Chapter 4

I froze. At first, I thought the vendor was trying to frame me.

But he slapped the bills onto the counter, and a small crowd quickly gathered.

One person held a bill up to the light. Another rubbed the paper between their fingers.

They all shook their heads.

“They’re fake.”

I spent the entire night crouched outside the mall, clutching the stack of counterfeit bills.

The next morning, the moment the coffee shop opened, I stormed inside and slammed the bills onto the counter.