A homeless and poor Nathan offers his last $2 to an elderly man in need at the gas station store and inherits his company the next day. Nathan thinks this is the start of a new life for his family, but a powerful enemy wants to take it all away.
Nathan held his paper cup of coins as he made his way into the gas station store. He was close to an aisle when a loud voice pulled his attention. He stretched his neck and saw a line of angry shoppers waiting behind an elderly man who had trouble hearing.
“I’m sorry, young lady, what did you say about the water being funny?” the elderly man asked the cashier.
“Money!” she groaned. “I said you don’t have enough money, sir!”
“Yes, it was a sunny day!” replied the man with a frown.
“You need more cash! For the water!” A younger guy standing behind the man grabbed him by the shoulder and yelled into his ears, causing him to recoil.
Nathan took it all in. He wanted to intervene, but he didn’t want to draw the shoppers’ anger. Meanwhile, the elderly man said he didn’t have enough cash, asking if he could get a smaller bottle of water as he needed to take his pills.
“If you can’t afford to pay, you’ll have to go!” shouted the cashier.
“I can go?” He smiled and turned to leave, but the cashier lunged across the counter and snatched the water bottle from his hand. “Just get out, old man!” she hissed. “You’re way too much trouble!”
“Yeah, get lost, old fart!” A woman standing in the middle of the queue yelled.
The elderly man said again that he needed to take his pills, but no one listened.
Nathan had seen enough. He walked up to the cashier and offered to pay for the old guy.
“Have a heart, lady,” he said and emptied his cup on the counter. The woman looked at him in distaste before she counted the money.
“That’ll cover it,” she said, taking all the money, including his last $2. “Now step aside. You’re holding the line.”
Nathan left his can of beans on the counter as he handed the water to the older man.
“Here you go, sir. I got you water,” he spoke slowly and clearly, ensuring the man could see his face if he needed to lip-read. And the man thanked him. They walked out of the store together, and Nathan started toward his tent on the bare patch of ground next to the station, but the man stopped him.
“Wait!”
Nathan turned around.
“Why did you help me when you obviously needed the money?” asked the older man, noticing Nathan’s tent where Nathan’s eldest daughter was helping her two siblings wash up in a bucket.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being homeless, sir,” said Nathan, “it’s that the world works when people are kind to each other. Sadly, nobody was going to help you at the store.”
“But what are your kids going to eat? I saw you leave the beans on the counter.”
“We have the last of yesterday’s bread, and there’s a good chance I’ll find some scraps at that fast food joint across the street,” Nathan replied. “We’ll get by.”
The man left, still frowning. Nathan saw him climb into a gleaming SUV and wondered why a man like him couldn’t afford a bottle of water.
The next day, while Nathan was splitting cold fries among his four kids, a silver sedan stopped near his tent. A man in a fancy suit stepped out and came toward him.
“Morning, sir. Mr. Ellison’s last wish was for me to deliver this to you,” he said, extending an envelope.
Nathan wiped his hands and took it. There was a letter inside.
“Dear sir, Yesterday, you proved yourself to be a man of good character when you spent your last few dollars on a bottle of water for me. Your kindness and belief in doing good for others have inspired me to repay your goodness with the greatest gift I can give you: my business. My time in this world is coming to an end. I have recently become apprehensive about leaving my company to my son, as I’ve come to see that he is a selfish, entitled man with a heart of stone. It would greatly ease my conscience if you inherited the company instead. All I ask is that you ensure my son is taken care of and can continue to live a safe, comfortable life. However, I must warn you that my son will not readily accept my decision. In fact, he will probably do everything in his power to take control of the business. You will have to be on your guard.”
“Is this some kind of joke?” Nathan looked up at the man.
The man produced a stack of printed papers and a pen. “Mr. Ellison was quite serious. And the moment you sign these papers, it’ll be official. You’ll inherit his company as well as other personal assets.”
“But I just met the guy yesterday. And now he’s dead and leaving me everything?” Nathan asked as he studied the documents. He was no stranger to legalese and had managed several small businesses before he fell on hard times.
“I understand your concerns, sir, but these papers were drawn by the finest lawyers. Mr. Ellison was quite clear in his intent. All we need to do is fill in your name, and the lawyers will proceed with the rest.”
This was his chance to give his kids a better life, so Nathan signed the documents. Then, the man drove him and the children to their new home.
As they arrived, Nathan looked up at the massive, colonial-style mansion at the top of the driveway.
“Can we put up a tent under that tree with pink flowers?” little Caleb asked.
“We’re going to live inside that house, silly! Right, Dad?” Hannah asked.
Nathan nodded, though he could barely believe it himself. But the moment he pushed the double doors open, he sensed something was wrong. The house was a mess—a table lay on its side in the hallway, a painting was impaled on the banister, and a closet had been toppled over.
Nathan dropped the luggage on the top step, ran after the car, and told the driver to call 911. A few hours later, he stood among slashed sofas and broken furniture, speaking to the cops.
“We’ve examined the entire perimeter of the house and found no sign 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 gaining entry.”
“Like a key? You’re telling me the person who did this just walked in here?”
“I’d suggest you change the locks, sir,” the officer nodded. “Whoever did this was looking for something and got very angry when they didn’t find it.”
As the cops left, Nathan suspected the elderly man’s son was behind everything.
The next day, Mr. Ellison’s secretary arrived early. She took Nathan shopping and got him cleaned up at a barber before taking him to the company. In the office that once belonged to Mr. Ellison, Nathan was about to go through the files on the computer when the doors burst open.
