I Returned as the True Heir

Ch-5 What Happened Fifteen Years Ago

Ryan opened the door.

Five people stood outside.

His father.

His mother.

And all three sisters.

He stared at them.

They stared back.

Nobody spoke.

Ryan slowly looked from Catherine to Richard, then toward the three women standing behind them.

“What are you doing?”

Emma opened her mouth.

Victoria immediately grabbed her arm.

“We came to check on you,” Victoria said.

“All five of you?”

“Yes.”

“At the same time?”

Sophia smiled awkwardly. “We’re a close family.”

Ryan looked at their faces.

This family is terrible at lying.

Sophia’s smile disappeared.

Richard cleared his throat.

“Your mother wanted to make sure you had everything you needed.”

Ryan looked at Catherine.

She nodded quickly.

“Yes.”

“At eleven at night?”

Catherine hesitated.

Ryan sighed.

“Whatever.”

He stepped aside.

“Come in.”

The five Harringtons entered.

Ryan closed the door, then returned to the sofa.

His phone was still in his hand.

Catherine noticed it immediately.

“Did something happen?”

Ryan looked at her.

For half a second, he considered saying no.

Then he remembered the message.

Ask your parents why you disappeared fifteen years ago.

He held out the phone.

“Someone sent me these.”

Richard took it.

The moment he read the messages, his expression changed.

Catherine moved beside him.

The sisters gathered around.

Nobody spoke for several seconds.

Ryan watched them carefully.

They’re shocked.

That was good.

But shock could be faked.

Mom looks scared.

Catherine’s fingers tightened.

Dad looks angry.

Richard’s jaw hardened.

Ryan’s eyes moved toward Victoria.

Victoria looks like she wants to murder someone.

Victoria blinked.

Sophia glanced at her.

Ryan continued.

Sophia is worried.

Then Emma.

And Emma looks like she’s about three seconds away from asking something stupid.

Emma’s mouth fell open.

Ryan narrowed his eyes.

“What?”

“Nothing!”

She answered far too quickly.

Ryan leaned back.

Definitely weird.

Richard handed him the phone.

“Don’t respond.”

“I wasn’t planning to.”

“I’ll have security trace the number.”

“It’s probably disposable.”

Richard looked at him.

Ryan shrugged.

“If they’re smart enough to watch the mansion and disable cameras, they’re probably not texting me from their personal phone.”

Richard didn’t answer.

Ryan studied his parents again.

There was one question he needed answered.

“Why did I disappear?”

Catherine went still.

Richard’s face became unreadable.

Ryan noticed both reactions.

“I know I was five,” he continued. “I know everyone thought I was kidnapped. That’s basically all you’ve told me.”

Catherine sat down.

“You were taken from a park.”

“By whom?”

“We don’t know.”

“You never found anything?”

Richard answered this time.

“We found the vehicle.”

“And?”

“Abandoned outside the city.”

“Fingerprints?”

“Nothing useful.”

“Witnesses?”

“One.”

Ryan waited.

Richard didn’t continue.

“What did they see?”

“A man carrying you toward the vehicle.”

“Description?”

“Hat. Dark jacket. His face wasn’t visible.”

Ryan frowned.

That sounded painfully generic.

“Was anyone arrested?”

“No.”

“Ransom demand?”

“No.”

Ryan’s expression changed.

“No ransom?”

Catherine shook her head.

“Never.”

Rich family’s five-year-old son gets kidnapped and nobody asks for money.

Richard heard the thought.

That’s not kidnapping. That’s removal.

Catherine closed her eyes.

Ryan stood and walked toward the window.

The mansion grounds were dark beyond the glass.

Something about the story bothered him.

The novel had mentioned the biological heir disappearing.

But had it ever explained why?

Ryan searched his memory.

Nothing.

Maybe it was revealed after I stopped reading.

That possibility was becoming increasingly irritating.

He remembered dramatic arguments.

Ethan.

Family conflict.

Business battles.

A few scenes involving the female lead.

But the deeper mystery?

Nothing.

I really picked a terrible novel to abandon halfway.

Emma almost smiled before Victoria elbowed her.

Ryan turned around.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

The question hit hard.

Catherine looked at Richard.

That was enough.

Ryan’s expression cooled.

“So there is something.”

“Ryan—”

“Don’t.”

He looked directly at Richard.

“You want me to trust you? Start talking.”

Richard remained silent for a moment.

Then he walked toward the desk.

“The day before you disappeared, someone entered this house.”

Ryan frowned.

“Who?”

“We never discovered that.”

Ryan waited.

“They entered your room.”

His gaze moved instinctively toward the wooden airplane on the shelf.

“What did they take?”

“Nothing.”

“Then why come inside?”

Richard looked at him.

“They left something.”

Ryan’s attention sharpened.

“What?”

Catherine whispered, “A note.”

Ryan looked at her.

“What did it say?”

She swallowed.

Richard answered.

“The first son should never have been born.”

Silence.

Ryan stared at him.

That was different.

Very different.

This wasn’t in the part of the novel I read.

The family listened.

Ryan walked slowly toward the desk.

