I Returned as the True Heir

Ch 6 — The Sister Who Was Supposed to Die

Ryan did not sleep.

By six in the morning, he had read the anonymous messages at least thirty times.

SHE SAVED YOU.

Your family blamed the wrong person.

The old photograph remained open on his phone.

Five-year-old Ryan was smiling beside a woman whose face had been scratched away.

His nanny.

The woman the Harringtons had suspected of kidnapping him.

Ryan leaned back against the headboard.

“Great.”

Yesterday, his biggest problem had been an adopted brother with an empty suitcase.

Now he had a fifteen-year-old kidnapping mystery.

Progress.

He enlarged the photograph again.

Nothing useful.

No visible location.

No readable sign.

Only a garden, a stone wall, and part of a silver car.

Whoever sent this wants me investigating.

That bothered him.

If the sender wanted to help, why hide?

If they wanted to hurt him, why give him information?

Ryan locked his phone.

And why now?

Someone had waited fifteen years.

Then the moment he returned to the Harrington mansion, the messages started.

A knock interrupted his thoughts.

“Come in.”

The door opened.

Victoria entered.

Ryan raised an eyebrow.

His eldest sister was already dressed for work in a dark suit, looking as if she had slept considerably better than he had.

“You’re awake.”

“So are you.”

“I have work.”

“At six?”

“Some of us have responsibilities.”

Ryan stared at her.

Was that an insult?

Victoria’s expression remained perfectly calm.

Probably not. She just naturally sounds like someone’s disappointed boss.

Her lips tightened.

Ryan noticed.

“Are you angry?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

Victoria placed a cup on the table.

“Coffee.”

Ryan looked at it suspiciously.

“For me?”

“No, for the invisible person sitting beside you.”

He looked at the empty chair.

Finally. One normal Harrington.

Victoria nearly smiled.

Ryan took the coffee.

“Thanks.”

She remained standing.

“What?”

“Dad increased security. Don’t leave alone today.”

“Everyone keeps telling me that.”

“Because you look like someone who won’t listen.”

Ryan drank his coffee.

She wasn’t wrong.

Victoria turned toward the door.

Then Ryan’s phone vibrated.

Both looked at it.

Ryan grabbed it immediately.

Not the anonymous sender.

A news notification.

He dismissed it.

Victoria relaxed.

Ryan noticed.

“You’re worried.”

“You received death threats.”

“Technically—”

“Don’t say technically.”

Ryan smiled.

“All right.”

Victoria left.

Ryan stared after her.

Something strange warmed his chest.

He ignored it.

Family attachment was inconvenient.

Especially when he knew how this family was supposed to end.

He got up and headed toward the shower.

Then stopped.

A memory had surfaced.

Not from his childhood.

From the novel.

Victoria.

A car.

Blood.

Ryan’s smile disappeared.

Wait.

The memory came in fragments.

The original biological heir had returned.

There had been arguments.

Then, not long afterward, the eldest Harrington daughter had been involved in an accident.

Ryan closed his eyes.

Was that today?

He couldn’t remember.

The chapter had been somewhere near the beginning.

There had been rain.

Or maybe that was another scene.

He remembered Victoria leaving for an important meeting.

Then a phone call.

Hospital.

Catherine crying.

Ryan opened his eyes.

“Damn it.”

He rushed into the hallway.

Victoria was already downstairs.

Ryan followed.

He found the family near the breakfast room.

Victoria was picking up her handbag.

“Wait.”

Everyone turned.

Victoria stopped.

“What?”

Ryan walked toward her.

“Where are you going?”

“To work.”

“I know. Where?”

She named an office district.

That didn’t help.

“What meeting?”

Her eyebrows rose.

“Why?”

Ryan had no good answer.

Because you might die today sounds slightly dramatic.

Catherine dropped her spoon.

Richard’s head snapped up.

Sophia went pale.

Emma froze with toast halfway to her mouth.

Victoria stared at Ryan.

She had heard him too.

Ryan was busy searching his memory.

Car accident. Definitely Victoria.

The room became deathly quiet.

But was it before or after the necklace incident?

Ryan rubbed his forehead.

Come on, brain.

Nothing.

Victoria slowly put her handbag down.

“Ryan?”

He looked at her.

“Don’t go.”

No one moved.

Victoria’s expression softened for a fraction of a second.

“Why?”

Ryan improvised.

“I need something.”

“What?”

“Help.”

“With?”

He looked around.

Everyone was waiting.

Think of something.

Then he saw the documents Richard had left on the table.

“Company stuff.”

Victoria blinked.

“Company stuff?”

“Yes.”

“You told Uncle Robert last night you had no interest in running the company.”

“I said I wouldn’t run it without learning.”

Technically true.

Victoria crossed her arms.

“What exactly do you want to learn at seven in the morning?”

“Everything.”

Sophia turned away.

Emma suddenly became fascinated by her toast.

Ryan glared at them.

Why do they keep making those faces?

Victoria picked up her phone.

“I can postpone my first meeting.”

Ryan relaxed.

Good.

Then she added, “But I have to attend the second one personally.”

Ryan’s relief disappeared.

