It was the lottery story of the year. In 2021 Lea Fiega of Southwick, Massachusetts, gave what she thought was a losing scratch-off ticket back to the store owner to throw away.

Abhi Shah, whose parents owned the Lucky Stop convenience store in Southwick told CBS Boston that his mom threw the ticket away.

Lea’s lunchtime purchase included a $30 Massachusetts State Lottery “Diamond Millions” ticket, which she hurriedly scratched, frowned at the result, and handed it back to Abhi’s mom.

“And my mom took the ticket and put it behind the counter,” Abhi said to WBZ-TV's Ken MacLeod.

But Abhi came across the ticket in his down time days later, and discovered matching 16s, to the tune of $1 million before taxes.

Abhi had his heart set on a Tesla before he realized they could identify the ticket owner.

“I decided that I want to buy a Tesla first and then we’ll see what I’m going to do the rest of the money,” he said.

However, Fiega is a regular customer at the convenience store, and the family who runs it knew the ticket was hers. And the only reason she had surrendered it was because she mistakenly thought it was a loser.

Abhi Shah’s parents talk about their decision to return the $1 million ticket to its owner Lea Fiega.

There was a family pow-wow the next morning, which included Abhi’s grandparents in their native India.

Winner Lea Fiega is reunited with her $1 million with this check from the Massachusetts Lottery.

“My grandmother said, ‘Let’s not keep the ticket. It’s not right. Just give it back to them. If it’s in your luck, you’ll get it anyhow.'”

Other customers are not surprised the Shahs did the right thing.

“They’re just purely good people,” one customer said. “You can tell by just talking to them.”

And the family has been fielding congratulatory calls and interview requests from across the country.

“If I had kept that million, I wouldn’t have been this famous. So I’m glad I gave it back,” Abhi said.

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READ MORE: CBS Boston