Being the unlucky bastard I was, my parents died in an accident when I was 19.
So, yeah—I became an orphan at 19. But I didn't become some rich heir after their death. Nope. Whatever shares or assets they had? None of that came to me. It all went to someone else. Don't ask me how.
The only thing keeping me afloat was a part-time job at some company. What I didn't know was that my life was about to take a serious nosedive.
One night, I was cleaning up my apartment when I heard a knock on the door.
"Who's there?" I asked.
A deep voice replied, "Please step out of the apartment."
"Why?"
"Will you come out, or should we drag you out?"
"Say the reason or I'm calling the cops."
That was the last thing I said before I heard a grunt—and then *boom*—the damn door exploded open. I mean literally. Before I could even react, I was surrounded by these burly guys in suits. One of them stepped up and knocked me out cold. Next thing I knew, I was being dragged away.
When I woke up, I was already in a holding cell.
I panicked. I was sure those guys who grabbed me weren't cops. But somehow—I was now inside a police cell. As I was trying to make sense of it, a cop walked up and opened the door.
"Oh thank god you're here," I blurted. "I don't know why I'm in this cell. Whatever you think—I wasn't with those guys."
"Yeah, we figured as much from the looks of it," the cop said casually. "But you're not here for that, are you? Money embezzlement at your age? Tsk tsk. Boy, you're in for a rough ride."
"Embezzlement? What embezzlement? From where?"
"Kid, come on. You're not fooling anyone with that pathetic acting."
"What acting? I'm telling the truth!"
"Shut up, kid. From this point on, anything you say can and will be used against you."
Then I was escorted to a black bus—the kind they use to transport criminals.
Inside the bus, it was just me, a police guard, and the driver. The whole ride to the courthouse was dead silent, except for the sound of traffic outside.
Now, you might think I had some idea of what was going on at this point. But nope—not even a clue. I didn't know that until we arrived at the courthouse.