Reborn Before Losing My $30 Billion Trust Fund

My father gave me a choice: inherit the family's $30 billion trust fund, or take a 0-0,500 monthly allowance. I chose the allowance without a second thought.

I wasn't worried. But my roommate Gerald was losing his mind.

In my past life, I'd chosen to inherit the $30 billion and Gerald had used my family trust to take our entire class on a trip to Las Vegas.

In a single night, he blew through every cent. The family business went bankrupt, and my father, overcome with rage, died of a heart attack.

I went to Gerald and demanded he pay it back. He just hid behind my girlfriend Monica, looking sorry for himself.

"Dallas, you can't blame me just because your family went broke."

Monica kicked me so hard she cracked my ribs, then pointed her finger at me.

"Dallas, you're the one who threw it all away gambling. And now you're framing Gerald? Have you no shame?"

When I tried to hire a private investigator to look into it, Gerald ran me over with his car.

Monica and every single classmate testified on his behalf, swearing I'd thrown myself at the vehicle on purpose.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day I had to make my choice.

It was the week before graduation. Gerald stood up in class and proposed a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate.

"Everyone, let's hit Vegas before we graduate my treat, all expenses covered!"

His words sent a shiver down my spine. The memory of shattering bones hadn't quite faded yet.

That's when it hit me. I'd been reborn.

The moment Gerald said it, the whole class erupted.

"That's what we're talking about old money!"

"If we're going to Vegas, we have to hit the casino! I've seen the ads forever but never actually been!"

Gerald flashed his most dazzling smile. "Then the casino it is!"

Then his gaze drifted to me. He walked over and draped an arm around my shoulder.

"Dallas, I heard the Franklin family has a VIP card at the casino. Lend it to us, man. Let everyone get the full five-star treatment."

My expression went cold. In my past life, everything had started the moment Gerald asked for that card.

He'd used it as a pretense to quietly pocket the Zurich Bank card tied to my father's $30 billion trust fund.

It wasn't until a court clerk called my phone to inform me the company had filed for bankruptcy that I realized the money Gerald had been throwing around all night was my family's trust fund.

When I showed up at Gerald's place to demand repayment, he hid behind Monica with the most pitiful look on his face.

"Dallas, you can't blame me just because your family went bankrupt."

My girlfriend Monica kicked me so hard she cracked my ribs, then screamed at me.

"Dallas, you're the one who gambled it all away. Now you're trying to pin it on Gerald? You're disgusting!"

When I tried to hire a private investigator, Gerald got in his car and drove straight at me running me over again and again until I stopped breathing.

Afterward, Monica and every classmate testified that my family had gone under and I'd snapped. That I'd thrown myself in front of the car on purpose.

My father had also passed away from a heart attack brought on by the stress of it all.

I reached mechanically into my bag. My fingertips found the cold metal of the card. I wrapped my hand around it tight.

When I didn't respond, Gerald grinned and hooked his arm around my neck.

"Dallas, come on. Let us borrow it for a bit. It's not like you're losing anything!"

"Sorry, that card belongs to my father. I can't just lend it out." I pushed the VIP card back to the bottom of my bag.

Gerald's smile dropped.

"You're going to inherit your dad's company sooner or later anyway. Why are you keeping score between family?"

Monica snatched my bag and turned it upside down. Everything spilled across the floor my phone, my Switch, my tablet.

She spotted the gold card instantly, picked it up, and held it out to Gerald.

"There it is. Just take it."

When Gerald took it, his fingers lingered over Monica's hand.

"Monica always gets it. Dallas, you could really learn something from her."

Then something else caught his eye. He stared at the console on the floor.

"Wait, is that a Switch 2? I heard those sold out everywhere. I've been trying to get one forever."

Monica caught the look in his eyes and bent down to pick it up, pressing it into Gerald's arms.

"Take that too. Dallas is obviously done with it."

"Thanks, Monica." Gerald's face lit up.

I grabbed both the console and the card right out of his hands. "Sorry. Neither of those are available."

Monica's expression curdled. She grabbed my arm. "Dallas, when did you get so petty?"

"Petty?"

I turned and slapped her across the face.

The crack of the slap rang through the classroom. Monica stumbled back two steps, her hand flying to her cheek, her carefully styled bangs falling loose. Her eyes went wide, like she couldn't believe what had just happened. The rhinestones on her nails caught the sunlight.

"Dallas! You actually hit me!" Her shriek was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

I shook out my stinging hand. "That's for overstepping. What gave you the right to hand my things to someone else?"

