At the Thanksgiving Family Raffle, I Drew a $1.2 Million Mortgage

When I drew the 0-026,000 mortgage in the family raffle, everyone laughed.

My own brother even forced me to sign an agreement to pay off the mortgage, but what they didn't know was that this would become the key step in getting my house back.

Later, they knelt on the floor and begged me to spare them just once, for the sake of family.

I said calmly, "I stopped having a family the moment you set me up."

Section 1

I'd just closed a 0-050,000 advertising deal.

Right then my mother messaged me saying this month's mortgage still hadn't been paid, and asked me to front $5,600, promising to pay me back next month.

I looked at our chat history. Aside from asking for money, there was nothing else.

When I didn't reply, she sent another line: The house back home is getting a light-rail line built, it's going to be bought out. Three hundred thousand total.

Don't worry, once the buyout payout comes in, I'll pay you back everything I owe you too.

Oh, and come home for the Thanksgiving family reunion. It's been so long since we all had a meal together.

I still didn't reply, staring off at the pothos on the windowsill.

A light-rail line back home? How had I never heard of it? Were they lying to me, or deliberately keeping it from me?

I dug out my phone and called a college classmate of mine who now worked at the city planning department.

"Bruno... is there a light-rail line going in at 63 Dickerson Village?"

"Cassandra, you're pretty well-informed, huh? You even know about that. Yeah, there really is a plan like that."

"But don't get too excited... it could still be adjusted."

"Okay... got it, thanks. Let me know if anything comes up." I hung up.

So Mom and Dad hadn't made up a lie to trick me after all.

For the sake of family, I transferred her the $5,600, with the note: September mortgage, paid on her behalf.

She sent back a voice message, all cheerful: "Cassandra, come home early for Thanksgiving, there's a surprise."

A surprise? As long as it wasn't a nasty shock. As long as they stopped squeezing me dry, I'd thank my lucky stars.

After all, the crown prince of the Dickerson family was my brother, Kevin.

Thanksgiving came around fast. I gave my staff a few instructions and hurried back.

In my hands I carried a few boxes of premium health tonic, some ginseng supplement someone had given me, and the high-end holiday pies my company had handed out.

I pushed open the door. Mom and Dad were busy in the kitchen, while Kevin and his wife sat on the couch scrolling their phones.

Expensive fruit was laid out on the coffee table, the peels tossed all over it.

"Babe, isn't this watch nice? Only eighty-eight hundred..."

"Sis is back? What'd you bring?" He darted over and snatched the gift boxes out of my hands.

Then he started rummaging through them. "The health tonic's not bad, but the ginseng's probably farm-grown, right?"

"Holiday pies? A dog wouldn't even eat these!"

I glanced at him and said nothing.

He'd been spoiled rotten by my parents. Anything good in the house always went to him first, which was why he'd grown up this arrogant and overbearing.

I peeked into the kitchen. The food looked pretty good today, fish and shrimp.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Mom, Dad." I slipped each of them a five-hundred-dollar red envelope.

They didn't turn it down. My mother told me to help with the cooking. "Irma's pregnant, so put in the work, would you."

I looked over at Irma. Her feet were propped up on the coffee table, her hair freshly styled, her nails done up niceshe didn't look pregnant at all.

Soon the food was on the table.

We'd barely taken a couple of bites when my dad picked up his wine glass. "It's Thanksgiving today, the whole family's together. Let's play a little game to liven things up."

Right on cue, my mother carried out a box draped in black cloth from her room.

"You've all heard our place is getting bought out soon. Three hundred thousand is more than your mother and I could ever spend. Inside this box is how the buyout payout gets split up. Whatever you draw is what you get."

"Every one of you gets a chance."

Irma feigned surprise, sneaking a glance at me. "Me... can I do it too?"

My mother smiled gently. "Of course. You're part of this family too."

After she finished, she glanced at me. "Cassandra, you can't blame us for playing favorites. It's your own fault for not being married."

Kevin jumped right in. "Exactly, sis. If you brought a brother-in-law home for me, you'd get two draws too."

I sneered inwardly. It all sounded better than a song.

Who knew what nasty little scheme they were cooking up.

My dad cut them off. "Enough, both of you. Cassandra, you're the older one, you draw first."

I declined with a smile. "Ever since we were kids, he's always been the first to get the good things. Let Kevin draw first this time too."

My mother's face went awkward, her smile slowly fading.

My dad was quick on his feet. He clamped a hand down on the box. "Fine. Kevin, you go first."

Kevin didn't draw right away. Instead, he set up his phone on a stand to record.

"We're all family here. Whatever we draw, good or bad, it's all luck. Nobody gets to turn on anyone, and nobody gets to welch on it. The video's our proof."

He looked at me. "Right, sis?"

