the ticket in my hand, I smiled at Jessica and said, "My mom must've been mistaken, Jessica. There's no way I'd be lucky enough to win anything on a lottery ticket."

I knew Jessica was no fool. Something had to be up if she was willing to fork out 200 thousand dollars on a lottery ticket that only won 20 dollars.

I could take the money, but who knew if she'd end up regretting the exchange and decide to come after me again? Basically, I couldn't let her have the ticket.

"You didn't win anything?"

Jessica didn't believe me. She held out her hand and demanded, "Give it to me. Let me take a look."

My heart was pounding, but I was able to maintain my cool as I pulled the ticket from my pocket and handed it over.

She examined it thoroughly and confirmed that I hadn't scratched the winning numbers. Enraged, she let out a litany of curses as she threw the lottery ticket onto the floor and stomped on several times.

Then, she glared at Mom and snarled through gritted teeth, "If you're having problems with your eyesight, Aunt Emma, you should probably get your eyes checked."

Mom was so scared she didn't dare say a word. The rest of our relatives all lowered their heads and crowded over, scrambling to pick up the ticket. Then, almost in unison, they let out disappointed sighs.

I quietly let out a breath of relief. It was a good thing I hadn't washed this outfit yet. There'd been a lottery ticket in my pocket from half a month ago. Since it hadn't been a winning ticket, I'd just stuffed it in there and forgotten about it.

Well, it came in handy now.

But I hadn't relaxed for long before my younger brother, Hector Wilson, suddenly said loudly, "Henry, didn't you buy a scratch-off lottery ticket the other day? Did you mix them up?"

Mom's eyes lit up right away. She rushed over and grabbed my arm roughly, growling, "Henry! Did you hide the winning ticket? I knew it! There was no way I was just seeing things. Hand it over right now!"

Jessica, feeling like she'd been played for a fool, marched back over and slapped me hard across the face. "You bastard! How dare you try to play a trick on me? Give me the real ticket. Don't make me give you a good thrashing!"

"I already told you I didn't win anything!" I hastily protested. "Why would I have any reason to lie to you guys?"

Hector chimed in again, "But I didn't see you throw the old lottery ticket away."

At that moment, Dad—who hadn't said a word so far—stepped in front of me. I thought he was finally going to stand up for me, but instead, he slapped me as well.

As I crumpled to the floor, he roared at me, "Give the ticket to Jessica now, you piece of shit! If you waste any more time, I'm going to kill you!"

Despair filled my heart.

Sneering, Mom rolled up her sleeves and walked toward me. "So be it. I'll search him myself. I'll strip him naked if I have to. We'll see if he still refuses to hand it over then!"

"Mom! Dad! Have you lost your minds?" I shouted hoarsely. "You're causing such a huge spectacle at my party over some lottery ticket you think I'm hiding?"

Jessica kicked me. "If you displease me, Henry, forget about the party—I can make sure you don't even get to attend the college you just got into."

Unable to believe what I just heard, I looked at my parents, who both scoffed at me in contempt. "We've got no money, Henry. Jessica and her family are the ones paying your college tuition. If you want to attend college, then you'd better do as she says!"

I tried to resist, but several relatives quickly pinned me down on the table. Right there, in front of everyone, Mom tore open my clothes and started searching for the ticket.

Overwhelmed with shame and humiliation, I was on the verge of tears.

Mom spent over 15 minutes searching every nook and cranny of my body, but she still didn't find a second lottery ticket on me. After shoving me aside, she whipped around and slapped Hector. "You brat! Say any more nonsense, and I'll sew your mouth shut!"

Hector clutched his stinging cheek, his eyes turning red as he glared resentfully at me.

Meanwhile, Jessica continued to stare at me in silence, seemingly deep in thought.

The party meant to celebrate my college acceptance ended up being a complete disaster. What should've been a happy occasion ended up becoming unbearable humiliation for me, and all because of a lottery ticket.

I couldn't stomach the thought of spending any more time with this so-called family of mine. Around midnight, I quietly slipped out and went to see my girlfriend, Daisy Lewis.

The moment she saw me, she pulled me into a tight embrace.

"I went over to your house to see you, but you weren't there, so I asked Hector. He told me about what had happened today. I can't believe you had to go through all of that, Henry," she said in concern.

Even though I was a fully grown man now, in that instant, tears poured down my face. I poured out all of the hurt and grievance I felt to her.

Daisy held me, comforting me the whole time. She even said she wanted to confront Jessica about it.

I quickly stopped her. "Wait! You mustn't do anything impulsive. I still don't know why she did this. If we act rashly, we might end up falling into her trap."

After a few seconds of silence, she abruptly asked me, "Henry, did you give Jessica the real lottery ticket?"

Meeting her gentle gaze, for a moment, I almost told her the truth. As it was, in my previous life, she hadn't been among those who'd watched me die.

The words were on the tip of my tongue when I caught the urgency and greed in her eyes. It felt like a hand had clamped around my throat. Alarm bells were ringing in my head, warning me not to tell her.

But Daisy kept pressing me for an answer, so I forced myself to sound calm as I replied, "After the way they strip-searched me, there's no way I could've hidden the ticket from her, not even if I had some kind of superpower."

In reality, I'd hidden the lottery ticket under a plate.

Back at the party, when I'd ended up scratching the winning number, I'd quickly slipped the real one under a plate while Mom was busy screaming in excitement. Then, I pretended to put it in my pocket, where the old lottery ticket was.