The classroom exploded.

"Dallas, have you lost it?"

"It's just a game console seriously?"

"He hit his own girlfriend!"

"Rich kids think they can do anything!"

Gerald rushed to steady Monica, then turned on me. "Dallas, Monica was just trying to do something nice for everyone. What is your problem?"

I picked my things up off the floor and calmly tucked the VIP card into my pocket. "My position is simple. Not lending it."

Monica shook Gerald off and charged at me. "Dallas! Give that card to Gerald right now and apologize to both of us, or we're done. I don't want a boyfriend who's this small-minded!"

"Give it back? It was mine to begin with. Give it back to who, exactly?"

I stepped past her reach. A small smile tugged at my lips. "If you want to break up, fine. Saves me a breakup gift."

That set her off completely. Monica was shaking. "You you think I care about your money?"

"Don't care about it?" I glanced at the Cartier watch on her wrist. "Then hand back the birthday present I got you last week."

Her face went white. Her free hand instinctively moved to cover the watch.

The looks on everyone's faces around us turned complicated.

Class president Rafael shoved back his chair and slammed his hand on the desk. "Dallas, you're being completely selfish! Gerald is paying for everyone to go to Vegas and you can't do one thing for the group?"

"Exactly," other voices piled on. "Always acted so laid-back, but when it matters he shows his real colors."

I looked around the room. Familiar faces, but strangers to me now. These were the same people who'd stood in a courtroom in my past life and said I'd killed myself.

"Gerald's taking you to Vegas. Go ask Gerald for what you need. Why are you coming to me?"

Gerald stepped forward again. "If we use your VIP card, all our spending counts toward your points and moves you up a tier. It's a win for everyone."

Monica pressed close to Gerald's side. The pain in her cheek seemed to have disappeared entirely.

"He's so thoughtful. Even after how Dallas just acted, Gerald's still looking out for him."

"Since everyone wants to go to Vegas so badly..." I reached into my wallet and slowly pulled out a card. "Fine. Here."

Gerald's face lit up. He reached for it.

I flipped it over.

It was a campus meal card.

"Are you messing with me?" Gerald's face darkened.

"Right back at you." I flipped the card through my fingers. "Isn't that exactly what you were doing to me trying to guilt me into it?"

Monica grabbed the box of chalk off the teacher's desk and hurled it at me. "Dallas! I must have been blind to ever get involved with you!"

I stepped aside. Chalk scattered across the floor.

When Gerald realized I wasn't giving up the card, his expression went dark.

He signaled to the guys around him. A handful of them moved to surround me almost immediately.

"Dallas." Gerald dropped his voice, his eyes turning cold. "Don't push this. It's just a card. Do you really want to make this ugly?"

I held my bag in front of me. "What when borrowing doesn't work, you try taking it?"

"Taking it? We're just helping you come to your senses."

Rafael shoved me from behind. I stumbled and hit the edge of a desk. My bag fell, everything scattering across the floor again.

Monica stood off to the side with a smirk. "Serves you right."

A few guys kicked my textbooks aside. One of them deliberately stepped on my Switch. The screen cracked with a sharp snap.

"What are you doing?!" I pushed back to my feet, but someone pressed down hard on both my shoulders.

"Relax, Dallas." Gerald smiled, reaching toward my pocket. "We're all classmates here. What's the big deal about a card?"

I knocked his hand away. "Back off."

That did it. Gerald's expression turned ugly. He grabbed me by the collar. "So you want to do this the hard way, huh?"

The people around us didn't step in. They egged it on.

"Hit him! What's having money got him?"

"It's a card. Get over yourself."

Gerald cocked back his fist and swung at my face.

I turned my head. His punch missed. I grabbed his wrist and twisted.

"Ah!" He let out a sharp cry and staggered back.

Monica screamed. "Dallas! You're going to hit him now too?!"

She lunged at me. I pushed her back and pulled out my phone, dialing 911.

"I'm on the third floor of Building 5 at Whinston University. Someone is attempting to rob me, damaging my property, and assaulting me."

Monica's face went pale. She threw herself at me. "Are you insane?!"

She ripped the phone from my hand and, without a second thought, hurled it out the window.

It hit the pavement below and the screen exploded.

The classroom went dead silent.

But what no one expected was that in less than ten minutes, they heard sirens from the street below.

When the officers walked in, Gerald and Monica went white.

"Who called this in?" The lead officer looked around the room.

"I did." I raised my hand. "They took my belongings and threw my phone out the window."