I really wanted to see what game they were playing, so I nodded along. "Sure."

Only then did he reach in, feel around for a bit, and pull out a slip of paper, grinning. "Let's see how lucky I am!"

The slip unfolded slowly, and my heart climbed right up into my throat.

"Startup support fund, one million," Kevin read softly, his face lighting up.

Irma clung to his arm, thrilled. "Honey! You've got such good luck!"

"Your turn, sis." Kevin watched me, amused.

My dad's hand had never once left the back of the box.

I slid my hand in through the opening, then held it there inside the box for two seconds.

Five? I felt around again. There really were five.

Kevin had drawn one, so by rights there should only be four left.

What did this extra slip mean?

I was almost certain the remaining slips in that box all said the same thing.

But I still only drew one.

What if they didn't? I clung to one last sliver of hope.

I unfolded the slip. Written plainly on it: "Mortgage payment, 1.26 million."

A slight shudder ran through me, and I forced myself to stay calm.

I'd figured I'd draw some consolation prize, or at worst walk away without a single cent.

I'd never counted on anything anyway.

I never imagined my dear parents meant to chew me down to the bone. My trembling fingers nearly tore the slip to pieces.

Kevin took one look and immediately burst out laughing. "Hahaha, holy crap big sis! Your luck is one of a kind in this whole world."

"That one was for Dad himself, actually. Didn't expect you to draw it away."

Irma couldn't hold back either. "Heh sis, you really are lucky."

My mother's tense expression finally eased. "Cassandra, you're the advertising director, three hundred thousand a year. A little mortgage like this won't be a problem for you, right?"

The rage in me was already jammed up in my throat. My whole family, ganging up to scheme against me.

And acting like they were entitled to it.

But I had no proof, and blowing up now would fix nothing.

"Why should I be the one to pay it?" I forced the words out through gritted teeth.

"I put down the down payment! I haven't lived in that house a single day, and I've paid more toward that mortgage than all of you. And now you want me to cover the other million-plus?"

Every eye in the room snapped to me. Kevin's face darkened. "You drew it yourself, so who's there to blame? We've got it on video, so don't even think about welching."

My mom rushed to play the sweet one. "Cassandra, aren't you the successful one? What's wrong with giving your brother a hand? You're his sister."

"You're almost thirty and still not married. Your brother's wife is pregnant, and Kevin doesn't have a real job. Later on, when you settle down and start a family, we'll help you the same way, won't we?"

Kevin sprawled on the sofa like some deadbeat, leisurely lighting a cigarette. "Don't worry, sis. Once I make it big, I'll help you out too."

The veins in my neck were pounding. Him, make something of himself? A spineless freeloader living off his parents.

Since you don't treat me as family, then I don't need to bother with family ties either.

This mortgage wasn't it an opportunity, too.

I had the down payment record for this house and the original purchase contract.

On top of that, every time I transferred them money, I'd added a note saying it was a loan, not a gift.

Add in this 0-026,000 mortgage, and I was eighty percent sure I could redefine who actually owned the house.

Even if the deed was in Kevin's name.

At that thought, half my anger drained away.

Seeing that I wasn't saying anything, my dad started smoothing things over. "We'll talk about this later. Let's finish drawing the prizes first."

Irma drew the pregnancy prize, four hundred thousand dollars.

My dad and my mom each drew five hundred thousand in retirement money.

The remaining six hundred thousand was the family fund.

Three million, carved up just like that.

And I drew the 0-026,000 mortgagepathetic and laughable, when I was still renting to this day.

Back when Kevin got married, my parents said Irma wasn't used to a crowded, noisy house, so they told me to go rent a place of my own.

And now here I was, reduced to this.

Cassandra, CassandraI was a mistake from the day I was born. But my biggest mistake was being too soft-hearted, and waking up too late.

Just then my phone buzzed, but I wasn't in the mood to look at it.

Kevin dug up paper and a pen from the room. "Sis, even close siblings should keep the accounts clear. If you're paying this mortgage, you need to put it in writing."

I thought it over carefully. Writing it down was better than not.

"Fine! I'll write it. Over the years, you've borrowed forty-six thousand dollars from me, one loan after another, and I have a record of every single one."

"Let's settle that account first, or I won't sign."

My mother's face fell at once, and her eyes filled with disgust as she looked at me.

"Cassandra, so you've grown a spine? We fed you and clothed you all these years, and now you're settling scores with us?"

"If we hadn't scrimped and saved to put you through college, do you think you'd be where you are today? Look at little Suzie from back in the villagemarried at eighteen, a mother of three now, living so well."

"Then look at you! A thirty-year-old spinster! I'm ashamed to even say it out loud!"

"When the relatives ask, I'm too embarrassed to open my mouth!"

My father stood up and went out to the balcony to smoke.

