Before she passed away, my mom confessed that I had three wealthy brothers living in the city… So I grabbed my plaid plastic tote bag, hopped on a bus, and went to look for them. But when I arrived at the police precinct and gave them their names, the officers looked at me like I was losing my mind… because my oldest brother was a financial mogul, the second was a Hollywood movie star, and the third was the most famous gamer in the country.
My mom waited until her very last month of life to tell me the truth.
The truth she had been hiding for more than twenty years.
“Autumn… you have three older brothers.”
I was sitting right next to her bed, peeling a mandarin orange while the rain beat down on the tin roof of our small house. I thought the fever was making her delirious. But she gripped my hand tightly.
“I’m not confused. They exist.”
And then she told me everything.
When she was pregnant with me, my father had an affair. His family had money. A lot of money. And when my parents wanted to split up, they forced her to leave her three boys with the paternal side because she didn’t have a job or any way to support them.
“I could only take you with me because you were a girl… and that family always only cared about having boys.”
I had never seen my mother cry like that. Not even when she was diagnosed with cancer.
“Autumn… when I’m gone… find them.”
That was the last important thing she ever asked of me.
After her funeral, I packed all my clothes into a massive red, white, and blue plaid plastic tote bag, grabbed the slip of paper where I had written my brothers’ names, and headed to New York City.
But the moment I arrived, I realized something horrible: the city was way too big. Too many cars. Too many people. Too much noise. I barely knew how to get around on my own outside of my small hometown.
So I did the only thing I could think of. The thing they always taught us back in middle school: “If you’re in trouble, look for a police officer.”
I walked into a police precinct, clutching my plastic tote bag, and handed over my birth certificate along with the names.
The officer started out calm… until he read the first name. Then he slowly lifted his gaze to look at me. Then he read the second one. And the third.
The expression on every officer’s face shifted into something incredibly bizarre. It was as if I had just told them I was the long-lost daughter of the President.
“Are these men your brothers?” one of them asked.
“That’s what my mom said.”
They stayed completely silent for a few seconds. Then, one of them immediately picked up the phone.
I didn’t understand what was happening at all. Finally, a female officer approached me slowly and asked, “Do you even know who they are?”
I shook my head. She almost laughed out of sheer shock.
“Your oldest brother is the CEO of one of the largest financial hedge funds on Wall Street.”
I felt my brain completely freeze. “And the second one?”
“An actor. A major movie star.”
“And the third?”
“A professional streamer. He has millions of followers.”
Right then, I was positive they had the wrong person. Because I came from a small town where the water still shut off twice a week. It made absolutely no sense that these people were my family.
But the records matched. All of them.
In the end, they told me they had already contacted the oldest brother and that he was on his way to pick me up. So I waited outside the precinct, clutching my plaid plastic bag.
Waiting right next to me was another guy. Shaved head. Tattooed arms. A face that practically screamed trouble. The guy started talking to me just out of the blue.
“You waiting for your family too?”
I nodded.
“I just got into a massive brawl. Sent a guy to the hospital.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I just smiled politely. He kept talking as if we had known each other for years.
“But it’s no big deal. My boss has money. They’ll definitely come pick me up in the SUV.”
And right at that moment, a black Range Rover pulled up out front. The tattooed guy smiled proudly.
“See? That’s my ride. Worth over a hundred grand.” Then he looked at my massive plastic tote bag and let out a bit of a mocking laugh. “What about you? What did your family drive here in?”
I answered honestly, “I don’t know. I’ve never seen my brothers.”
The guy looked at me strangely, as if he suddenly felt sorry for me. “Well… if you want, I can give you a ride later. Buy you a coffee or something.”
That was the moment I realized he was hitting on me.
I was just about to respond when another car rounded the corner. And the tattooed guy practically choked on his own breath.
“No freaking way! A limited-edition Rolls-Royce!”
Even the police officers turned to look. The sleek black car glided forward slowly… and stopped exactly right in front of me.
The tattooed guy’s eyes went incredibly wide. “That monster costs a fortune…”
The passenger door swung open. And a man who was incredibly tall, exceptionally elegant, and absurdly handsome stepped out of the car, looking down at a photo on his phone.
Then he lifted his eyes toward me. Toward my old hoodie. My plastic tote bag. And my sneakers covered in dust from the long journey.
The silence lasted for two seconds. Until he asked in a completely serious, commanding voice:
“Are you Autumn Song?”
And right before I could even answer him… the most famous streamer in the country leaped out of the back seat, shouting something that caused every single police officer to freeze completely on the spot.
