After Uncle's Family Forced Me Buy Their Shack, I Became Billionaire

1: 1

The day after I won three million in the lottery, Wade Bishop and his whole family were pounding on my door hard enough to shake the walls.

Alma Fox, please, I'm begging you. Buy this old apartment of ours for a million!

If you won't, we've got no money for a good school district for Aiden Abbott. Are you really going to stand by and watch your little nephew go without an education?

I glanced at the address on the deed.

The Fairview complex. A thirty-year-old dump.

Paint peeling off the walls in patches, the stairwell reeking of mold year-round, water pipes leaking with nobody to fix them, wiring so old you couldn't even run a decent A/C without worrying.

Forget a million. You couldn't give the place away.

They saw a lottery winner and figured they'd bleed me dry.

I opened my mouth to turn them down, and a row of floating messages drifted across my vision.

Don't refuse, whatever you do! This is free money!

Place looks like a wreck, but it's in the very last batch of demolition-and-relocation properties in the whole city! The notice drops in a month. Buy in at a million and it jumps sixfold, a clean five-million profit!

My hand, already reaching to shove the contract back at them, froze in midair.

A million turning into six.

Money walking right up to my door. You'd have to be an idiot not to take it.

I pulled my fingers back and looked up at him.

"All right. I'll buy it."

"But you're all going to record a video, saying in your own words that you're selling me this place of your own free will. Whatever happens laterdemolition, redevelopment, prices going through the roofit has nothing to do with any of you."

""

Wade's eyes went wide.

"Alma, you mean it? Just a video, and you'll really put down a million?"

"Really."

I nodded.

Rhonda Bishop lit up on the spot and dug out her phone, opening the camera.

"No problem! We'll do it right now!"

But the second she hit record, Lucas Foxher son, who hadn't said a word this whole timesnatched the phone out of her hand.

"Mom, hold off on recording. I've got something to say."

He pulled Wade by the arm, and the two of them huddled by the door, muttering, eyes flicking over at me every few seconds, faces full of scheming.

I frowned.

Lucas was a shameless freeloader living off his parents, buried in debt. If he was stalling now, he was probably cooking up some new angle to jack the price up.

Right as I was thinking it, more messages scrolled past.

Blew it, you agreed too fast. This guy's too greedy! You said yes so easily he thinks he lowballed himself. He's got four hundred grand in online loans about to blow up, and he wants to rope you into paying it off!

This man has no shame. Last month he lied to your mom, said he was sick and your grandmother had broken her leg, and sweet-talked her out of the gold bracelet and gold necklace she'd worn for twenty years.

The heat shot straight up to the top of my head.

No wonderlast time I went home, Mom's neck and wrist were bare, and when I asked she said she'd put the jewelry away. It was these people who'd conned her out of it!

That gold bracelet was the twentieth-anniversary gift my dad bought her, right before the accident that killed him.

Old wounds and new fury piled up all at once, and just like that, I changed my mind.

By the time the three of them dragged themselves back over, I got there first and pushed the contract off to the side.

"Sorry, Wade. I've been thinking it over, and I'm not buying this place for a million after all."

Wade's face changed instantly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I held up three fingers, my tone flat.

"A million's more than I can stomach."

"Three hundred grand. Sign if you want it. If not, get out."

Wade blew up on the spot, slapping his palm down on the coffee table.

"Alma! Have you lost your mind? A million down to three hundred grandwhy don't you just rob me?"

Rhonda panicked too, waving her phone at me.

"I recorded it just now! You said a million with your own mouth! A verbal agreement still counts! You can't back out!"

I laughed out loud.

"What's a recording worth? No contract in black and white, and you can talk till you're blue in the face. Doesn't mean a thing."

"I'll put down three hundred grand right now. Not a cent more."

Lucas's face darkened and he jabbed a finger at my nose.

"You've got the nerve to jerk us around?"

"A million, not a cent less, or tomorrow I go make a scene at your company. I'll let everyone there know you've got money and won't help your own family. I'll get you fired!"

I spread my hands, unbothered.

"Go ahead and make your scene. I've got three million in the bank right now, and I'm done with working anyway. Thanks for the excuse to take a break."

Lucas choked. He hadn't expected the threat to bounce right off me.

But three hundred grand wouldn't even cover his gambling debts.

He gritted his teeth, his face going red with the effort.

"No! Six hundred grand, minimum! Not a cent less!"

I sneered inwardly. Six hundred grand was already more than they deserved. Dream on.

