Chapter 10 - WHEN THE WEALTH DIEDThe explosion tore through the underground chamber.
David woke beneath falling stone.
Dust filled his lungs.
He couldn't see Stella.
“Stella!”
No answer.
“Samuel!”
Nothing.
Then he heard footsteps.
Slow.
Heavy.
He turned.
His father stood in front of him.
Or what remained of him.
The man's body was covered in black veins.
His eyes were empty.
But when he spoke, his voice was gentle.
“David.”
David began crying.
“Dad.”
“I tried to protect you.”
“What happened?”
“I failed.”
“Can it end?”
His father looked toward the black coin.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“You already know.”
David looked at the coin.
He remembered Adrian's words.
The gift.
The contract.
The receiver.
The giver.
He finally understood.
It had never been about money.
It had always been about choice.
His father had chosen wealth.
Linda had chosen silence.
Stella had chosen desperation.
And Adrian had built his entire existence around exploiting those choices.
David picked up the coin.
It burned his palm.
His father looked at him.
“You must give it back.”
“To whom?”
“To Adrian.”
David climbed out of the chamber.
The old house stood above him.
But it was changing.
The luxury was disappearing.
The expensive furniture was cracking.
Gold jewelry turned black.
Designer clothing rotted on the floor.
The SUV outside rusted before his eyes.
Stella was standing in the courtyard.
Adrian faced her.
“Give me the coin.”
David stepped forward.
“No.”
Adrian turned.
“You think you've won?”
“No.”
David held out the coin.
“I think you forgot one thing.”
“What?”
“The contract says the receiver can return the gift.”
Adrian's smile disappeared.
David threw the coin into his hands.
The moment Adrian touched it, the sky exploded with thunder.
Black smoke poured from the ground.
Every window in the house shattered.
The ledger burst into flames.
Names screamed from the pages.
One by one, the names disappeared.
Adrian dropped to his knees.
“No.”
His skin began aging.
His hair turned white.
His body shriveled.
For the first time, he looked mortal.
“Stop!”
David stared.
“You wanted the debt paid.”
“I was the debt!”
“You made everyone else pay for you.”
Adrian screamed.
The ground beneath him split.
Hands emerged.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
The hands of everyone who had accepted his fortune.
They dragged him downward.
He clawed at the earth.
“David!”
David looked away.
The final scream faded.
Silence returned.
Stella collapsed into David's arms.
The black mark over her heart disappeared.
Samuel stood nearby.
Then the house groaned.
David looked up.
Every bundle of cash scattered across the bedroom windows turned into dry leaves.
Gold jewelry became dust.
The furniture rotted.
The magnificent house became an empty shell.
Outside, Stella's brand-new SUV vanished.
In its place lay rusted metal.
David looked at Stella.
She was crying.
“We lost everything.”
David shook his head.
“No.”
He looked toward the sunrise.
“We lost what was never ours.”
Behind them, the front door opened.
Their father stood inside.
His body was no longer corrupted.
He looked peaceful.
He smiled.
“You were always worth more than the money.”
Then he disappeared.
By morning, police arrived after neighbors reported screams.
They found David sitting on the dusty floor.
Stella was unconscious beside him.
Linda was dead.
Samuel was gone.
There were no luxury cars.
No gold.
No cash.
No evidence of Adrian Vale.
Only an abandoned house filled with dust.
The official investigation concluded that the family had suffered an unexplained biological event.
A bizarre deterioration of organic matter.
No scientific explanation was found.
But the neighbors told another story.
They claimed they heard voices in the house for three nights afterward.
They claimed that every midnight, a man could be seen standing beneath the old tree.
And they claimed that anyone who tried to photograph him found nothing on the image...
except a single black coin.
David never became wealthy again.
He never wanted to.
Years later, he lived quietly in a small apartment.
He worked.
He paid his bills.
He grew older.
He learned to sleep without fear.
And every year, on the anniversary of that terrible night, he returned to the ruins of the old house.
One evening, Stella joined him.
They stood beneath the ancient tree.
“I still dream about the money,” she said.
David smiled faintly.
“So do I.”
“What do you dream?”
“That I take it.”
Stella looked at him.
“And then?”
David looked toward the darkness beyond the trees.
“Then I wake up before I touch it.”
They stood silently.
Then Stella noticed something beneath the tree.
A small object.
Half-buried in the soil.
Her face turned pale.
“David.”
He looked down.
A black coin lay in the dirt.
David didn't touch it.
Neither did Stella.
They stepped backward.
The wind began to blow.
And somewhere deep inside the ruined house...
someone whispered:
“Round two.”
David looked toward the darkness.
The whisper came again.
“Who said the curse ended?”
The black coin slowly turned by itself.
On its surface appeared a new name.
Not Stella.
Not David.
Not Samuel.
A name they had never seen before.
And beneath it...
a date.
May you like
Tomorrow.
THE END.
