Chapter 4 I stumbled out of the advisor's office in a daze , my head spinning . I remembered that card , but there was no way it could have $ 200,000 in it . Mom had opened it when I was born as my " trousseau card " -basically storing all the red envelope money I'd gotten over the years . ] ] After all these years , it should've had maybe $ 10,000 tops . But Mom had taken that card and closed it ages ago . We'd gotten into this huge fight over something stupid , and she said she wouldn't give me a penny when I got married . [ ] I'd gotten all stubborn and told her she'd die alone with no one to take care of her . Mom was so pissed she grabbed that card and marched straight to the bank to close it . So how the hell was it still active ? Who had transferred $ 200,000 into it ? ] And most importantly - where was the card now ? I pulled out my phone and dialed Mom's number from memory . ] No answer . That's when I remembered - a year ago she'd kicked me out , and for the entire past year , we'd had zero contact . ] ] We'd officially cut ties as mother and daughter . ] She probably didn't want to take my call anyway . But this was a new number - why wouldn't she answer that either ? ] ] I remembered Dad mentioning on WhatsApp that Mom was sick . Could that actually be true ? [ ] Dad Panic rising in my chest , I hung up and ran back to my dorm . ] When I'd left home , I'd only taken one suitcase - the only thing I'd brought from home . [ ] It just had some clothes stuffed in it , nothing else . [ ] The suitcase had been shoved under my bed , covered in dust . 》 》 Mom had given it to me as a gift when I got into the prestigious high school . At the time , I'd complained about the ugly color and how bulky it was - wanted to exchange it for something cuter . ] ] Mom said it had great capacity and really good storage features . " It even has hidden compartments for cash and bank cards and stuff . " || " The salesperson said that was a selling point - lots of people buy it for that ." I wiped the dust off , my panic growing . The inside was empty , but at the very bottom was a metal panel with a latch . ] I opened the latch , revealing a hidden compartment . All this time . I'd just used it as a clothes container , never bothering to check any of the pockets or compartments . [ ] Hell , because Mom had packed it , I'd even thought about replacing it . Lopened the compartment and found a combination lock . I entered the last three digits of my birthday . Click - it opened . ] Inside was a scaled bag . The bag contained a property deed , a bank card , and … a letter I opened the letter . The familiar handwriting made my heart skip . ] The words were scrawled hastily , urgently , like they'd been written in secret during some chaotic situation . " Delia , don't come home , Never come back . " [ ] " Keep the deed and money safe . Don't worry about me . Even if I die , don't come back … " Just two short lines , but they made my blood run cold . ] What the hell had happened to Mom ? What did she mean , even if she died ? The deed … I flipped to the property document underneath the letter and opened it . ] Our 860 square foot place in the school district - the owner was listed as me . Mom had actually transferred the house to my name ? || Did Dad know ? Dad had been scheming over that house forever , practically wanting to move his entire hometown family in with us . us . [ ] And Mom had secretly transferred it to me right under his nose ? nose ? ] ] I collapsed to the floor , tears streaming down my face without me realizing it . ] Something had definitely happened to Mom . Once I pulled myself together , I quickly packed my suitcase and booked the earliest flight back home . During the entire trip , I called Mom over a dozen times . Every single call went unanswered . I tried calling Dad . When he picked up , he was absolutely livid . [ ] " Delia , do you have our property deed ? " " Hand it over right now . That's My house ! " After landing . I went straight to the bank to pull all the transaction records for that card . ] With Dad constantly draining our money to fill the bottomless pit of his hometown family , where could she have possibly saved up $ 200,000 ? The bank records came up quickly , showing every transaction on the card clear as day . ] The earliest deposit : $ 200 , from the end of the year I was born . ] The latest deposit : $ 200,000 , on the day I finished my SATs , at 3 PM that afternoon . [ ] … ] Wait a minute . Wasn't that when Mom was posting those three house rules in the group chat , trying to push me out ? She was transferring money to me while simultaneously cutting ties with me ? My head was spinning . I had no idea why Mom would do this . Dad kept calling me like a maniac . " How much money did your mom give you ? Do you have any respect for your parents ? " " Give the money back right now , or I'll dump your mom at the hospital to fend for herself . " -0 My anxious heart quickly steadied . [ ] Without getting his hands on the money , he wouldn't dare actually abandon Mom . ] Dad was all bark and no bite - a coward who bullied the weak but feared the strong , simple - minded and naive . ] He thought if he poured his heart and soul into his hometown family , Grandpa and Grandma would finally value him , and his siblings would respect lum. ] In reality , he was a joke wherever he went . [ ] As I rushed home , I warned him : " If anything happens to Mom , you'll never see a penny . " || n the owner now . " " Mom already transferred the house to my name . I'm " I'm not like Mom - I don't have any feelings for you . " Dad immediately exploded , unleashing a torrent of profanity . [ ] I covered the phone , treating it like he was just farting . Right now , the most important thing was finding out what had happened to Mom 0000