Brandon, a homeless man with very little money, walked into a gas station with his cup of coins. As he wandered down an aisle, he heard a commotion. An old man at the counter couldn’t hear well, causing a line of upset customers to form behind him.
“I’m sorry, miss, what did you say about the water?” the old man asked the cashier.
The cashier sighed loudly, “Money! I said you don’t have enough money, sir!”
The man, confused, responded, “Yes, it was a sunny day!”
“The water costs more money!” a younger man shouted into the old man’s ear, making him flinch.
Brandon watched as the old man explained that he didn’t have enough money and asked if he could buy a smaller bottle of water to take his pills.
“If you can’t pay, you need to leave!” the cashier yelled.
“Can I leave?” the old man asked, smiling as he started to go. But the cashier reached over the counter and took the bottle from his hand. “Just go away, old man!” she whispered angrily. “You’re causing too many problems!”
“Yeah, go away, old guy!” a woman in the line shouted.
Brandon couldn’t stand it any longer. He stepped up to the counter. “I’ll pay for his water,” he said, pouring out his coins.
The cashier looked at him with disgust but counted the money. “That’s enough,” she said, taking all of Brandon’s coins, even his last $2. “Now move aside. You’re slowing down the line.”
Brandon left his can of beans on the counter and handed the water to the old man. “Here you are, sir. I got you some water,” he said slowly and clearly so the man could understand.
The old man thanked him, and they left the store together. As Brandon walked back to his tent, the man stopped him. “Wait!” he called out.
Brandon turned around. “Why did you help me when you clearly needed the money?” the old man asked, noticing Brandon’s tent where his oldest daughter was helping her siblings wash up in a bucket.
“Well, sir,” Brandon replied, “from being homeless, I’ve learned that the world gets better when people are kind to each other. Sadly, nobody at the store was going to help you.”
“But what about your kids? I saw you leave the beans on the counter,” the old man asked.
“We have some bread from yesterday, and I might find some leftover food at the fast food place across the street,” Brandon answered. “We’ll manage.”
The old man looked worried as he drove off in a shiny SUV, and Brandon wondered why someone like him couldn’t afford a bottle of water.
A Life-Changing Surprise
The next day, while Brandon was sharing cold fries with his three kids, a shiny car stopped by his tent. A man in a fancy suit stepped out and approached him.
“Good morning, sir. Mr. Grives wanted me to give this to you,” he said, handing over an envelope.
Brandon wiped his hands and opened it. Inside was a letter:
“Dear sir,
Yesterday, you showed that you’re a good person when you spent your last money on water for me. Your kindness and belief in helping others have inspired me to give you the best gift I can: my business.
My time is almost up. I’m worried about leaving my company to my son because he’s selfish and doesn’t care about others. It would make me feel better if you took over the company. I just ask that you make sure my son is okay and can live comfortably.
But I need to tell you, my son won’t be happy about this. He might try hard to take over the business. You need to be careful.”
“Is this a joke?” Brandon asked the man.
The man handed Brandon a bunch of papers and a pen. “Mr. Grives was serious. Once you sign these, you’ll officially inherit his company and other things.”
“I only met him yesterday. Now he’s gone and leaving me everything?” Brandon asked as he read the papers.
“I get your worries, sir, but the best lawyers made these papers. Mr. Grives was clear about what he wanted. We just need to put your name, and the lawyers will take care of the rest.”
Seeing this as a chance for a better life for his kids, Brandon signed the papers. Then, the man drove them to their new home.
Trouble at the New Home
When they arrived, Brandon looked at the huge mansion at the end of the driveway.
“Can we set up a tent under that tree with pink flowers?” little Derrick asked.
“We’re going to live in that house, silly! Right, Dad?” Kelly asked.
Brandon nodded, even though he could hardly believe it. But when he opened the double doors, he felt something was wrong. The house was a mess—a table was on its side in the hallway, a painting was stuck on the banister, and a closet had fallen over.
Brandon dropped the bags and chased after the car, telling the driver to call 911. A few hours later, he stood among ruined sofas and broken furniture, talking to the police.
“We checked all around the house and didn’t find any signs of someone breaking in, sir,” the officer said. “And the security system seems to have been turned off with the right code, so it looks like whoever did this had a way to get in.”
“Like a key? So you’re saying the person who did this just walked in here?”
“You might want to change the locks, sir,” the officer suggested. “Whoever did this was searching for something and got really mad when they couldn’t find it.”
As the police left, Brandon suspected the old man’s son was responsible for everything.
Facing New Challenges
The next day, Mr. Grives’s secretary came early. She took Brandon shopping and to a barber before bringing him to the company. In Mr. Grives’s old office, Brandon was going through files on the computer when the door burst open.
