Eva was so shocked that she felt as if a bolt of lightning had flown out of the heavens and hit her
squarely in the chest. One million? They couldn‘t afford so much money!
“You bastard! Did you gamble at the casino again?” Glenn had also heard these words. He came out of
the room with a pipe in his hand. His face turned scarlet with fury. He landed two hard blows to Jeff‘s
head and said, “You‘ bastard! How could I raise such a failure like you?”
Eva rushed to Jeff to protect him. “Why hit him so hard? We only have one son!” Glenn clenched the
pipe in his hand and said, “Well, now that he has landed himself in such serious debt, what are we going
to do?”
Eva wiped her tears away and complained, “You like drinking and gambling yourself. You are no better
than him!”
“The point is that we don‘t have so much money now. You two might as well take my life to pay them!”
Glenn was exasperated and his face darkened. One million was indeed a huge sum of money for them.
Holding Eva desperately, Jeff said, “Mom, we can go to Lila! She definitely has the money!”
*******
Lila was busy playing games quite late that night, when she received a call from the hotel receptionist
informing her that her parents and her brother were making a scene in the hotel lobby.
Initially, Lila didn‘t even want to give them any thought or consideration, but in the end, she decided to go
downstairs. She didn‘t want to be embarrassed by them.
As soon as Eva saw Lila, she fell to her knees before her with Jeff.
“Lila, your brother gambled away a huge sum of money and now he owes the creditor one million. Can
you give us some money to pay them? We will pay you back when your father‘s shop starts to make a
profit!” Eva pleaded, cutting to the chase.
Lila‘s first reaction was to turn around and run away from this mortifying situation. It was so humiliating.
She wanted to dig a hole to bury herself in it. She had no desire to give them even one penny. The
money she received from the White family was for her to live her life. Lila had never cared about this so–
call brother of hers after all. His life or death had nothing to do with her.
“Lila, please! Jeff is your brother!” Glenn sighed and almost knelt down to beg her as well. Fortunately, it
was very late at night and there were very few guests in the reception area.
Lila glanced around and found that all the hotel staff were staring at her expectantly. waiting to see what
she would say. Lila was so frustrated that she had no choice but to agree.
“I will only help you this one time. And you have to pay me my money back!”
The White family had given her a total amount of three million dollars. After these days she had spent at
the hotel, she had roughly two million dollars left. If she gave Jeff one million to pay the debts, she would
still have one million for herself.
After weighing the pros and cons, Lila wrote a check and handed it to Jeff. She hoped the money could
drive them away forever and she could be free of them. Now that he had the money in his hand, Jeff
stopped crying immediately and even burst into laughter. At last, he left happily with his parents.
*******
Lila had thought it was over. But a few days later, Jeff came to her again with Eva.
“Interest has accrued, the debt collector said we need to pay him more money than just the principal sum
of one million.”
Jeff knelt down in front of Lila pitifully. He didn‘t seem to find begging on his knees humiliating or
degrading in the least bit. In fact, he didn‘t owe any debts at all. He had taken one million and spent it on
sleeping with hookers and on purchasing himself a few luxury items.
In a matter of just a few days, he had spent all the money Lila had given him. He knew that Lila still had
money, so he had even hired some friends to play debt collectors and come and threaten them at home.
As a result, Glenn and Eva were so scared that they didn‘t dare to go out at all. Under the persuasion of
Jeff, they came to borrow money from Lila again.
“No way! You haven‘t paid me back the one million you have borrowed yet!” Lila was so livid that she
wanted to curse. She felt that she was really unlucky. Why did she have such a brother and parents?
They were like a gum stuck on the bottom of her shoe that she couldn‘t get rid of at all. Eva loved her
son so much that she would even die for him.
“Are you going to lend us money or not? Lila, if they kill Jeff, I won‘t be able to go on living. How pathetic
is my state! My daughter doesn‘t care about me or her brother at all!”
As she rushed to the pillar of the hotel, Eva shouted, “I might as well die!” Lila was startled by her. She
had never met someone like Eva before, so she had to compromise.
“Fine! I will give you the money! Stop making a scene here!” She gritted her teeth and wrote him a check
for another million. Now she didn‘t have much money left. Plus, she had been staying in the presidential
suite of the hotel for the entire month. The cost was very high, so she couldn‘t stay here anymore.
She had to go back to the Gillian family‘s shabby apartment. It was a good news for Jeff, because he
didn‘t have to go to the hotel to ask Lila for money anymore.
“You need more money? I have given you two million dollars! Isn‘t it enough to pay off your debts?” Lila
was impatient. She really had no money left now.
“How would I know? The creditor said I owe him three million dollars in total. Lila, write me another
check. I need to pay him as soon as possible!” Jeff said.
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