“You must be Nathan!” A middle-aged man in a dark suit entered the office and shut the door behind him. “I’m Dominic, one of Mr. Ellison’s former business partners, and I’m here to save you from a whole heap of trouble.”
“I’m sorry? What trouble?” Nathan asked.
Dominic grinned and explained he handled the sales for one of Mr. Ellison’s ‘specific’ businesses. Nathan quickly understood it was something illegal. He refused to continue those services, but Dominic was having none of it.
“Listen up, you moron! Ellison owed me $2 million for handling the illicit side of his business! You’re now responsible for that debt,” he snarled. “And if you don’t pay up, I’ll go to the police and tell them everything. Furthermore, as the company’s owner, you will be liable for all damages and legal ramifications. So, I’ll be expecting my $2 million by Saturday. Or, you can transfer ownership of the entire company to me.”
“What? This is extortion! You can’t be serious!” Nathan retorted.
“Yes, it is. And just in case you think I’m not deadly serious…” Dominic pushed back his suit jacket and placed his hand on the butt of a gun holstered at his side. “…rest assured that if you cross me, Nathan, I’ll make you disappear. The police won’t even find enough of you to ID the body.”
Nathan said nothing and agreed to Dominic’s demands. But he wondered if Dominic was scamming him. So Nathan searched for any hints of this illicit side of the business, but no files or the data in the computer gave him the answers he needed.
By that evening, after reviewing the data from all the other departments, Nathan was convinced Dominic was lying. But then, he noticed the filing cabinet tucked into a corner of the room. Nathan unlocked it with the keys he’d found earlier on his desk. And the first thing he noticed was an old-fashioned file box tucked into the drawer.
Inside it was a ledger with entries written in some kind of shorthand, and Nathan realized Dominic wasn’t lying. In despair, he opened a drawer to find some alcohol, thinking bigshot business people had expensive bottles of scotch handy, and found nothing but a photo.
It showed Mr. Ellison standing with…a younger guy. Nathan’s eyes bulged in horror when he realized how similar they looked. The young man was Dominic, Mr. Ellison’s son!
Things started making sense to Nathan. He couldn’t believe a kind man like Mr. Ellison would be involved in illegal business practices. So, most likely, Dominic was using his own shady dealing to blackmail him, Nathan reasoned.
A stroke of luck and a terrible twist that threatened to take it all away – everything was happening way too fast. Luckily, Nathan was not unfamiliar with the whirlwinds of the business world – he had his share of experience in entrepreneurship before it all went south and he ended up on the streets.
That Saturday morning, Nathan met Dominic in the underground parking lot but with a counteroffer.
“I’ve got to keep my word to your old man,” Nathan said, “so I’ll give you 49 percent of the company while I keep the remaining 51 percent. That’ll be enough for you to live lavishly, right? And I’ll reserve the right to manage the company like your father wanted.”
But Dominic refused. “I’m not a fool! I deserved all of it, not some token! Let’s talk when you come to your senses!” he hissed and left.
Nathan went back to the office. He decided to pay Dominic his $2 million and be done with this but found the company’s money was tied up in assets or allocated to monthly expenses. Nathan was helpless.
He returned home, dejected, where another trouble awaited him. As he opened the front door, he found his kids’ nanny tied to a chair and gagged.
“He took the kids! He said to tell you that this should be your wake-up call!” she cried as he freed her, and Nathan knew who she was talking about.
Nathan called Dominic and agreed to hand over the company, begging him not to hurt the children. They decided to meet at noon. But Nathan also called the police, and in the next half an hour, he was sitting with an FBI agent.
“Just follow my instructions, and we’ll have your kids back…” Agent Reeves assured him.
That noon, Dominic was chilling by the poolside of a hotel he’d rented out. He’d locked Nathan’s kids in a closet and dismissed all hotel staff except the manager, whom he had paid handsomely.
When five minutes were left until the deadline, and he didn’t hear from Nathan, Dominic lost his cool. He decided to drown one of the kids in the pool and send the video to Nathan.
“Excuse me, sir,” the manager interrupted him. “You have a package.”
When Dominic checked the envelope, he grinned, forgetting his anger. He strode to his room and signed the paperwork he found inside the envelope. The company was finally his! Then, he freed Nathan’s children. “I’m sure a bunch of ragamuffins like you four can find your way. Now, get lost!”
Rejoicing his victory, Dominic finished getting ready and went to the mirror to fix his tie. Suddenly, he heard a click behind him. Although soft, Dominic instantly recognized the sound of a gun’s safety selector.
“FBI! Put your hands in the air and get onto your knees! You’re under arrest.”
Dominic surrendered. Meanwhile, Nathan held his children close on the sidewalk. Thanks to Agent Reeves’s idea of putting a tracker in the documents, Dominic was caught.
“You’ll be filing for bankruptcy before this month is over! And you’ll pay off fines until you die!” Dominic screamed as he was led into the police car.
Nathan took the children 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 time the investigation was over, he wouldn’t have a penny to his name. But he’d be free.
“Daddy, are we going to leave our home again…just like we did when Mommy died?” Hannah asked him once the agents were gone.
Nathan got down on one knee and hugged his kids.
“Listen, you four, there’s a lot of details that still need to be sorted out, but we’re going to be okay. You want to know why?”
Hannah, Caleb, Owen and little Eli looked at him earnestly and nodded.
“It’s because the most valuable thing we have is right here, in my arms. So long as we stick together, we’ll always be rich in the most important way: love. The world’s wealth comes and goes, kids, but the love we share for each other is a treasure nobody can take away from us.”
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