The Kids Made Me A Billionaire; The Cashback System

The Birthday Cake With No Money

I stared at the new Mission.

[MISSION: Tomorrow is Grace's real birthday. She has never had a birthday cake from her mother. Make her one.]

We didn't sleep that night we saved the kids on the old road. No one could sleep.

Not even Ben. He kept waking up shouting "ROAR! GOLD BARK!" and then falling back asleep on Leo, who was now too big to be a lap dog but still tried.

Lily wouldn't let go of my shirt. Grace kept checking if Gold was still breathing because he ate too much cake at the birthday party. Tom was counting the street dogs that followed us home - there were 12 now, sleeping in the hotel parking lot because Gold told them to stay.

Victoria was in the living room with Emma, both under one blanket, looking at the live footage from her car. 8 cameras, 4K, night vision, Johnson Sr. bleeding, his sons surrounding my kids.

She looked up when I came in. "I sent it to the police commissioner. And to my lawyers. Johnson Sr. will be in interrogation by morning. But..."

"But he will get out. Because he's Johnson."

She nodded. "50x for 6 more days. Then he is 100x again. And he will come back."

I knew. That's how these families work. Money buys time.

My phone, which had been quiet since the street fight, buzzed softly. A Soft blue buzz. It was a reminder.

[MISSION: Tomorrow is Grace's real birthday. She has never had a birthday cake from her mother. Make her one.]

[RULES: $0 spending. No cashback. No system. Just you. Just love.]

[REWARD: Unknown - System says this one is special]

[TIME LEFT: 9:23:11 - Grace's birthday is 8 AM]

No money. The system that made me $30 billion was telling me to spend $0.

Grace's real birthday. I had forgotten. Sarah always handled birthdays. Last year, Sarah bought a $20 grocery cake and left before Grace blew her candles because Mark called.

Grace never had a cake made by her parents. Only store cakes.

I went to the kitchen of the Presidential Suite by 3 AM. The biggest kitchen I had ever seen. And I had never baked anything in my life. My cooking was noodles and boiled eggs.

Victoria followed me, barefoot, hair messy, no ice queen.

"You can't bake," she whispered, smiling.

"I can try."

"I can help. Emma and I bake when she misses her dad."

So at 3 AM, the $30B man and the $900M ice queen were in a kitchen, covered in flour, trying to bake a birthday cake for a 7-year-old girl who didn't even know what was going on.

We failed 4 times.

First cake burned. Second cake fell. Third cake tasted like salt because I used salt instead of sugar. Victoria laughed so hard she snorted - the first time I ever heard her snort.

On the 5th try, at 5:42 AM, we made it. Lopsided, pink frosting crooked, with 7 candles that kept falling over. We wrote with frosting: HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACE - FROM DADDY & MOMMY VICTORIA!

Victoria froze when I wrote Mommy Victoria.

"Too much?" I asked.

She looked at the cake, flour on her cheek again. "No. It's... Emma never had a sister. I never had a daughter like Grace. If she wants..."

Before she could finish, small feet. Grace, awake early, in her pajamas, holding Gold's ear because she was scared to walk alone.

She saw the kitchen. The mess. The cake. Us.

"Daddy? What is that?"

I picked her up, flour and all.

"Your birthday cake, princess. We made it. No money. Just us. Because you are not a store cake kid anymore. You are a homemade cake kid."

She looked at the cake. At the crooked letters. At Victoria who was wiping her hands nervously.

"Is... is it really for me? Not from a store?"

"Only for you."

She started crying. That deep, 7 year old crying when someone finally sees you.

She hugged me, then hugged Victoria, getting frosting on Victoria's black shirt.

"Thank you, Mommy Victoria," she whispered.

Victoria froze, then cried too. Ice queen melted.

At 8 AM sharp, all kids woke up. Lily, Tom, Ben, Emma. Gold barking, Leo trying to eat the cake before candles.

We sang. Off-key. Davis, the janitor, stood at the door in his uniform, holding a tiny gift - a handmade doll from his daughter for Grace. He was invited to birthdays now.

Grace blew the 7 candles. One wish.

"What did you wish?" Ben shouted.

Grace smiled, frosting on her face: "I wished Mommy Victoria stays forever."

My phone buzzed. A new sound. Like a heart beating.

[MISSION COMPLETE: $0 SPENT, 100% LOVE GIVEN]

[SYSTEM EVOLUTION: 250x -> PERMANENT 250x UNLOCKED. NO LONGER NEEDS 7-DAY LIMIT]

[REWARD: 500x FOR 24 HOURS - One-time use - For when you need to save everyone]

[REWARD: Grace's Confidence +100 - She will never feel abandoned again]

[REWARD: Victoria Sterling - Relationship Status: Fiancee Candidate Unlocked]

Victoria read it over my shoulder and whispered: "Fiancee candidate? Your system is bolder than you."

Before I could answer, the hotel intercom: "Sir! Police downstairs! They have Johnson Sr.! And... and Sarah is with them! She says she wants to see Grace on her birthday!"

Grace's smile disappeared.

The birthday cake was still on the table, half-eaten. And Sarah, who never made her a cake, wanted to come up on the day we finally did.

TO BE CONTINUED...