Brandon, a poor homeless man, gives his last two dollars to a needy old man at the gas station and inherits his business the next day. Brandon believes this is the beginning of a new life for his family.
Brandon clutched his cup of change as he shuffled through the gas station. He was near an aisle when a loud voice distracted him. He saw a line of angry customers waiting behind an elderly man who was having trouble hearing.
“I’m sorry, what did you say about the water?” the old man asked the cashier.
“Money!” she moaned. “I said you didn’t have enough money, sir!”
“Yes, it was a sunny day,” the man replied, frowning.
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“You need more money! For water!” A younger guy standing behind the man grabbed him by the shoulder and shouted in his ear.
Brandon noticed everything. He was tempted to intervene, but he didn’t want to draw the ire of the buyers. Meanwhile, the older man explained that he didn’t have enough money, asking if he could get a smaller bottle of water because he needed to take his pills.
“If you can’t afford to pay, you’ll have to leave!” the cashier shouted.
“Can I leave?” He smiled and turned to leave, but the cashier snatched the water bottle from his hand. “Get out of here, old man!” she yelled. “You’re too much trouble!”
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The old man said he needed to take his pills, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.
Brandon had had enough. He walked over to the cash register and offered to pay for the old man.
“Have a heart, madam,” he said, emptying his cup onto the counter. The woman looked at him with disgust before counting the money.
“That’ll cover it,” she said, taking all the money, including her last $2. “Now stand to the side. You’re holding the line.”
Brandon left his can of beans on the counter and offered the older man water.
“Here you go, sir. I got you some water,” he spoke slowly and clearly, making sure the man could see his face if he needed to lip-read. And the man thanked him. They left the store together, and Brandon headed toward his tent on the bare ground adjacent to the station, but the man stopped him.
“Wait !”
Brandon turned around.
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“Why did you help me when you obviously need the money?” the older man asked.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being homeless, sir,” Brandon replied, “it’s that the world works when people are kind to each other.”
“But what are your children going to eat? You left the beans on the counter.”
“We have the last of yesterday’s bread,” Brandon replied. “We’ll manage.”
The man walked away, but with a frown. Brandon noticed he’d gotten into a shiny SUV and wondered why a man like him couldn’t afford a bottle of water.
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The next day, as Brandon was dividing cold fries among his children, a silver sedan pulled up near his tent. A man wearing a fancy suit approached.
“Good morning, sir. Mr. Grives’s last wish was that I give this to you,” he said, holding out an envelope.
Brandon wiped his hands and took it. There was a letter inside.
“Dear Sir,
Yesterday, you proved yourself a man of good character by spending your last few dollars on me. Your kindness and your belief in doing good for others have inspired me to return the favor by giving you the greatest gift I can give you: my business.
My time in this world is coming to an end. Lately, I’ve been hesitant to leave my business to my son, as I’ve realized he’s a selfish man with a heart of stone. I would have a clear conscience if you inherited the business in his place. All I ask is that you ensure my son is taken care of and can continue to live a safe and comfortable life.”
“Is this a joke?” Brandon looked up at the man.
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The man presented a stack of printed documents and a pen. “Mr. Grives was very serious. As soon as you sign these papers, it will be official.”
“But I only met this guy yesterday. And now he’s dead and leaves me everything?” Brandon asked, studying the documents.
“I understand your concerns, sir, but these papers were drawn up by the best lawyers. All we have to do is fill in your name, and the lawyers will take care of the rest.”
It was his chance to support his children, so Brandon signed the contract. The man then drove him and the children to their new home.
As they arrived, Brandon stared at the imposing mansion.
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Brandon could hardly believe it. But as soon as he pushed open the double doors, he sensed something was wrong. The house was a mess—a table was lying on its side in the hallway, and a wardrobe had been knocked over.
Brandon threw down the luggage, ran after the car, and told the driver to call 911. Hours later, he was standing amid slashed couches and broken furniture, talking to police officers.
“We examined the entire house and found no signs of forced entry, sir,” the officer said. “This, combined with the fact that the security system appears to have been overridden using the correct code, suggests that whoever vandalized this place had a legitimate means of entry.”
“Like a key? So the person who did this got in here like that?”
“I suggest you change the locks, sir,” the officer agreed.
When the police left, Brandon suspected the elderly man’s son.
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The next day, Mr. Grives’s secretary arrived early. She took Brandon shopping and had him cleaned up at a hairdresser before taking him to the company. In the office that once belonged to Mr. Grives, Brandon was about to look through files on the computer when the doors burst open.
“You must be Brandon!” A middle-aged man in a dark suit entered the office. “I’m Christopher, one of Mr. Grives’s old business partners, and I’m here to save you from a lot of trouble.”
