Goodbye Toxic Ex

Chapter 8

"I should assume that you helped me? Thank you," Riley was the first to speak.

"No, I should be thanking you instead!" the man replied with a smile.

‘Thanking me?’ The words rang a confused wave in his mind.

He tried to remember where he had seen the man before. However, it was impossible to put a finger on it.

The grey hair and peculiarly round face didn't strike him like anyone he could remember.

"Are you trying hard to figure out who I am?" the old man asked, seeing the way Riley's face was enveloped with confusion.

"That shouldn't be difficult for you, everyone knows me!" the man added.

However, it got Riley even more confused because now he was sure he had never seen this face before.

And from the way the man pouted with so much pride and confidence, it was a telltale sign that he was someone powerful.

But it was understandable.

Throughout the years, Riley had been tucked away as a househusband, literally living under Sophia's shadow without a life of his own.

He worked directly under her, producing most of the formulas used for the groundbreaking medicines that shot her up to where she was.

Though he had a phone, his social life was zero to none, and the only thing the cell phone was meant for was to receive or give a call to Sophia in case of an emergency.

"You really don't know me?" His brows squinted, and a confused gaze arched into the man's expression for the first time, along with a flicker that Riley could not place.

"My apologies!" Riley responded.

The old man sighed.

"There's no way that you haven't heard of Biotech then!" the man said, and Riley's eyes instantly snapped open.

As much as he tried to avoid gossip and focus solely on his job, the constant whispering of his colleagues streaming into his ears was impossible to avoid.

And one of those gossips that wouldn't leave their lips was Biotech, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world.

Its success wasn't tied to medicine alone; it was merged with technology. One of their groundbreaking works was using AI to create doctors that could run full surgeries unsupervised.

Frankly speaking, they were a giant that ran the cracks of the city, and everyone wanted to associate with them at all costs.

Their rise started when they discovered the universal cancer cure.

Riley didn't realize when his body buckled.

"Are you by any means Leonard Ruit?" The whole of Riley's body burned even though the man had not yet responded.

"Yes, I am!" the man finally responded, and a rushed gasp tore right through Riley's lips.

This was a lifetime opportunity that most people would beg to have. Yet, the man that everyone feared and respected was standing right before him, with a smile on his face that passed beyond courtesy and moved towards the lines of deep-rooted respect.

"Thank you very, very much sir, for saving my life!" Riley now felt even more grateful than before.

"Again, I should be the one thanking you!" His face was serious as Riley watched the old man crash to his knees.

Riley quickly stepped forward, his hands shooting forward in a frantic attempt to raise the old man from the floor, but the old man stopped him.

"Please don't stop me! I always wanted to do this, to thank you for saving my life!" he said.

Riley got even more confused. Apart from his daily business as a medic, he never remembered saving anyone's life.

He rushed towards the old man again in a futile attempt to raise him from the floor.

"I don't think that we've met before, sir, and I've never had the opportunity to save you. You must be mistaken, so please get up!"

The old man chuckled. "You're so modest, aren't you? In fact, you should know that everything I've built, and everything I owe to this company and the world at large, came from you!"

Riley's eyes ran wild. ‘Is the old man drunk?’ he thought.

"A few years ago, I was dying of cancer, and I was ready to go through any experimental procedure if it meant my life would be saved.

"Then someone messaged me on the internet through my post and sent me a blue print with the bold heading: ‘At your own risk!’

"Riley, that blueprint was from you. You saved my life, Riley, and you gave me more time to spend with my daughter, alongside everyone else in the world that suffers from this ailment."

Immediately, Riley's chest tightened as memories rushed into his mind. He remembered every single bit of it now.

It was basically his life's research, and when he presented it to Sophia, she tossed it to the floor, calling him a madman.

Now that he thought of it, it was the same time that Harry came into their lives and she started acting up.

She told Riley to focus on real medicine and stuff that could actually work instead of fiction or daydreams.

He'd been so heartbroken that for the first time in years, he browsed the internet for someone who was looking for an experimental procedure, and he found the person his heart felt most secure with.

Never once did he dare to think that this person was Mr. Leonard, the man who would become the most powerful figure in medical history.

"So... it worked?" Riley's voice cracked, and the old man smiled, tugging on his chest.

"I am living proof, Riley.

"I searched for you for years after. And it seemed like you had been tucked away and hidden by somebody!"

That person was Sophia. After the incident and after she discovered what he had done, she'd grounded him from using a cell phone and made sure he had no access to the internet.

Plus, he was the mastermind of her company, and she wanted him to stay hidden.

Back then, Riley never complained. Now, he saw just how stupid he had been.

"Riley, I need an heir, and it's time for you to take credit for your work. The world has been waiting for you, and the world needs you.

"With Biotech and your mastermind, you will be unstoppable!" The old man shuddered with so much excitement that he seemed like a youth who had just awakened a multi-trillion-dollar idea.