Ruthless

Chapter 4

Jean had thought that her afternoon nap would've been easy considering how tired she'd been when she got home. But after that unsettling meeting with Stranger, she couldn't seem to stop her thoughts from wandering.

How great would it be to suddenly have a huge inheritance? To be set for life? Stranger hadn't asked for the pictures back, so she kept on rolling over and looking at the picture of the Farrell family. What a different world they probably lived in. Comfortable in their ivory tower. Not scrounging for tips from assholes like Dickie to keep the lights on.

But if she had accepted Stranger's crazy offer, these would also be the people she was stealing from. It was easy to think of the rich and powerful as a different breed. Some sort of mustache-twisting villains who deserved to be ripped off and scammed, but Jean knew better. If she tried to claim this inheritance, she'd be the villain in this story.

At least she'd be a villain with electricity.

She chuckled at the thought and grabbed her phone, giving up on the idea of sleeping for a while. She unlocked the screen of the smartphone. It was an indulgence, but considering she didn't have a television or a computer, it seemed worth it. She looked up Walter Farrell, the same white-haired man from the picture Stranger gave her. Sure enough, the same man showed up on her Internet search.

Now that she was looking for it, she really did see a resemblance. Except Jean had seen pictures of her real father. He was a younger guy, the same age as her mother. One of Katherine's on-and-off again boyfriends who had been in and out of jail for the past thirty years due to drug addiction.

No point in even trying to get child support. The guy never held down a job and had never wanted anything to do with her. Jean wondered whether this Walter Farrell would've been a better father if Stranger's crazy story had been true.

It seemed like all the fights between Katherine and Grandma had been about money. Namely, Katherine's habit of sneaking twenties out of Grandma's purse. What would their life have been like if all those problems hadn't existed? If Katherine hadn't needed to steal and hadn't been kicked out of the house as soon as the courts awarded Grandma custody?

Probably not much different. Jean didn't think any amount of money in the world would've made Katherine a better mother. She tried. She really did attempt to be loving and attentive. But then something would distract her and she'd be gone for weeks or even months.

What could Jean do with all that money? She could actually go to college. Her grades had been good in high school. She'd even gotten into the one school she'd applied to, except, after looking into financial aid programs and any scholarships she could get, she had to admit she couldn't afford it.

She could major in anything. Her year as a bookkeeper had been her most interesting job yet. Maybe she could get an accounting degree and work for one of those giant companies she saw on the news all the time. The ones running the country, with great benefits.

Or she could do something really out there and do something with animals. Maybe work to help spay and neuter the cats that called the park home.

Jean laughed and rubbed her eyes. She was really too tired and her mind was running wild on her. Another reason she needed to sleep, even if she couldn't manage to relax. She scrolled through a few more stories before she frowned. Was that...? She zoomed in on a picture and confirmed what she'd first thought. Stranger was in a picture with Walter Farrell.

She changed to an image search and saw that this wasn't a one-time thing. There were a bunch of candid photos of the real estate magnate with Stranger's stern face in the background looking on. He really did know this family. So did that mean he was serious about this ridiculous plan? And he just happened to see her picture online and thought, there's the one I want to help me with this scam.