I was about to just open the door and throw them out when more messages popped up.

Don't throw them out, don't! This shameless guy's cornered by his debtshe'll do anything!

Take this chance and grab that old house of theirs on Fairmile Road too! There's five bags of cash and three crates of gold buried in the ceiling gaptwenty, thirty million all together! Way more than the demolition payout!

My pupils shrank.

Twenty, thirty million?

These people were sitting on a fortune that big?

2: 2

The plan came together in my head at once.

I leaned back in my chair and started again, slow and easy:

"Six hundred thousand. That could work."

Wade and Rhonda had barely managed a smile before I went on:

"But that old place you live in on Fairmile Road has to be sold to me too. Both units together for six hundred thousand, and I'll sign the contract right now."

Wade's smile froze on his face. He shot to his feet.

"No way! That's where our family lives! You want us all out on the street?"

"Exactly! Two units for six hundred grandyou fobbing off a beggar?"

Rhonda chimed in loudly.

I lifted my eyes and gave her a glance. "Then what do you two think is fair for both?"

A greedy glint flashed in her eyes, and she threw up two fingers.

"Two million! Two million for both, and we'll sign and transfer them over right now!"

I laughed to myself, coldly.

The floating messages had already told me. The Fairmile Road unit was worth fifty thousand tops, and this Fairview place wasn't even worth ten, and they could open and close their mouths and shout two million. Like they thought money blew in on the wind for me.

I didn't waste breath on her. I just pulled the door open and stepped aside to clear the way.

"Can't afford it. Off you go. I won't see you out."

Rhonda panicked instantly and grabbed my arm.

"Wait, wait, wait, let's talk this through. A million and a half! A million and a half's fine, that's rock bottom!"

I shook my head, no room in my voice for bargaining.

"One point two million. Both units. Not a cent more."

She still wanted to argue, but my cousin tugged at her arm.

I'd seen it clearly a moment ago. He'd slipped out onto the balcony to take a call, voice pressed low, but a few words still drifted in. "Just a few more days." "The money's coming any minute now."

He was more anxious than any of them.

If this cash didn't land, his online loans were about to blow up.

The three of them huddled out in the stairwell to talk it over. I wasn't in any hurry. I poured myself a cup of warm water and drank it slowly.

Sure enough, in under five minutes the three of them were back, faces pinched like it physically hurt.

Rhonda spoke through her teeth.

"Fine! One point two million it is!"

"But you have to agree to one condition."

I tipped my chin up.

"Say it first. I'll decide whether I agree."

My cousin pushed Aiden out from behind him and put on his best doting-father face.

"Aiden's always wanted to go see the penguins in Antarctica. We're planning to take the whole family end of the month. You have to cover the cost of the tripa hundred thousand."

End of the month.

Something clicked in me.

The floating messages said the demolition notice came down exactly a month from now. Ship this whole crew off overseas at month's end, and there'd be nobody around to cause a scene during the title transfer and the demolition.

By the time they'd had their fill and came home, the papers would be signed and the compensation money would already be in the account. No point making a fuss then.

I put on a reluctant face, hesitated a few seconds, then nodded.

"Fine. I'll book the flights and the tour package for you. Anything under a hundred thousand, I've got it."

The whole family broke into smiles on the spot and pulled out the contract, wanting me to sign right away.

I put my hand down flat on it.

"Not so fast. The transfer's fine, but it waits until you've cleared the Fairmile Road place out completely and handed me every last key. Then we go do the paperwork."

I paused, then added on purpose:

"Of course, you're welcome to move out slowly. Only, with this cash in hand, I might spot another place I like one of these days and decide I don't want to buy anymore. Don't blame me for backing out then."

That did it. Wade jumped up at once, thumping his chest to swear it.

"No need to wait! We'll start moving today! We can have it cleared out by tomorrow!"

"Fine. Once it's cleared out, take a video and show me."

The three of them were so terrified I'd change my mind that they didn't even finish their water. They rushed off in a mad hurry, and Aiden was still clutching my figurine in his fist, forgetting to put it down.

I watched their flustered backs disappear, tapping my fingertips on the two property listings on the coffee table.

Now that I had another two million on hand, the plan to snap up the run-down units in the Fairview complex couldn't stop here.

There was more buying to do.

3: 3

I hadn't expected to run into Wade's family when I got to the Fairview realty office.

Somehow they'd caught wind of the demolition rumors, and they were there digging for information.

