HEIR FROM THE ABYSS

The Early Departure

Loyalty earns you a shallow grave when you work for billionaires.

Leo Walker checked the silver clock on the office wall. The metal hands pointed straight at four o'clock. For the first time in five long years, he closed his laptop ahead of schedule. He had just pulled an eighteen hour shift without a single break, entirely focusing his mind on finalizing the logistics merger that would net Sterling Enterprises tens of millions of dollars. He had skipped meals, ignored his worsening headaches, and drank cheap office coffee until his stomach burned. His immediate supervisor had finally looked at the completed files, patted his shoulder, and told him to go home to get some well deserved rest.

Leo smiled warmly as he grabbed his faded, worn briefcase from the floor. The leather was peeling at the corners, a constant reminder of how tight their budget had been lately. As he walked out of the glass building, he pictured his wife, Chloe. He imagined exactly how her green eyes would light up when he broke the wonderful news to her. The massive corporate bonus from securing this specific merger would completely wipe away the heavy medical debts left behind by his late parents. Those hospital bills had been a dark cloud over their marriage for years. With that weight lifted, they could finally leave their cramped, drafty suburban rental house behind and look for a real home with a yard.

He drove his beat up sedan through the afternoon traffic, feeling lighter than he had in a decade. He stopped by a small, independent flower shop two blocks away from his neighborhood. He spent thirty dollars on a massive bouquet of fresh white lilies, knowing they were her absolute favorite. He adjusted his faded tie in the rearview mirror, took a deep breath, and turned down his street.

When Leo pulled into the gravel driveway twenty minutes later, his smile faltered slightly. His eyes narrowed as he spotted a sleek, midnight black sports car parked right outside his garage door. The vehicle looked completely out of place against the backdrop of the modest neighborhood. He recognized the custom gold license plate instantly. It belonged to Bradley Sterling, the young, arrogant billionaire CEO of Sterling Enterprises.

Leo felt a sudden, heavy wave of confusion wash over his mind. Why on earth was the owner of the entire conglomerate parked outside his house? He began to think of logical explanations to calm his racing thoughts. Perhaps Bradley had decided to show true corporate leadership. Maybe he wanted to surprise his hardest working clerk with a massive promotion and a physical check in person to show appreciation. It made sense in Leo's naive mind. He had, after all, just saved the man's quarterly profit margins.

He parked his old sedan on the street and walked up the front path. He unlocked the front door quietly, taking extra care not to let the keys jingle. He hid the large bouquet of lilies completely behind his back, wanting to make it a fun surprise for Chloe. The downstairs living area was completely silent, the blinds drawn shut against the afternoon sun. Then, a faint sound drifted down from the upper floor. He heard a familiar muffled laugh coming directly from the master bedroom upstairs. His brow furrowed deeply. He walked up the old wooden steps one by one. Each footprint felt incredibly heavy, as if some invisible instinct was telling him to turn around and run. He reached the top landing and noticed the bedroom door was cracked open a few inches.

Leo looked through the small gap and felt his entire world shatter into jagged pieces.

Chloe was laughing loudly, lying across the mattress with Bradley. The bouquet of white lilies slipped completely out of Leo's numb hand. They hit the hardwood floorboards with a dull, heavy thud, the clear plastic wrapping rustling loudly in the quiet house. The sudden noise made the two people on the bed snap their heads toward the door in unison.

Chloe gasped loudly, her face turning pale as she scrambled to pull the thick white sheets all the way up to her chin. "Leo? Why are you home so early?"

Leo stood completely frozen in the doorway, his briefcase slipping from his fingers next to the scattered flowers. The blood drained from his face entirely, and a suffocating tightness gripped his chest. "You," Leo said, his voice shaking violently as he raised a trembling hand to point at Bradley. "I gave everything to your firm. I worked every single weekend for the past three years. I missed our wedding anniversary last month just to finish your personal deadlines. And you are here, in my bedroom? In my house?"

Bradley looked completely relaxed, showing absolutely no signs of panic or guilt. He climbed out of the bed at a leisurely pace and wrapped himself in an expensive silk robe he had brought along. He tied the sash slowly, giving Leo the exact same dismissive, cold look he usually gave to low level office interns who made mistakes on spreadsheets. "Let us be realistic here, Leo. Calm down and stop shouting. Look around you. You are just a low level clerk making pennies at my firm. Chloe deserves a lavish, comfortable lifestyle that you could never provide for her on your salary. If you keep your mouth shut about this little situation, I will make sure your silence is highly profitable for you."

Leo felt his immense sadness burn away into an absolute, white hot fury. The room seemed to grow incredibly hot as he stared at the man who had stolen his dignity. "Profits? You think you can buy your way out of this, Bradley? I am going straight to the board of directors tomorrow morning. I am going to the news stations and the newspapers. I will ruin your public reputation completely. I am going to strip away every single thing you care about, just like you stripped away my life."

Chloe let out a sharp, cruel laugh from the bed, her face twisting into an expression of pure venom. "Ruin him? With what resource, Leo? You are a nobody. You are a pitiful, broke office clerk who can barely afford our monthly rent without working overtime. Who do you honestly think the board or the world is going to believe? A billionaire CEO, or a disposable employee?"

Leo lunged forward, his mind entirely consumed by pure, unadulterated rage. He didn't care about the consequences anymore. He wanted to rip Bradley apart with his bare hands. But before his hands could even reach the billionaire's throat, Bradley stepped aside with practiced ease. Bradley reached down, grabbed a heavy, solid bronze statue from the bedside table, and swung it hard against the side of Leo's head.

A sickening, heavy cracking sound echoed through the bedroom.

Leo crashed directly to the floor like a sack of stones. Blinding, agonizing pain exploded behind his eyes, blinding his vision completely. Warm, thick blood began to pool beneath his cheek against the floorboards instantly. He tried to push himself up on his elbows, but his arms felt like lead, and his muscles refused to cooperate with his brain.

"Is he dead?" Chloe whispered into the silence. Her voice shook a little bit, but she looked more annoyed by the bloody mess on the floor than horrified by the violent act.

"Not yet," Bradley muttered coldly, kneeling down beside Leo's limp, twitching body. He wrapped his thick, heavy hands tightly around Leo's throat, completely cutting off his remaining airway. "But he will be soon. We cannot risk him talking to the board, the press, or the police. Walk over here and help me hold him down so he does not struggle."

Leo thrashed weakly against the floor, his fingers clawing uselessly at Bradley's wrists as he gasped for oxygen that refused to come. He looked up at his wife, begging her with his eyes to show an ounce of humanity, a shred of the love they had shared for years. Instead, Chloe walked over calmly, her bare feet stepping over the scattered lilies. She used her full body weight to pin Leo's legs firmly to the floorboards. Her face turned into a cold, lifeless mask of pure calculation.

Bradley squeezed tighter and tighter, his knuckles turning white from the immense pressure. Leo's vision began to tunnel into an absolute darkness. His lungs burned like fire, screaming for air. As his consciousness started to fade away into the black void of death, his inner mind screamed in absolute despair. If there is a God out there in the dark, let me live. Let me destroy them both.

Bradley finally released his grip on the neck and stood up, wiping his hands on a nearby hand towel. "Call the late night cleaning crew I use for our corporate emergencies. Tell them we have a package to dump off the northern cliffs. By tomorrow morning, the deep ocean currents will have carried him miles out to sea, and nobody will ever find him."