“Excuse me?” Brandon asked.
Christopher explained that he handled sales for one of Mr. Grives’s “special” businesses. Brandon quickly realized this was illegal. He refused to continue, but Christopher didn’t see it that way.
“Listen, you moron! Grives owed me two million dollars for handling the illicit side of his business! You’re now responsible for that,” he growled. “And if you don’t pay up, I’ll go to the police and tell them everything. Besides, as the owner of the company, you’ll be responsible for the damage. So I expect my two million dollars by Saturday.”
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“What? This is extortion! You’re not serious!” Brandon retorted.
Yes, that’s it. And just in case you think I’m not being very serious…” Christopher pushed back his suit jacket and placed his hand on the butt of a pistol holstered at his side…. “Rest assured, if you cross me, Brandon, I will make you disappear.”
Brandon said nothing and agreed to Christopher’s demands. But he wondered if Christopher was scamming him. So Brandon looked for any clues to this illicit side of the business.
That evening, after reviewing the data from all the other departments, Brandon was convinced Christopher was lying. But then he noticed the filing cabinet tucked away in the corner of the room. Brandon unlocked it with the keys he’d found earlier on his desk. And the first thing he noticed was an old-fashioned filing box tucked away in the drawer.
Inside was a large book with entries written in some sort of shorthand, and Brandon realized Christopher wasn’t lying. In desperation, he opened a drawer to find a few bottles of Scotch nearby, and found nothing but a photograph.
It showed Mr. Grives in the company of… a young man. Brandon’s eyes widened in horror when he realized how much they looked alike. The young man was Christopher, Mr. Grives’s son!
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Things began to make sense to Brandon. He couldn’t believe that a man as kind as Mr. Grives could be involved in illegal business practices. So, in all likelihood, Christopher was using his own shady dealings to blackmail him, Brandon reasoned.
A stroke of luck and a terrible twist that threatened to wipe everything out—it was all happening way too fast. Fortunately, Brandon is no stranger to the whirlwinds of the business world.
That Saturday, Brandon met Christopher in the underground parking lot, but with a counter offer.
“I have to keep my word to your old father,” Brandon said, “so I’ll give you 49 percent of the company while I keep the other 51 percent. That’ll be enough for you to live lavishly, won’t it? And I’ll reserve the right to run the company just as your father wanted.”
But Christopher refused. “I’m not a fool! I deserved all this, not a few tokens! We’ll talk about this when you’ve come to your senses!” he hissed and left.
Brandon returned to the office. He decided to pay Christopher his two million dollars and be done with it, but he realized that the company’s money was tied up in assets or allocated to monthly expenses. Brandon was powerless.
He returned home, dejected, to find another problem awaiting him. Opening the front door, he found his children’s nanny tied to a chair and gagged.
“He took the kids! He told me to tell you that should wake you up!” she cried as he released her, and Brandon knew who she was talking about.
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Brandon called Christopher and agreed to hand over the business, begging him not to harm the children. They agreed to meet at noon. But Brandon also called the police, and within half an hour, he was sitting with an FBI agent.
“Follow my instructions, and we will return your children to you…” Agent Bates assured him.
That afternoon, Christopher was relaxing by the pool of a hotel he had rented. He had locked Brandon’s children in a closet and fired all the hotel staff except the manager, whom he had paid handsomely.
“Excuse me, sir,” the manager interrupted. “You have a package.”
When Christopher checked the envelope, he smiled. He strode into his room and signed the papers he found inside. The company was finally his! Then he freed Brandon’s children. “I’m sure a bunch of ragamuffins like you four can find their way out. Now go fuck yourselves!”
Christopher finished preparing. Suddenly, he heard a click behind him. Although soft, Christopher instantly recognized the sound of a firearm’s safety selector.
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“FBI! Put your hands up! You are under arrest.”
Meanwhile, Brandon held his children close to him on the sidewalk. Thanks to Officer Bates’s idea to plant a tracking device in the documents, Christopher was caught.
Brandon brought the kids home, ready to make everything right. And when the FBI’s fraud division showed up with a warrant, he handed over the evidence—the copy of the company’s records and the ledger he’d found in his office—to the agents, knowing that by the end of the investigation, he wouldn’t have a cent to his name. But he would be free.
“Dad, are we going to leave our house?” Kelly asked him.
Brandon got down on his knees and hugged his children.
“Look, you four, we’re going to be okay. You want to know why?”
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The children looked at him seriously and nodded.
“It’s because the most precious thing we have is here, in my arms. As long as we stay together, we will always be rich in what matters most: love.”
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