Chapter 1

My name is Emily Lane. I'm twenty-six and have been an administrative specialist at Quinn Holdings for four years, making 1,600 dollars a month. Three days ago, I bought a lottery ticket on a whim while passing a lottery kiosk and let the machine pick the numbers.

On drawing night, I was in my rented apartment eating instant noodles when a notification popped up on my phone. I glanced at it, and my chopsticks fell straight into the bowl.

Third prize? No, wait. I looked again. First prize. The jackpot was about 113 million dollars. I stared at the screen for a full five minutes, then dug out the ticket and checked the numbers one by one. Every single one matched.

I called my mom. "Mom, I won the lottery."

"How much?"

"About 113 million dollars."

There was a long silence on the other end. Then my mom lowered her voice. "Em, listen to me. You can't tell anyone about this."

"I know."

"Go to work like normal tomorrow."

"Huh?"

"Let me finish," my mom said, unusually serious. "Go to work like normal. In a few days, say you're not feeling well and take some time off, then resign bit by bit. Don't let anyone think you've suddenly come into money."

"Why?"

"Because you still don't know what the people around you are really like."

My mom had sold vegetables at the market for twenty years. She'd seen too many people turn on others in a heartbeat. I took her advice. The next day, I squeezed onto the subway, clocked in, and sat down at my desk by the restroom like always. Everything was the same. No one knew the Emily Lane tucked away in the corner was sitting on more than 100 million dollars.

I held out for three days. On the fourth day, I decided to carry out step one of the plan: ask for leave. I walked into Supervisor Grant's office and knocked on the door.

"Supervisor Grant, I haven't been feeling well lately. I'd like to take a month off for a full checkup."

Charles Grant looked up at me and set his pen down. "A month?" "Yeah. I've been getting dizzy a lot lately. The doctor said-" "Emily Lane," he cut me off, "do you know what time it is? It's the end of the quarter. Everyone's rushing projects, and you want a whole month off?"

"I really am not feeling well..."

"There are over two hundred people in this company. Who doesn't have some kind of health issue? Can't you go on the weekend? Do you really need a whole month?"

I stood there without saying a word. Charles leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers on the desk. "And you should know your position is one of the easiest to replace. If you take a month off, I can't promise your job will still be here when you come back."

I swallowed it. "Then can I take one week first?"

"A week?" He frowned. "Fine. But hand over your work properly. Don't cause trouble for anyone else."

I turned to leave. "Hold on." I stopped. Charles flipped through a file. "Finish the setup plan for Friday's annual gala before you go."

"My leave starts tomorrow..."

"You can finish the plan today. It won't affect your leave tomorrow. Just stay a little late."

I didn't argue anymore. When I got back to my desk, Fiona Lewis leaned over. "You're taking leave? How long?"

"A week."

"Wow, a whole week." Fiona's tone was somewhere between concern and gloating. "So the admin purchasing work on your plate is getting dumped on me?"

"Probably."

"Fine." Fiona sighed. "More work for me again. Emily Lane, have you ever worked out how much money gets docked when you take a day off? You only make 1,600 dollars a month."

I ignored her.

"I'm saying this because I care," Fiona said in a lower voice. "You know Supervisor Grant already has it out for you. Now that you're taking leave, he might really replace you."

"Then let him."

I meant it.