Hearing all this, I trembled all over, my fingernails digging hard into my palms.

This was the same script they'd used to manipulate me since I was a child.

Every time, they used it to pin me down. We fed you, clothed you, put you through school, so you should just let us bleed you dry!

You're a girl, you'll belong to someone else's family sooner or later.

I lifted my head, tears standing in my eyes. "Since you gave birth to me, raising me was your responsibility and your duty. You say you put me through college, but you only paid for the books and tuition my freshman year."

"After freshman year, it was all my own work-study and student loans that got me through college."

"My first year working, I earned four thousand five hundred a month, and I sent four thousand home. And what did you do with it? You used my sweat and blood to buy Kevin a computer, an iPhone, to send him on trips."

Kevin's face flushed red. "Why... why bring that up..."

My mother's fingers shook with rage, and she grabbed the broom beside her.

"You ungrateful daughter! Did we raise you just so you could talk back and settle accounts with us?"

The broom came down on my shoulder. It hurt, but I didn't move an inch.

I stared her down. "I'll pay the mortgage, fine, but this debt gets settled first."

Just then my father came in from the balcony, his face full of grief and reproach. "A perfectly good family reunion dinner, turned into this!"

He whispered a few words to my mother. She nodded, then called Kevin and his wife into the bedroom.

I looked at the half-eaten meal, and the tears fell.

About ten minutes later, the four of them came out.

My mother's face hardened. "Fine, we'll accept this debt. But we don't have that much right now. We'll pay you back when the property buyout payout comes through."

"But you also have to sign an agreement acknowledging that you'll be responsible for paying this mortgage."

I nodded. "That works. Write me an IOU. And Kevin, send me a copy of the video you just recorded."

Kevin startled. "Why do you need the video?"

"If I'm the one paying the mortgage, I need some kind of proof."

He didn't think twice and sent the video to my phone.

They quickly wrote up the IOU, signed it, and pressed their fingerprints on it.

I wrote up the agreement: As of today, the mortgage on Unit 6, Floor 21, Building 3, Goldwater Court has nothing to do with Kevin, and will be repaid by me.

When they saw that I'd signed, every one of them broke into a satisfied smile.

My mom acted like a completely different person. "See, wouldn't it have been better to do this sooner? We're all family."

I kept my face grim and said nothing, then turned and left.

Kevin's voice came from behind me. "Mom, Dad, a toast to you both. You've worked so hard! This family owes everything to you."

I drove out onto the road out of Dickerson Village and pulled over to the side.

I sat there a good while before I pulled up my messages.

Just as I was about to send it to Mr. James, I noticed the message Bruno had sent earlier.

It was a news link: a public notice about the optimization and adjustment of the environmental protection zone in the Dickerson Village district.

My heart jumped. I tapped it open and glanced at it. The content boiled down to one sentence: Dickerson Village lay in an ecological zone, and building the light rail would damage the environment, so a rerouting was recommended.

So it turned out even the heavens weren't willing to let them make this grand dream come true.

I left the group chat called "Home."

From then on, I truly had no familybut I was finally free.

Scrolling up, I saw a message from my mother: "Cassandra, drive safe, and don't worry too much about the mortgage."

I chose to ignore it and opened Mr. James's chat window.

He was our law firm's long-standing partner, and had reviewed countless advertising contracts and infringement cases for me.

I drafted a message, worded calmly, as if I were handling a routine client case:

"Mr. James, sorry to bother you over the holiday. I have a personal matter I'd like to consult on. I own a property that was bought under someone else's name.

I signed the original contract, and I paid the down payment and most of the mortgage. The transfer records are all complete.

The property deed is in a family member's name, and now I'd like to confirm the ownership. If it's convenient, we can go over it in detail after the holiday. No rush."

That night, I lay awake for a long time.

In my dreams, all I saw were memories of living under other people's roofs.

Starting at six, when my parents left to work away from home, I lived first with my grandmother, then my uncle, then my aunt.

I was like dead weight, resented by everyone.

When I woke the next day, Mr. James had replied: "Ms. Dickerson, there's a lot we can work with here. Name a time and let's meet to talk it through."

That afternoon, my mother called again. "Cassandra, your brother's got his eye on a Mercedes. Over three hundred grand."

"We don't have that kind of money on hand right now. Help us cover it, and once the property buyout payout comes through, we'll pay it all back together."

Hearing that, I was furious. They were still daydreaming.

"Do you think I run a bank? If Kevin wanted the moon out of the sky, would you go pluck it down for him too?"

My mother instantly flew into a rage. "Cassandra! What kind of attitude is that? Our family's getting three million from the buyoutyou think we can't spare three hundred grand?"

I let out two cold laughs. "You'd better make sure that payout is actually coming."

A shriek came from the other end of the line. "What are you talking about?"