“So someone threatened me before I disappeared.”

“Yes.”

“And you didn’t tell me.”

“We found you three days ago,” Richard said. “You had already learned that the people you believed were your parents weren’t biologically related to you. Then strangers arrived telling you that you belonged to another family. We didn’t want your first conversation with us to be about someone trying to kill you.”

Ryan gave him a flat look.

“Apparently they sent the conversation themselves.”

Richard couldn’t argue with that.

Ryan picked up his phone again.

The photograph bothered him most.

“Who is Melissa Grant?”

The room changed.

Sophia answered.

“Dad’s cousin.”

“She was wearing blue tonight.”

“Yes.”

“Flower pin?”

Victoria nodded.

Ryan showed them the reflection in the photograph.

“Could this be her?”

Richard studied it.

“Too blurred.”

“But possible?”

“Yes.”

Catherine frowned.

“Melissa would never hurt Ryan.”

Ryan looked at her.

“You know that how?”

“I’ve known her since before you were born.”

People really need to stop using that as evidence of innocence.

Sophia covered her mouth.

Catherine gave Ryan a tired look.

For some reason, he had the strange feeling she knew exactly what he was thinking.

Impossible.

“Where does Melissa live?” he asked.

Richard’s expression hardened.

“You’re not going there.”

Ryan blinked.

“Excuse me?”

“Security will handle it.”

“I’m twenty.”

“And someone threatened to kill you.”

“They didn’t actually say kill.”

“They told you that you should have stayed missing.”

“Fair point.”

Ryan sat again.

Richard seemed surprised that he hadn’t argued longer.

Ryan wasn’t reckless.

He wanted answers, not a dramatic funeral.

“Then investigate her.”

“I already am.”

Ryan’s eyes narrowed.

“Already?”

Richard didn’t answer quickly enough.

Interesting.

“You suspected her before tonight.”

“No.”

“That pause says otherwise.”

“Ryan.”

“What?”

Richard sighed.

“Melissa’s father opposed my marriage to your mother.”

Ryan waited.

“He also believed the Harrington inheritance should pass through another branch of the family.”

There it was.

Money.

Power.

Family.

The classics.

“So Melissa benefits if your biological son disappears?”

“Not directly.”

“Indirectly?”

Richard’s silence answered him.

Ryan rubbed his forehead.

Wonderful. I’ve been home one day and already have inheritance conspiracies.

Emma looked sympathetic.

Maybe I should’ve stayed poor.

Catherine flinched.

Ryan didn’t see it.

His attention returned to the messages.

Something still didn’t fit.

If Melissa had kidnapped him fifteen years ago, why allow him to live?

Why was this body found far away?

Why had nobody come after him during all those years?

And most importantly—

Why start threatening him only after the Harringtons found him?

Unless whoever took the original Ryan thought he was dead.

Richard’s eyes sharpened.

Ryan continued thinking.

Or they weren’t trying to kill him.

A memory flashed.

Not from the novel.

From this body.

Darkness.

Rain.

A woman’s voice.

A hand pushing him.

Then pain.

Ryan grabbed his temple.

Catherine immediately stood.

“Ryan?”

“I’m fine.”

Another flash.

A road.

Headlights.

Someone shouting.

Then nothing.

Ryan’s breathing changed.

Those weren’t his memories.

They belonged to the original Ryan.

“Did you find me near a road?” he asked suddenly.

Richard stared at him.

“No.”

Ryan frowned.

“When I disappeared.”

“No. Why?”

“I remembered something.”

Catherine moved closer.

“What?”

“Rain.”

His voice became quieter.

“A car.”

He closed his eyes.

“And someone telling me to run.”

The room fell silent.

Richard stepped forward.

“Who?”

“I don’t know.”

“Man or woman?”

Ryan tried to catch the memory.

It vanished.

“Woman.”

Catherine’s face changed.

Ryan noticed.

“You know something.”

“No.”

“Mom.”

The word slipped out.

Catherine froze.

So did Ryan.

This time he didn’t correct himself.

“Who was the woman?”

Catherine looked at Richard.

Richard finally spoke.

“Your nanny disappeared the same night you did.”

Ryan stared at him.

“And you forgot to mention that?”

“We thought she took you.”

“Did she?”

“We never found her.”

Ryan stood slowly.

A missing child.

A missing nanny.

A threat left one day earlier.

And fifteen years of silence.

His phone buzzed.

Everyone looked down.

Another message.

Unknown number.

Ryan opened it.

There was no text.

Only a photograph.

Old.

Faded.

A five-year-old Ryan stood beside a woman whose face had been violently scratched out.

On the back of the photograph, someone had written three words.

SHE SAVED YOU.

Ryan stared at the screen.

Then a second message appeared.

Your family blamed the wrong person.

Catherine covered her mouth.

Richard went completely still.

Ryan’s eyes remained fixed on the photograph.

Something cold settled inside him.

The novel hadn’t prepared him for this.

For the first time since arriving in this world, Ryan understood something clearly.

The story he remembered wasn’t merely changing.

There had always been another story underneath it.

And he had never read that part.