BTC
$0.00
0.00%
Ben pulled into an old motel on the outskirts of town—the same one where a man who had long been written off as having “committed suicide” once lived. The deceased's room had not yet been rented out, and the motel owner allowed him to look around, thinking Ben was from an insurance company.
Ben knew only the basics of the case, but something in the paperwork bothered him — it was too quiet. The kind of quiet that usually hides something important, even though the police reports made everything look too neat: a lonely programmer who collected equipment for mining cryptocurrency and had small debts.
The room smelled of dust and stale air. The floor creaked, the bed had no mattress, and the curtains had been removed. It was an ordinary place where life could disappear unnoticed.
Ben was about to leave when he noticed a crack under the windowsill. It wasn't from moisture, but from an impact. He pressed it, and the board gave way. Inside was an old phone without a SIM card, wrapped in a plastic bag.
Unwrapping the package, Ben tried to turn on the gadget. The phone turned on only on the third try, and a note opened on the screen. Only twelve words, unrelated to each other. Ben froze — it was familiar. Too familiar to be a coincidence.
He didn't check his find right away. Taking the phone, he hid it in a drawer in his office desk and didn't touch it for weeks.
After the accident, when his van's brakes failed and he crashed into a bus stop where seven people were waiting for the bus, he couldn't sleep peacefully. Every little thing cut him inside, and he remembered those words again. He put them in his wallet, almost mechanically. The balance appeared instantly, and the man felt relieved. So, someone had left this money not for escape or luxury. For peace. For someone who would find it and not take it for themselves.
At first, Ben planned to help only a few people. But everything turned out differently. He paid for an operation for a child whose mother was already preparing for the worst. He paid off the debts of a man who was living in his car after going bankrupt. He anonymously financed a shelter that was about to close due to lack of funds. He saw how other people's lives were changing and realized that he was helping far more people than he had imagined he could afford to help.
Before leaving his wife, Ben left Emily an access key. If she understood, it meant she was ready. If not, then that was how it was meant to be.
Some things in this short life are found only by those who have nothing left to lose. And that is why they give more than they planned. And that is why the crypt was convenient.