“What time?”

“Ten thirty.”

Was the accident at ten?

He couldn’t remember.

“Cancel it.”

Victoria stared.

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m finalizing a contract we’ve worked on for eight months.”

Ryan wanted to swear.

Richard intervened.

“Move the meeting here.”

Victoria looked at him.

“Dad?”

“Video conference.”

“The other party specifically requested—”

“Then postpone it.”

Victoria understood immediately.

Ryan did not.

He looked between them.

Why is everyone suddenly cooperating with my ridiculous request?

Nobody answered.

Obviously.

Victoria finally nodded.

“I’ll postpone.”

Ryan exhaled.

Maybe he was wrong.

Maybe the accident wasn’t today.

But keeping her home cost nothing.

“Good.”

Victoria studied him.

“You were worried about me.”

“No.”

“You ran downstairs barefoot.”

Ryan looked down.

He was, in fact, barefoot.

“That proves nothing.”

Sophia laughed.

Ryan pointed at her.

“You’re becoming annoying.”

“Becoming?”

Emma muttered.

Ryan heard her.

“I heard that.”

Emma nearly choked.

For reasons Ryan couldn’t understand, the entire family suddenly found that sentence extremely funny.

Even Richard smiled.

Ethan entered during the laughter.

He stopped at the doorway.

The atmosphere changed almost instantly.

Ryan noticed.

Ethan did too.

“Did I miss something?”

“No,” Catherine said.

Ethan smiled and took his seat.

His eyes moved toward Ryan.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Not really.”

“I heard about the messages.”

Ryan’s gaze sharpened.

“How?”

Ethan paused.

“Mom told me.”

Catherine nodded.

“I did.”

Ryan relaxed.

Ethan looked concerned.

“You should be careful.”

“I plan to.”

“I mean it. Whoever sent those messages may be dangerous.”

Ryan studied him.

There was nothing obviously false in his expression.

That was the problem with Ethan.

His acting was excellent.

Or perhaps not everything was acting.

Ryan still hadn’t decided.

Breakfast continued.

Ethan mentioned the necklace investigation.

Security had found no fingerprints besides staff members who had handled the jewelry previously.

Melissa Grant wasn’t answering calls.

Her house was empty.

Her driver claimed she had dismissed him after leaving the mansion.

She had disappeared.

Ryan frowned.

Too convenient.

Richard heard him.

Either she’s guilty or someone desperately wants us to think she is.

Ethan continued eating, unaware of Ryan’s silent commentary.

Then Victoria’s phone rang.

She checked the screen.

“My assistant.”

Ryan watched her answer.

“Hello?”

Her expression changed.

“What?”

Everyone looked over.

Victoria stood.

“Are you sure?”

A pause.

Her face lost color.

“Was anyone hurt?”

Ryan’s stomach tightened.

She slowly lowered the phone.

Richard stood.

“What happened?”

Victoria looked at Ryan.

“My driver.”

Silence.

“The car was hit by a truck twenty minutes ago.”

Catherine covered her mouth.

Sophia whispered, “Oh my God.”

Ryan went still.

Victoria continued.

“He was taking the car to the office because I canceled.”

Ryan’s mind went blank.

The accident.

It had happened.

Today.

If Victoria had been inside—

He didn’t finish the thought.

He didn’t need to.

The family heard it anyway.

She would’ve died.

Victoria’s eyes filled with something Ryan couldn’t identify.

Ryan stared at the floor.

This was no longer funny.

His incomplete memories had just saved someone’s life.

But something else was wrong.

Very wrong.

In the novel, Victoria’s death had been treated as an accident.

Ryan remembered that much now.

Nobody had connected it to his disappearance.

Nobody had suspected murder.

He slowly looked at Richard.

“Where did the crash happen?”

Victoria told him.

Ryan grabbed his phone.

“Don’t let anyone move the car.”

Richard frowned.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t think it was an accident.”

Ethan looked at him sharply.

“What makes you say that?”

Ryan didn’t answer.

He remembered another tiny detail.

Victoria’s brakes.

After her death in the novel, someone had mentioned brake failure.

A throwaway sentence.

Something readers weren’t supposed to question.

The brakes.

Richard immediately took out his phone.

“Have the vehicle secured. Nobody touches it until our investigators arrive.”

Ethan stared at him.

“Dad, how do you know something is wrong with the brakes?”

Ryan turned.

Richard stopped.

The room went silent.

Ethan’s gaze moved from Richard to Ryan.

Then to the sisters.

For the first time, suspicion entered his eyes.

Ryan didn’t notice.

He was staring at Victoria.

The original story had said she died.

She hadn’t.

Which meant something had changed.

And if one death could change, so could everything else.

His phone vibrated.

Anonymous number.

One new message.

Ryan opened it.

You saved her this time.

His blood ran cold.

A second message appeared.

But how many of them can you save before you forget what happens next?

Ryan stared at the screen.

Someone knew.

Not merely about the Harrington family.

Not merely about the novel’s events.

Someone knew that Ryan remembered them.

And suddenly, his incomplete knowledge wasn’t an advantage anymore.

It was a countdown.