Chapter 256: Donations
"There really is a website?"
While Walter was fuming, Pinkman sneakily pulled out a laptop and searched for the site Junior had created. To his surprise, he actually found it. He nudged Frank and gestured at the screen.
Frank smacked Pinkman lightly on the head and shot him a glare.
Walter was already that agitated, and Pinkman was still messing around—he clearly wasn't helping.
"This is nothing more than online begging! Holding your hand out to the whole world!" Walter snapped.
"This might actually be a good thing," Frank said calmly. "You're always worried the money can't be used publicly. Well, this website of Junior's..."
"I know exactly what you're getting at. You want me to funnel all my money through that site. That's absolutely not happening," Walter interrupted, firmly.
"I will not let my family think there's some mysterious benefactor supporting us—someone we should be grateful to. That money is mine! I earned it. With my own hands!" he shouted, pointing to himself, emotional.
"Relax. Don't get worked up—I understand how you feel," Frank said, trying to calm him.
"Sorry..." Walter finally sat down and took a deep breath.
Walter, in his youth, had been proud and sharp, maybe even arrogant.
But after life beat him down and he spent decades teaching, reality had dulled his edges. He had become a cautious, somewhat timid middle-aged man.
But now, with everything happening—cancer, dismembering bodies—any one of those would change a man. For Walter, they lit a fire.
He had proven his value. He'd earned real money, and in this world, money meant power and dignity.
Slowly, he was reclaiming his youthful pride. Outwardly, he looked the same, but inside, he was standing tall again—and growing more sensitive to anything that questioned his worth.
Back when he was still just a teacher and money was tight, he used to sneak out to work at a car wash. He told his family he was working overtime at school, but in reality, he was scrubbing cars—sometimes even for his own unruly students. No one knew, not even Skyler.
No one could understand how repressed and humiliated he had felt. That's why he was so sensitive about this now.
On top of that, he was undergoing treatment—taking drugs to fight side effects like hair loss, nausea, appetite loss... but those were minor. The real problem was emotional instability. He became irritable, quick to anger, and prone to mood swings.
Touch his nerve, and he'd explode.
"Walter, the website Junior made—it's actually a good thing," Frank said again.
"Skyler manages all the family's finances, and you can't touch your own money. But the family still needs to eat, and she's pregnant, remember? She could go into labor any day now, and there's not even money for diapers."
"Putting money into that site can relieve her stress. You don't want something to happen to your unborn daughter, do you? A mother's emotions and stress directly affect the baby."
"Besides, Junior built the site himself. It's his own way of helping the family. That's a milestone in his life. You should support him, not shut him down."
"In a couple of days, I'll go to your house and settle the treatment expenses. Then, Junior can take the site down. Until then, the money there can help ease your situation," Frank said.
"...Alright. We'll do it your way. Without you, I honestly wouldn't know what to do. Thank you." Walter had calmed down, and Frank's reasoning made sense.
"No need for thanks between us. But you better be prepared—now that we've solved the production bottleneck, and Pinkman's learning the method, large-scale manufacturing will start soon. There'll be a lot more money coming in."
"You're stashing all your cash at home, right? If you don't figure out a way to move it, you'll end up with so much money you won't even have space to hide it," Frank added.
"I'll think of something," Walter nodded.
"I should get going," he said after chatting a while and glanced at the time before heading home.
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But just a couple of days later, Walter came back to Frank, visibly stressed.
"I donated to the site, and now my family's getting suspicious," he said quickly.
He had been anonymously transferring money to Junior's donation website—over a thousand dollars over a few days.
Compared to the $200,000 Walter had hidden away, a thousand was nothing. But for an average household, it was a significant amount. It didn't go unnoticed by Skyler and Junior.
While donations could be made anonymously, partial details like the last few characters of the account name or address still showed.
Even with most of the info masked, that consistent pattern stood out like a sore thumb.
Others were donating a few bucks here and there—nobody was dropping over a thousand unless they were family or crazy.
It's like seeing a beggar on the street. Even if you're feeling generous, you toss them a few bucks. Ten is already a lot. Who just casually pulls out hundreds of dollars and hands them over like they're Brewster from Brewster's Millions?
Clearly, this donor knew Walter—and was very close.
Given Walter's job as a teacher, most of his acquaintances weren't exactly rich.
Skyler thought it through and eventually suspected Gretchen and Elliott.
They were the only wealthy people Walter was still somewhat connected to. Worth millions, a thousand dollars to them was pocket change.
Skyler guessed that since Walter had refused to work for them or accept their help, maybe they found Junior's site on their own and were using it to help anonymously.
When she shared her suspicions with Walter, he lost it.
Walter hated Gretchen and Elliott—believing they stole his research and used it to build their billion-dollar empire.
After what happened at Elliott's birthday party, Walter had sworn never to deal with them again.
Now Skyler was saying the money he'd personally earned came from them?
To make it worse, she even suggested he call to thank them! That was pouring gas on the fire. No way Walter could take that.
But he also couldn't tell her the truth—that it was his money all along.
So he swallowed it, said nothing, and just seethed in silence.
Skyler, meanwhile, looked at his outburst and was completely baffled.
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