I Returned as the True Heir

Ch-4 The Story Has Changed

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

The security chief’s words seemed to remain suspended in Ryan’s bedroom.

“In Young Master Ethan’s room.”

Ryan looked at Ethan.

Ethan looked genuinely stunned.

Not embarrassed.

Not irritated.

Stunned.

Catherine’s eyes moved immediately toward Ethan.

Richard’s expression revealed nothing.

Victoria, Sophia, and Emma remained silent.

They had all heard Ryan.

Ethan had not.

“What are you talking about?” Ethan finally asked.

The security chief straightened. “One of my men found the sapphire necklace inside your study.”

“That is impossible.”

“It was inside the bottom drawer of your desk.”

Ethan shook his head. “I didn’t put it there.”

One of the relatives standing near the doorway gave an uncomfortable laugh.

“Well, this evening keeps getting stranger.”

Ryan glanced at him.

Understatement of the year.

Sophia almost smiled.

Ethan looked at Ryan. “I swear I didn’t do this.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow.

“Why are you telling me?”

“Because your room was searched first.”

“And?”

“It looks like someone wanted to make us suspect each other.”

Richard turned toward the security chief.

“Take us to the study.”

They crossed the hallway.

Ryan followed at the back.

His mind worked quickly.

In the novel, the jewelry box had been found in the biological son’s room. He vaguely remembered an ugly confrontation afterward.

But the necklace appearing in Ethan’s room?

No.

I’m almost certain this never happened.

Catherine’s steps slowed.

Ryan noticed but said nothing.

Then again, I didn’t finish the book. Maybe there was another reveal later.

They entered Ethan’s study.

The sapphire necklace lay inside a clear evidence bag on the desk.

Ryan finally saw it properly.

Deep blue stones surrounded a larger sapphire at the center.

Something inside his memory moved.

Blue silk.

A flower-shaped pin.

A woman’s hand.

He frowned.

Why does that feel familiar?

Victoria heard him and immediately scanned the people gathered near the doorway.

Richard did the same.

Ethan stepped toward the desk.

“I have never seen that necklace in this room.”

The security chief nodded. “We’ll check fingerprints.”

“Do that.”

Ethan turned to Catherine.

“Mom, you believe me, right?”

Catherine hesitated.

That hesitation lasted perhaps two seconds.

But Ethan saw it.

His face fell.

Ryan saw that too.

So that’s what you’re afraid of.

Ethan looked toward him.

Ryan’s face remained blank.

Not losing the money.

Losing them.

Catherine’s eyes softened.

Ethan couldn’t hear any of it.

He only saw his mother’s hesitation.

“I didn’t take it,” he repeated.

Catherine walked to him.

“I haven’t accused you.”

“But you thought about it.”

“Ethan—”

“I saw your face.”

Ryan looked away.

Richard addressed security.

“No conclusions until we have evidence. Nobody discusses this outside this room.”

One older relative protested. “Richard, half the guests already know—”

“Then tell them the necklace has been found.”

“And where?”

Richard looked at him.

“Found. That’s all they need to know.”

The man wisely stopped talking.

Ryan glanced at Richard.

At least he’s not stupid.

Richard heard him.

His eyebrow twitched.

Ryan caught the movement.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

The security chief started questioning the staff.

Ryan wandered toward the desk.

He didn’t touch anything.

Something bothered him.

If Ethan had planted the empty jewelry box in Ryan’s room, why keep the actual necklace in his own desk?

That was idiotic.

And Ethan didn’t seem idiotic.

Unless someone moved it there after the box was planted.

Victoria subtly moved closer.

Ryan continued thinking.

But why frame both of us?

A third person.

Someone who benefited if the biological and adopted sons turned against each other.

His gaze returned to the sapphire.

Then he remembered the blue thread.

He pulled it from his pocket.

“Dad.”

The word came out naturally.

Ryan froze.

So did Richard.

For one brief second, the entire room changed.

Richard looked at him.

Ryan looked equally surprised.

He hadn’t called anyone Dad in years.

He cleared his throat.

“Mr. Harrington.”

Something painful crossed Richard’s face.

Ryan pretended not to see it.

“The thread I found.”

Richard recovered quickly. “What about it?”

“Whoever put the box in my room may have left it.”

Ryan held it out.

The security chief took it carefully.

“Blue silk.”

Ryan looked toward the doorway.

The woman in the blue dress was gone.

His eyes narrowed.

“Where’s the woman who was standing outside my room?”

“What woman?” Victoria asked.

“Blue dress. Flower-shaped pin.”

Victoria’s expression changed.

“Aunt Melissa?”

Ryan shrugged. “I don’t know her name.”

Richard immediately looked at security.

“Find her.”

The chief spoke into his radio.

A response came seconds later.

His face tightened.

“Mrs. Melissa Grant left the mansion five minutes ago.”

Ethan frowned.

“Why would Aunt Melissa leave?”

Ryan looked at him.

“You tell me.”

“She is Dad’s cousin. She has known us our whole lives.”

Ryan almost said, And therefore she can’t steal?

He stopped.

Ryan exhaled.

This is exactly why I hate mysteries.

Emma stared at him.

In novels, the detective dramatically looks at a thread and magically knows the killer’s childhood address.

Sophia’s shoulders started shaking.

Real life gives you a thread and says, good luck.

A laugh escaped Emma.

Everyone looked at her.

She covered it with a cough.

Ryan stared.

“You should see a doctor.”