The officer looked at everything on the floor, then at my cracked Switch, then at the shattered phone on the ground below. His brow furrowed. "What happened here?"

Gerald immediately put on his most innocent face. "Officer, this is a huge misunderstanding. We were just messing around!"

Monica was right behind him. "Exactly, just friends goofing off. It's nothing!"

The other students backed them up one by one.

I looked around calmly. Same as my past life. Every single one of them.

The officer's expression didn't change. "Throwing a phone, assault this is what you call goofing off?"

Mr. Tim, our professor, came rushing in with a stormy look on his face. "What on earth is going on in here?!"

The officer gave him a quick rundown. Mr. Tim listened, then turned to Gerald with a hard stare. "You again."

Gerald tried to argue, but the evidence was right there on the floor.

In the end, under police oversight, Gerald and Monica were made to reimburse me for the phone and the Switch, and to apologize in front of the class.

As we left the office, Monica grabbed my arm and hissed through her teeth. "Dallas. You'll regret this."

I looked at the rage twisting her face and, for some reason, I laughed.

"I'll be waiting."

When I got back to the dorm to pack, I noticed someone had gone through my things. But nothing was missing, so I let it go.

I'd barely stepped off campus when a black Maybach pulled up in front of me.

"Mr. Dallas, your father has urgent business. He needs you home."

The family butler, Mr. Johnson, didn't wait for a response. He pulled me straight into the car.

That evening, my father slid two documents across the table. Behind his gold-framed glasses, his eyes were sharp as a blade.

"Dallas. This is your last chance to choose. The $30 billion family trust fund or a 0-0,500 monthly allowance."

"The full amount has already been deposited into your Zurich Bank account. Sign the papers and the money is yours. The business is yours."

The crystal chandelier in the boardroom scattered harsh light behind my father. I squinted. For a moment I was back there headlights coming straight at me, the sound of bones breaking under tires.

Gerald's grin as I died was still fresh in my memory.

"I'll take the 0-0,500 a month."

I pulled the document on the right side of the table toward me and signed my name.

My father's pen hit the hardwood with a sharp clack. He shot to his feet. "Have you lost your mind?"

I looked up at him and smiled. "I'm still young. I don't have enough experience. I'm not ready to manage something the size of a $30 billion fund."

"Besides you're in great health, Dad. I've got time to learn."

My father studied me for a long moment without saying a word.

"If you take the 0-0,500, that's all you get. Not a cent more per month. You're sure about this?"

I nodded again to confirm.

He could see I meant it. His voice came out flat. "Johnson. Freeze Dallas's Zurich Bank card."

The next morning, I fished out the two fake cards Gerald had swapped in and tossed them in the trash. Then I followed him and the others out to Las Vegas.

My father was a regular at this casino. He'd brought me here more than once. Even the guys at the door knew my face.

The manager jogged over to greet me. "Mr. Dallas, you're on your own today?"

"I heard some of my classmates were here. Figured I'd come take a look."

He nodded along eagerly. "A group of young people did come in this morning, actually. So those were your classmates, Mr. Dallas! Had I known, we'd have made sure they were taken care of properly."

I waved it off. "It's fine. Just show me to them."

He pressed a stack of ten chips into my palm with a grin. "These are on me, Mr. Dallas. Enjoy yourself."

I tossed one in the air and caught it. Each chip was worth a hundred thousand dollars. I smiled and took them.

The main floor of the casino was blazing with lights, loud and electric with energy.

The moment I walked in, someone at Gerald's table spotted me.

Then came the laughter.

"Well, look who it is." Gerald swirled a champagne flute, the diamond cufflinks at his wrist glinting in the light. "Mr. Dallas, heir to the Franklin fortune. Change your mind about joining us?"

Monica was leaning against him, fresh rhinestones on her nails tapping the stack of chips in front of her. "Should have just lent us the VIP card when we asked. Now you show up like this..." She drew out the pause. "Don't tell me you're here to apologize?"

"Probably just jealous seeing us playing big," Rafael called out, slapping the table with a laugh. "Little late to figure out which side to be on, don't you think?"

I unbuttoned my jacket and took a seat at the next table over.

The dealer was about to start when Gerald kicked back his chair and swaggered over. A cloud of cheap cologne mixed with cigarettes and alcohol hit me before he arrived.

"Drop the act." He threw a stack of chips down on my table with a crash, the pieces rolling to my side. "Get on your knees and maybe I'll let you play with a few of these."

The casino manager moved toward us. I raised a hand to stop him and gently nudged the chips back across the felt.

"Gerald you know why casinos put carpet on the floors?"