“You must be Brandon!” A man in a dark suit came in and closed the door. “I’m Christopher, one of Mr. Grives’s old business partners. I’m here to help you out of a big problem.”
“What problem?” Brandon asked.
Christopher smiled and explained that he handled sales for one of Mr. Grives’s businesses, but it was illegal. Brandon understood it was wrong and refused to continue it, but Christopher didn’t agree.
“Listen, idiot! Grives owed me $2 million for the illegal part of his business! Now you owe me that money,” he growled. “If you don’t pay, I’ll tell the police everything. And since you’re the owner of the company now, you’ll be responsible for all the problems. So, you have until Saturday to give me my money, or you can give me the company.”
“What? This is blackmail! You can’t be serious!” Brandon argued.
“Yes, it is. And just so you know I mean business…” Christopher pushed his suit jacket back and put his hand on the gun at his side. “…if you mess with me, Brandon, I’ll make you disappear. The police won’t even find enough of you to identify.”
Brandon didn’t say anything and agreed to Christopher’s demands. But he wondered if Christopher was lying. So Brandon searched for any clues about the illegal side of the business but couldn’t find any files or data on the computer.
By the evening, after looking through data from all the other departments, Brandon was sure Christopher was lying. But then, he saw a filing cabinet in the corner of the room. Brandon used the keys he found earlier to unlock it. Inside, he found an old-fashioned file box in a drawer.
In it was a ledger with entries in shorthand, and Brandon realized Christopher was telling the truth. Feeling hopeless, he opened another drawer hoping to find some alcohol but found only a photo.
It showed Mr. Grives with a younger man. Brandon was shocked when he realized they looked alike. The young man was Christopher, Mr. Grives’s son!
Brandon started understanding what was happening. He couldn’t believe Mr. Grives would be part of illegal businesses. So, Christopher was probably using his own bad actions to blackmail him, Brandon thought.
A Plan to Save Everything
On Saturday morning, Brandon met Christopher in the parking lot but had a different idea.
“I have to keep my promise to your dad,” Brandon said. “So, I’ll give you 49 percent of the company, and I’ll keep 51 percent. That should let you live comfortably, right? And I’ll run the company like your dad wanted.”
But Christopher said no. “I’m not stupid! I deserve it all, not just a little! We’ll talk when you come to your senses!” he snapped and left.
Brandon went back to the office. He decided to give Christopher the $2 million, but he found out the company’s money was tied up in things or used for monthly expenses. Brandon couldn’t do anything.
He went home feeling sad, and there was more trouble waiting for him. When he opened the door, he found the kids’ nanny tied up and gagged.
“He took the kids! He said this is your warning!” she cried as Brandon untied her. And Brandon knew who she meant.
Brandon called Christopher and agreed to give him the company, asking him not to harm the kids. They planned to meet at noon. But Brandon also called the police, and soon, he was sitting with an FBI agent.
“Just do as I say, and we’ll get your kids back,” Agent Bates assured him.
At noon, Christopher was relaxing by the hotel pool he’d rented. He had locked Brandon’s kids in a closet and sent all the hotel staff away except the manager, who he had paid.
When there were only five minutes left until the deadline and he hadn’t heard from Brandon, Christopher got angry. He decided to drown one of the kids in the pool and send the video to Brandon.
“Excuse me, sir,” the manager interrupted. “You have a package.”
Christopher checked the envelope and grinned, forgetting his anger. He went to his room, signed the papers inside the envelope, and the company was his! Then, he let Brandon’s kids go. “You three can figure out your way home. Now, go!”
Happy about winning, Christopher finished getting ready and went to fix his tie in front of the mirror. Suddenly, he heard a click behind him. He instantly knew it was the sound of a gun’s safety being turned off.
“The FBI! Put your hands up and kneel down! You’re being arrested,” the FBI agents commanded.
Christopher gave up. Meanwhile, Brandon held his children close on the sidewalk. Thanks to Agent Bates’s plan to put a tracker in the documents, Christopher was caught.
“You’ll go broke before the month ends! And you’ll be paying fines for the rest of your life!” Christopher yelled as he was taken away by the police.
Brandon took the children home, ready to fix everything. When the FBI’s fraud team arrived with a warrant, he gave them the evidence—the company’s records copy and the ledger he found in his office—knowing that he might lose everything by the end of the investigation. But at least he would be free.
“Daddy, are we going to lose our home again, like when Mommy died?” Kelly asked once the agents left.
Brandon hugged his kids. “Listen, you three, there are still things to figure out, but we’ll be okay. Want to know why?”
Kelly, Derrick, and Sam looked at Brandon with serious faces and nodded.
“It’s because the most important thing we have is right here, with us. As long as we stay together, we’ll always be wealthy in the most important way: love. Money comes and goes, kids, but the love we have for each other is something special that can’t be taken away.”
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