"Agent Lambert, people are saying our complex might get slated for demolition. Is it true or not?"

The moment Daniel Lambert realized they weren't there to buy, his interest dried up.

"Demolition? What are you dreaming about? That rumor's been going around thirty years at least. The place is falling apart, and has it come down yet?"

Rhonda wasn't ready to give up. She leaned in closer.

"But I heard this time it's for real. The plans already went through!"

"Went through my foot." Daniel rolled his eyes and dropped his gaze back to his phone.

"If it were real, would half the people in your complex still be willing to sell? Quit holding up my business. You want to sell, register. You don't, get out."

Shot down cold, the three of them lost face and were slinking toward the door when they spotted me standing outside.

Lucas reacted worst of all.

"Alma, what are you doing here? Are you sniffing around about the demolition too?"

I didn't bother explaining. I walked straight past him.

Daniel had been slouched and barely bothering a second ago, but the moment he looked up and saw it was me, his face folded into so many creases you could squeeze water out of the smile.

"Ms. Fox! You made it, sit, sit. I just finished pulling together every unit for sale in the complex!"

I dragged over a chair, sat down, and got straight to it.

"Every resale unit for sale in the Fairview complex, clean title, owner genuinely willing to sell. List them all out for me."

"I want ten units minimum, cash, full payment. Right price, I'll sign the same day."

"Teten units?"

Daniel thought he'd misheard. His eyes went round.

"Ms. Fox, you're not joking?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

He came alive like something had lit a fire under him and dove headfirst into the computer, digging through files, too busy to even pour me a glass of water.

Lucas, standing off to the side, went through half a dozen expressions before he couldn't help fishing.

"Alma, you're buying up this many run-down units. Is there really word it's getting torn down?"

I glanced up at him.

"Sure. It's getting torn down. So why don't you two keep your places and hold off on selling?"

That choked him off.

He didn't dare gamble. He was in debt, and what if the demolition never happened?

Besides, nothing had moved for all these years, so why would it suddenly move the minute he was selling?

The rumor was obviously just another line to reel in fools.

"I never said I wouldn't sell!"

"It's just that the money you're offering really is on the low side. If you could go a little higher"

I set the listing sheet down and cut him off with a smile.

"Right, good thing I ran into you. I've been rethinking those two units. One-point-two million is still too much. Let's just forget it."

"I'll buy elsewhere straight through the agency, save you all the trouble of moving back and forth."

The words landed and Lucas froze on the spot, every bit of his scheming wiped clean off his face.

Wade panicked and slapped him across the face.

"You useless waste, good for nothing but ruining things. What are you making a fuss for!"

Then he turned back to me, all smiles and apologies.

"Come on, Alma, we'll stick with the original price."

Rhonda rushed to smooth it over.

"Yes, yes, yes, a deal's a deal, you can't go back on it. We'll finish moving out tonight, and first thing tomorrow we'll hand over the keys and transfer the title!"

As she said it she shot Lucas a vicious glare and hissed under her breath.

"You shut your mouth! You wreck this with one more stupid word, you can pay off that debt yourself!"

Lucas's face went white, then dark, but in the end he didn't dare make another sound.

He knew better than anyone that if he lost me, he'd never find a second sucker willing to pay one-point-two million for two run-down little units.

But I wasn't done.

"Hey, don't rush off just yet. There's an old account we still need to settle!"

"Last year you said Grandma broke her leg and borrowed a hundred thousand from my mom. You wrote the IOU yourself, said you'd pay it back in three months. It's been almost a year now. And there's still my mom's gold bracelet and her necklace."

I pulled a crumpled IOU out of my bag, slow and easy, and pushed it across.

"Principal and interest, that's two hundred thousand. I'll deduct it straight from the one-point-two million. Tomorrow at the transfer I'll only be giving you one million."

"No way!" Rhonda blew up on the spot. "Your mom gave that willingly! What right do you have to dock it!"

"Willingly?" I pulled out my phone and opened the transfer records and the chat log, my tone flat. "It says loan, plain as day, right there. You want me to send it to the family group chat and let all the relatives weigh in?"

I paused, then lifted my eyes to Lucas, whose face had gone pale.

"If you two don't agree, then I won't buy the units, and you can figure out how to pay off your loans yourselves."

Lucas panicked at once, grabbing Rhonda before she could throw a scene, and nodded through gritted teeth. "Fine! Two hundred thousand, two hundred thousand!"

But the ugly menace in his eyes was something he couldn't quite hide.

I didn't care.