Page 11 of Zen's Crash

“Of course not. I used a soft wallet because I wanted my cryptocurrency to be accessible to me online.”

A feeling of dread rises in my chest—soft wallets carry a higher risk of being hacked. “Which soft wallet did you use?”

“I used CryptoLock. I did my research. It’s a very secure online storage wallet.”

Some of the anxiety twisting in my gut loosens. “You’re right, CryptoLock is pretty secure. What device did you use to set up the account?”

“My laptop. I brought it with me because I knew you would start by looking there first.” She unzips her backpack, pulls out her laptop and hands it to me.

“Is it okay if I keep this for a few days?”

She nods, “I have my old one that I can use for now.” Looking all kinds of anxious, she asks, “What do you think the chances of recovering my cryptocurrency are? I need that money to put with my scholarship to pay for my first semester of college within the next thirty days. If I miss my payment window, they will automatically disenroll me.”

“Don’t worry. Whatever you need for the first semester, I’ll cover. Just let me know and we’ll get it paid. It’ll buy us time to figure this out.”

Tears spring into her eyes, “Thanks, Cody. You’re the best big brother ever.”

“You know I make pretty good money now. Even if we don’t get your crypto back, I can still help you with your tuition.”

“That’s really nice of you, but after my scholarship and what I earn, I’m still short almost twenty grand a year.”

“That’s a lot of money, but I can definitely pay that if it comes down to it. Either way, you’re going to your dream college, and you don’t have to rely on Mom and Dad pulling money from their retirement to make it happen.”

Her hand comes up to rub at her chest. “This has been stressing me out to the point that I’ve been having chest pains.”

“We’d best get you to a doctor.”

Her head jerks up to stare at me with surprise. “No, bro. I don’t need a doctor. My chest hurts like I’m heartbroken, not like I’m having an actual heart attack or something. I just need my money back. I worked hard for that nest egg.”

“You sure about that? I only ask because this isn’t the time to zig when I should zag.”

“I promise you that I’m fine physically. I’m just freaking about losing most of the money I spent years earning.”

“Most?”

A ghost of a smile curls up the corners of her mouth. “I’ve always kept five grand in my savings account for emergencies, five hundred bucks in my underwear drawer, and another hundred bucks in the cash app I use. I’m not flat-ass busted as in I can’t buy myself a burger. I just can’t really afford collegewithout relying on you or our parents unless I can recover my cryptocurrency. Plus it pisses me off to think of someone else frittering my money away on whatever the hell strikes their fancy. I want my money back and coming to you was my best chance of recovering it.”

I just shake my head. “Aren’t you a hard-working hustler, just like your older brother? I gotta say, you’ve got me beat when it comes to emergency money, you’ve really thought things through.”

She swallows thickly, “We went through a few hard years with our parents. All I know is that I don’t like feeling hungry and being too poor and helpless to do anything about it.”

“You know that it wasn’t their fault, right? Dad was out of work for a few years because of back surgeries and Mom really had to kick it into high gear to keep a roof over our heads.” I reach up to scratch the back of my neck. “I honestly thought you were too young to remember that.”

“All I remember is that Dad was in bed all the time, and when Mom was at work sometimes, I didn’t eat all day, you would take care of me when you got home from school.”

“I did the best I could under the circumstances,” I reply.

“My favorite days were the weekends, because you always made pancakes. Remember?”

Glancing away, I nod. What I don’t tell her is that pancake mix was cheap and easy for a fifteen-year-old to make.

“Look,” she says. “I’m not emotionally scarred by what went down back then, I understand it wasn’t neglect, and I never went properly hungry. I just don’t want to find myself in thatsituation again where I’m helpless. I’m a big girl who can fend for herself. The problem is, I don’t even know what I did wrong, so I can’t fix it in the future.”

“I get it. We’ll keep our focus on finding your crypto and worry about everything else later. Meanwhile, you need to contact your college and get the exact amount I need to pay and where I’m supposed to send it. Got it?”

She nods. “Yeah. And thanks for everything you’re doing to help me. I appreciate it more than you know.”

“I’m your big brother. I’d be insulted if you didn’t come to me first, especially with an IT-type problem.”

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