When I saw Daisy eyeing me doubtfully, I pretended to get annoyed. "Do you think I'm an idiot? Why would I turn down 200 thousand dollars and hide a lottery ticket that's only worth 20 dollars?"

She tilted her head up and kissed me on the cheek. "That's true. My Henry is no idiot."

My heart pounded like a drum. I couldn't help asking, "What do you think is so special about that ticket? Why are Jessica and the others so desperate to get it?"

"It's just a lottery ticket. How can it be special?" Daisy replied lightly. "Maybe something got into her, and she decided to use that as an excuse to mess with you and beat you up. After all, you mentioned that she has always looked down on you, right?"

Jessica had indeed always been jealous of my grades and the fact that I'd gotten into the top-ranking university in the country. But she wouldn't go as far as killing me over a lottery ticket, right?

With all the questions brewing in my head, I barely had any of the supper we ordered.

Daisy took me back to her place. "Just stay here for the night. I'll go back to your house with you tomorrow and have a proper talk with your parents for you."

That night, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. In the middle of the night, however, I suddenly heard the sound of the doorknob turning.

I tensed up at once, clutching the blanket. I thought it might be a burglar, but then I remembered that I was on the 26th floor of an apartment building with tight security. There was very little chance a burglar could sneak in.

That left only one other possibility—Daisy was the one coming in.

Sure enough, she tiptoed over to the bed and softly called my name. When I didn't respond, she started rummaging through my clothes.

I heard her muttering to herself, "Where's the ticket? Don't tell me you really don't have it… Hmph. I only brought you back so that I could get my hands on it, so I'm going to find it no matter what!"

The room was warm, but I felt chilled to the bone.

She searched every pocket, but couldn't find the ticket. All of a sudden, she leaned over my head, covering my mouth and nose with her hand.

"Damn it! There's really nothing! Ugh, you useless piece of trash! Why do you have such rotten luck, huh?"

To vent her frustration, she covered my mouth and nose for a while before letting go, repeating the process over a dozen times before stopping.

After she left, I completely broke down.

Why was everyone trying to kill me over a lottery ticket worth 20 dollars?

Once I no longer heard any sounds outside, I got dressed and left Daisy's place. I also blocked her number.

Still in a daze, I wandered back to the apartment complex where my family stayed. My plan was to sneak in and grab my ID while my parents were out, so I could make a run for it.

But the moment I stepped into the convenience store nearby, they were there waiting for me.

Dad grabbed my hair and snarled, "You bastard! I knew you were a scheming little piece of shit! You just didn't want us to have the ticket. You ungrateful brat! Just wait till we get home!"

I turned to the convenience store owner for help, but he spat at me, saying, "You're an ungrateful brat, alright. To think you'd go this far just to hide a lottery ticket worth 20 dollars! You're banned from my store. Get the hell out!"

My family tied me up and dragged me home.

"Hand over the ticket!" Mom demanded with a sneer.

"You already searched me. If I had it, you would've found it," I insisted stubbornly.

Hector stood to the side, glaring venomously at me. "Looks like he won't give in unless we get rough with him, Mom. He thinks you're bluffing."

He handed over a kitchen knife, and Mom didn't hesitate to threaten me with it. "Are you handing it over or not?"

The knife hovered less than half an inch from my throat, but I felt strangely calm. "Mom, are you really going to kill me over a lottery ticket I'd already given to you guys? Why wouldn't I hand it over when I could get 200 thousand dollars for it?"

My rebuttal made Mom hesitate, but Dad remained convinced I'd gotten a winning ticket and hid it somewhere. "Shut up. Both your mother and your brother saw it, and there's no way they were both wrong!"

I took a deep breath. "Mom didn't find anything after practically stripping me naked. Even Daisy checked all of my pockets over and over. Where do you think I could've hidden it?"

Since I refused to budge, Dad locked me in my room. "Three days without food, and you'll be spilling everything!"

They didn't dare to actually kill me before they found the ticket.

I sat in my bedroom and racked my brain for a while before contacting the only person I believed I could trust in this world—my childhood friend, Andy Harris. I begged him to save me.

When Andy heard I'd been locked up by my own parents over a lottery ticket worth 20 dollars, he was outraged.

"Your cousin, your parents, your relatives, and even Daisy are all monsters! How could they treat you like this over a lottery ticket? You already said you didn't win anything! Or… is it because you did win 20 dollars, like your mom said, but you just didn't tell them the truth?" Andy asked.

I neither confirmed nor denied it.

Andy caught on at once. Without any hesitation, he agreed to come right over and rescue me.

Once he arrived, I pried open the window and tied my clothes together to form a rope. I climbed down from the window and got onto his scooter, and we raced into the night.

Because I trusted Andy, I didn't ask where we were going.

At some point, we reached an intersection. He said he had a stomachache and had to relieve himself. While waiting for him outside the public restroom, I abruptly spotted the roll of toilet paper in the basket attached to his scooter. He hadn't taken it with him.

I grabbed it and hurried into the restroom to give it to him—only to find that he wasn't using the restroom at all. Hiding in the corner, he was on a call, and I heard every word he said.

Finally, it all made sense to me. I now knew why they'd all gone mad over a lottery ticket worth just 20 dollars in winnings.

When Andy came back, I looked at him calmly and said, "I'm not running anymore. I'm going back."

He panicked at once. "What? You can't do that. You'll be walking straight to your doom!"

Snorting, I replied, "Then so be it."