A SON IN LAW TURNS BILLIONAIRE AFTER DIVORCE

Chapter 27

At Sydvale City Hospital, the bright fluorescent lights of the emergency recovery room buzzed softly.

After hours of intense treatment and heart monitoring, sixty-three-year-old Mr. Park was finally out of immediate danger. The doctors had managed to stabilize his blood pressure, though he lay on the crisp white hospital bed looking completely drained, pale, and thoroughly humiliated.

Now that his life was no longer hanging in the balance, the Park family gathered around the foot of the bed, trying to figure out what on earth had just happened.

How had a man in his sixties suddenly become so... insanely, uncontrollably aggressive in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon?

Just as Daniel Park—the son—was scratching his head, the heavy door swung open and an attending physician stepped inside, holding a clipboard packed with lab results.

"Doctor!" Daniel rushed forward, his face flushed. "What happened to my father?! Is he okay? What caused his heart to nearly stop?!"

The doctor adjusted his glasses, looking back and forth between the family members with an expression of profound awkwardness.

"Well... after performing a thorough emergency blood panel," the doctor explained, tapping a pencil against the chart, "we discovered exceptionally high concentrations of a powerful, concentrated adult stimulant in his bloodstream. It’s an aggressive, specialized aphrodisiac blend. That is what triggered his severe, prolonged physical reaction and put such immense strain on his cardiovascular system."

The entire Park family stood frozen in absolute, stunned silence.

How could that possibly be?!

Mr. Park was a cheap, traditional man. He never bought expensive health supplements, let alone wild adult enhancement products! He wouldn't spend a single dime on something like that!

Unless...

Mrs. Park’s jaw suddenly dropped. Her mind flashed straight back to the gourmet seafood crate her grandson had brought into the kitchen two hours before the madness started. The lobster, the oysters, the strange, rich sauces they had scraped off the plates...

Her pale face twisted into an expression of pure, monstrous rage.

"THATTAKEOUT!" Mrs. Park shrieked, her voice echoing down the quiet hospital corridor. "LEONARD! YOU DISGUSTING, EVIL BASTARD! I WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!"

Daniel Park frowned, turning his head sharply toward his mother. "Leonard?! Who the hell is Leonard?! What does he have to do with Dad’s blood pressure?!"

Mrs. Park stammered, her face turning bright red with shame, before she finally confessed the truth. She admitted that little Jason had been grabbing packages off Leonard’s doormat, and that the entire family had happily devoured the three-thousand-dollar luxury meal just hours ago.

"It had to be him!" Daniel’s face instantly darkened into a violent shade of purple.

Instead of feeling an ounce of guilt over the fact that his own ten-year-old son had committed flat-out theft, or that his family had greedily eaten stolen food, Daniel's eyes practically bulged with self-righteous fury!

"That bastard actually laced his own food to poison my family!" Daniel roared, slamming his fist against the bed frame. "I’m going to sue him! I’m going to drag him to court and make sure he loses every single penny he has!"

The moment the word sue left his mouth, all three adults—Daniel, his wife, and old Mrs. Park—exchanged a sharp, silent look.

A dark, blinding wave of pure greed flared up in their eyes.

After all, the whole neighborhood knew Leonard had just won a five-hundred-million-dollar lottery jackpot. If they could play the victim, spin this story to the press, and force him to pay damages...

They might be able to extort millions of dollars straight out of his bank account!

"I’m calling the police right now!" Daniel declared, snatching his phone out of his coat pocket with shaking, greedy fingers. "I'll report him for poisoning!"

Meanwhile, back at the apartment building, two uniform police officers walked down the 15th-floor hallway toward Leonard’s door.

After double-checking the apartment number, the lead officer knocked firmly three times.

Knock, knock, knock.

The door swung open almost immediately. But when Leonard looked at the two uniformed officers standing on his threshold, there wasn't a single trace of surprise or panic on his face.

Of course there wasn't.

These two officers hadn't been dispatched by the Parks. Leonard had personally dialed the non-emergency dispatch line hours ago, right while the Park family was still screaming in the back of the ambulance outside!

"Mr. Leonard Buck?" Officer Lewis asked, holding up his notepad. "We received your report regarding stolen personal property?"

Leonard nodded politely, stepping aside. "Yes, Officer. Thank you for coming up."

Officer Lewis glanced down at his notes, a small, amused smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "According to the ticket details... you’re reporting a stolen dinner takeout order?"

Officer Taylor, standing beside him, let out a soft chuckle. "Look, young man, you certainly have the legal right to report stolen food, but honestly, we usually suggest checking with your property management first. If you find out which neighbor took it, it's usually better to just talk to them directly. You're neighbors in the same building, after all. Some petty things are better handled privately over a conversation."

Leonard gave them a calm, knowing smile. "Officer, that's exactly what I did the first time."

Officer Lewis raised an eyebrow. "First time?"

"Three days ago, a package went missing," Leonard explained smoothly. "I checked the high-definition security footage with the property manager and caught the neighbor's grandson stealing it off my mat. I walked right over to Apartment 102 to resolve it peacefully. But instead of apologizing or returning my property, the child's grandmother cursed out the manager and threatened to wreck his office."

Leonard paused, his tone dropping into a serious register. "And then today, I ordered another meal. The exact same kid came right back to my door, snatched the delivery box, and ran back into Apartment 102 to feed his family."

Hearing this, both officers' lighthearted expressions instantly vanished.

"Well... that changes things," Officer Lewis said, his jaw tightening. "That is completely unacceptable."

A child stealing once was bad enough, but a family actively encouraging the kid, insulting the victim, and continuing to steal right on camera? That crossed the line from a simple mistake into blatant, shameless entitlement. You couldn't keep taking advantage of a neighbor just because they were being patient.