Emma glared at him.

“I am perfectly healthy.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

Sophia turned away before she laughed too.

Ethan watched the exchange with a strange expression.

For a moment, Ryan saw something cold in his eyes.

Then it vanished.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

The security chief returned his attention to the evidence.

“Sir, there is another issue.”

Richard looked at him.

“The hallway camera was disabled, but the internal system shows it wasn’t a malfunction.”

“Someone switched it off?”

“Yes. Using an authorized access code.”

Richard’s expression hardened.

“Whose?”

The man hesitated.

“Master Ethan’s.”

Every eye turned toward Ethan.

Ethan went pale.

“No.”

The chief continued, “The code was entered at 6:41 p.m.”

“I was downstairs.”

“I know.”

“Then someone used my code.”

Richard asked, “Who knows it?”

“No one.”

Ryan leaned against the desk.

That’s never a good answer.

Ethan’s jaw tightened.

“I mean no one should know it.”

Ryan studied him.

This situation was becoming too perfect.

Evidence in Ryan’s room.

Necklace in Ethan’s room.

Ethan’s security code.

A suspicious woman leaving early.

Too many clues.

Someone is trying way too hard.

Richard looked toward Ryan.

Their eyes met.

Ryan wondered why his father was staring at him.

Then another fragment hit.

A sentence.

Not from tonight.

From the novel.

He had read it months before dying in his old world.

The biological heir shouting at Ethan:

“You planned everything!”

Then Ethan saying:

“You’ll regret accusing me.”

Ryan’s pulse changed.

Wait.

He remembered the aftermath.

The biological son accused Ethan publicly.

The family defended Ethan.

The brothers became enemies.

That was the point of the necklace incident.

Ryan slowly straightened.

Maybe the necklace was never about making the original Ryan look like a thief.

Five Harringtons became still.

Maybe it was about making him accuse Ethan.

Richard’s gaze sharpened.

Ryan looked at Ethan.

If original Ryan had panicked, found evidence pointing toward Ethan, and accused him in front of everyone…

The family would see Ryan as jealous.

Ethan would become the victim.

The divide would begin.

Ryan suddenly smiled.

Ethan frowned. “What?”

“Nothing.”

There was that word again.

Ryan walked away from the desk.

“I don’t think Ethan stole it.”

Ethan stared at him.

So did everyone else.

One relative scoffed. “His code was used.”

“Which makes him either guilty or the easiest person to frame.”

Ryan looked at Richard.

“You said no conclusions without evidence.”

Richard nodded slowly.

“Correct.”

“So investigate.”

Ryan put his hands into his pockets.

“I’m tired.”

Ethan looked confused.

“That’s it?”

“What else do you want?”

“The necklace box was found in your room.”

“And the necklace was found in yours.”

Ryan shrugged.

“If we start punching each other now, whoever did this gets free entertainment.”

For once, Ethan had nothing to say.

Ryan turned toward the door.

Catherine called after him.

“Ryan.”

He stopped.

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

He frowned.

“For what?”

She looked at Ethan, then back at him.

“For not assuming the worst.”

Ryan’s expression became unreadable.

Don’t thank me.

Catherine heard him.

I just remember what happens when I do.

Her face lost color.

Ryan walked out before anyone could ask what he meant.

⸻

He returned to his bedroom and locked the door.

Finally.

Silence.

Ryan removed his jacket and dropped onto the sofa.

His mind replayed the day.

A family that wasn’t behaving correctly.

An adopted brother whose first little performance had failed.

A necklace incident that had changed halfway through.

And memories of a novel he couldn’t trust.

Ryan rubbed his face.

“This is annoying.”

He looked at the ceiling.

His phone buzzed.

A new message.

Unknown number.

Ryan frowned.

There were only six words.

You should have stayed missing, Ryan.

He sat upright.

The relaxed look disappeared from his face.

A second message arrived.

The Harrington house is not your home.

Ryan stared at the screen.

Then the third message came.

This one included a photograph.

Ryan standing outside the mansion that morning.

Taken from across the road.

His eyes became cold.

So someone was watching me before I even entered.

Ryan had survived enough in his first life to know fear was different things. He wasn’t afraid of whoever had sent the messages. But only a fool ignored a threat delivered with proof.

That meant tonight’s necklace trick might not be a petty fight over inheritance at all.

Outside his closed bedroom door, Catherine had been about to knock.

Her hand froze in midair.

Behind her, Richard stopped walking.

Victoria, Sophia, and Emma stared at one another.

Inside the room, Ryan zoomed in on the photograph.

In the reflection of the car window behind him, there was a blurred figure.

And on that figure’s chest—

a small flower-shaped pin.

Ryan’s expression changed.

Blue silk.

He stood.

But before he could reach the door, another message appeared.

Ask your parents why you disappeared fifteen years ago.

Ryan stopped breathing for a second.

Then one final message arrived.

They know more than they told you.

Outside the door, Catherine’s face turned white.

Richard’s entire body went rigid.

Ryan stared at the words.

And for the first time since returning to the Harrington family, a thought entered his mind that had nothing to do with the novel.

What if I wasn’t kidnapped by an outsider?

Behind the door, Catherine whispered,

“Oh God.”

Ryan’s head snapped toward the sound.

He walked to the door.

Outside, five Harringtons realized the same thing at once.

They had been so focused on hearing Ryan’s thoughts that none of them had considered the most dangerous possibility.

Ryan might eventually hear them.