"Alright, Mr. Buck," Officer Taylor said, pulling out a pen. "We’ll walk down to Apartment 102 with you right now and have a very serious talk with the guardians."

Leonard smiled faintly. "Officers, before we go... there’s one more detail you should probably know. This wasn't just a twenty-dollar pizza."

Officer Lewis didn't think much of it, taking a casual sip from his plastic water bottle. "How expensive could a single takeout meal possibly be?"

"Three thousand, five hundred dollars," Leonard said flatly.

PFFFT!

Officer Lewis instantly choked, spraying a cloud of water all over the hallway carpet! He coughed violently, clutching his chest, his eyes popping wide open.

"Cough! Cough! Excuse me... how much did you just say?!" Officer Lewis wheezed, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

Had he misheard? Or had this young billionaire accidentally added a few extra zeros in his head?

Without saying a word, Leonard calmly reached into his back pocket, pulled out the official, stamped receipt from the luxury restaurant, and handed it over.

Officer Lewis took the paper, his partner leaning over his shoulder to read it.

The receipt was crystal clear. Grand Luxury Seafood & Botanical Tasting Menu: $3,500.00 Paid in Full.

Officer Lewis’s entire demeanor shifted. The casual air was completely gone, replaced by sharp, professional intensity.

There was no law in the city against a private citizen ordering an ultra-expensive dinner for themselves. If a wealthy man wanted to spend thirty-five hundred dollars on high-end cuisine, that was his absolute right.

But once the monetary value of a stolen item passed the thousand-dollar mark, the legal nature of the crime changed completely! This was no longer petty neighborhood squabbling; this was grand larceny territory!

Leonard was fully prepared. He handed over a USB flash drive containing the clear property management video footage, the delivery driver's timestamped photo, and the digital receipt.

To ensure everything was airtight, the two officers even placed a direct call to the luxury restaurant's management. The restaurant confirmed the order, the high-end ingredients, and the exact $3,500 charge to Leonard's credit card.

"Alright, Mr. Buck," Officer Lewis said, setting his notepad straight. "We have more than enough hard evidence. Let's head over to the hospital and speak to the Parks."

Since the physical thief was an eight-year-old child, criminal prosecution against the boy wasn't legally possible under state law. However, as long as the child's legal guardians were forced to fully reimburse Leonard for the three-thousand-five-hundred-dollar loss, justice would be served.

Over at Sydvale City Hospital, Daniel Park had just pulled out his phone in his father's room, preparing to call the police to report Leonard for poisoning.

Before he could even dial the digits, the door pushed open, and two uniformed officers walked into the room.

Daniel blinked, stunned. What? That fast?! Did the hospital staff call them already?!

The three adults—Daniel, his wife, and old Mrs. Park—hurried over to the door, their faces lighting up with greedy excitement.

"Are you the family members of Daniel Park?" Officer Lewis asked sternly.

The strange phrasing made Daniel hesitate for a second. "Yes! I'm Daniel Park! I was actually just about to dial 911 to report a crime!"

"Report a crime?" Officer Lewis raised an eyebrow, exchanging a brief glance with his partner. "You're not the owners of Apartment 102? You're the legal guardians of the child involved in the stolen property report?"

"Let's hear your side first," Officer Taylor gestured, pulling out his recording device.

Mrs. Park couldn't wait a single second longer. She shoved past her son, her voice shrieking across the room as she launched into her story. She wildly accused Leonard of intentionally poisoning his own food with dangerous adult drugs just to murder her husband and harm her family!

The two officers listened in absolute, stunned silence.

"So... let me get this completely straight," Officer Lewis repeated slowly, looking at Mrs. Park as if she had lost her mind. "Your official claim to the police is that Mr. Leonard Buck intentionally spent thousands of dollars to lace his own dinner takeout, placed it outside his own front door, and somehow forced your grandson to steal it so your husband would eat it?"

"EXACTLY!" Mrs. Park yelled triumphantly, slapping her hands together. "He poisoned the food! Lock him up!"

Officer Lewis couldn't help letting out a short, incredulous laugh.

"Ma'am... that accusation is never going to hold up in a court of law," Officer Lewis said bluntly. "No prosecutor in this city would ever accept a absurd claim like that without proof that he forced you to take it. Of course, you have the absolute legal right to hire a lawyer and file a civil lawsuit if you really want to."

He leaned in slightly, his tone turning cold. "But the moment you file that lawsuit, you are officially entering a sworn legal admission into the court record that your grandson stole his private property off his threshold."

"Since the child is a minor, this will be handled strictly as a mandatory property reimbursement case against you, the guardians."

The Park family’s greedy faces froze. The fury inside Daniel’s chest boiled over!

It was so glaringly obvious! Leonard had set a trap! How could these stupid cops not see it?! Were they completely blind?!

"Fine!" Daniel Park’s wife snapped through gritted teeth, her eyes burning with hatred. "Fine! We’ll pay for the stupid meal! But Leonard still owes us hundreds of thousands of dollars for my father-in-law's emergency medical bills, lost wages, and emotional trauma!"

In her greedy mind, they had no choice. If they wanted to squeeze millions out of Leonard’s lottery jackpot in court later, they first had to clear this silly little food issue out of the way.

Besides, how much could a single stolen takeout meal possibly cost? Fifty bucks? A hundred at most?

Officer Lewis smiled faintly, pulling out the certified receipt from his pocket.

"Good. I'm glad we're on the same page regarding reimbursement," Officer Lewis said smoothly. "The total out-of-pocket sum you owe Mr. Buck for the stolen dinner is exactly three thousand, five hundred dollars."

PFFFT!

"WHAT?!"

The entire Park family shrieked in unison, their eyes nearly popping out of their skulls!