I Returned as the True Heir

Ch-9 woman he was supposed to avoid

Ryan stared at the photograph.

The woman was tied to a wooden chair.

Her hair was streaked with gray now, but the face was unmistakable.

The same woman from the old photograph.

His nanny.

Alive.

At least when the picture had been taken.

Ryan zoomed in.

A concrete wall.

One broken window.

A metal shelf.

Nothing else.

The location attached to the message pointed to an abandoned industrial district forty minutes away.

Come alone if you want to know why she took you.

Ryan’s jaw tightened.

Obviously a trap.

Outside his room, Catherine stopped running.

But if she’s really alive…

Catherine turned toward Richard’s study.

Ryan grabbed his jacket.

He had no intention of going alone.

He also had no intention of sitting in the mansion while someone who might know what happened fifteen years ago was being held hostage.

He opened his bedroom door.

Two security guards were waiting.

Ryan stopped.

That was fast.

“Mr. Harrington wants you downstairs,” one said.

Ryan stared at him.

How the hell does Dad already know?

The guard remained expressionless.

Ryan walked downstairs.

Richard, Catherine, Victoria, Sophia, and Emma were already gathered in the study.

Ryan entered slowly.

“Seriously?”

Richard held out his hand.

“Phone.”

“No.”

“Ryan.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to see what they sent.”

Ryan’s eyes narrowed.

“You people have a disturbing talent for knowing when something happens.”

Nobody answered.

Ryan looked at Catherine.

She suddenly became interested in the curtains.

Suspicious.

Emma bit her lip.

Ryan finally handed Richard the phone.

He studied the photograph and location.

Catherine moved beside him.

“That’s her.”

“You’re sure?” Ryan asked.

“Yes.”

Her voice trembled.

“Her name is Elena Ward.”

Ryan repeated it quietly.

“Elena.”

Something stirred inside him.

A voice.

Run, Ryan.

He pushed the memory away.

Richard handed the phone to his security chief.

“Send a team.”

Ryan immediately said, “I’m going.”

“No.”

“Dad.”

“No.”

“She may only talk to me.”

“She may not even be there.”

“Exactly why I’m going.”

Richard’s expression hardened.

“You were shot at two hours ago.”

“And hiding here hasn’t stopped them from contacting me.”

“That doesn’t mean you walk into their trap.”

Ryan folded his arms.

I forgot rich fathers could be this controlling.

Sophia turned away.

Richard’s eyebrow twitched.

Ryan caught it.

Again.

He really needed to figure out what was wrong with these people.

Victoria intervened.

“Ryan has a point.”

Richard looked at her.

“He shouldn’t go alone, but if Elena really saved him, she may panic when armed strangers appear.”

Catherine nodded reluctantly.

Richard clearly hated being outnumbered.

Ten minutes later, a plan existed.

Security would reach the location first.

Ryan would stay several minutes behind them.

If the building was clear, he could enter.

If not, he stayed in the vehicle.

Ryan agreed.

Mostly.

⸻

The industrial district was nearly deserted.

Ryan sat in the back of a black SUV while Daniel drove.

Another security vehicle traveled ahead.

Richard had wanted to come.

Ryan refused.

One Harrington walking into a possible ambush was enough.

His phone remained silent.

No new messages.

That worried him more.

Daniel touched his earpiece.

“Team One has reached the building.”

Ryan looked through the window.

Old warehouses lined the road.

Several were abandoned.

“Anything?”

“Checking.”

They stopped two streets away.

Five minutes passed.

Then ten.

Ryan’s patience disappeared.

“What’s taking so long?”

“They’re clearing the building.”

His phone suddenly buzzed.

Ryan looked down.

Unknown number.

Wrong building.

His blood ran cold.

A second message arrived.

Look across the street.

Ryan’s head snapped up.

Across from the SUV stood a small coffee shop.

People moved behind the glass.

Nothing unusual.

Then Ryan saw her.

A woman sat near the window.

Not Elena.

Young.

Maybe twenty-two.

Dark hair fell over one shoulder.

She wore a cream blouse beneath a fitted black coat and was calmly drinking coffee while looking directly at Ryan’s vehicle.

Ryan froze.

He knew that face.

Not from this life.

From the novel.

No way.

The woman lifted her cup.

Ryan’s heartbeat changed.

Claire Bennett.

The name appeared in his memory.

The female lead.

Or at least…

Ryan thought she had been.

He had skipped enough romantic chapters that he wasn’t completely sure.

But he remembered Claire.

Smart.

Difficult.

Sharp-tongued.

And involved in something important later in the story.

What exactly?

Naturally, Ryan couldn’t remember.

Of all people… why is she here?

Several miles away, Catherine suddenly looked toward Victoria.

“Who?”

Victoria shrugged.

They had never heard that name from Ryan’s thoughts before.

Back in the SUV, Ryan opened the door.

Daniel immediately stopped him.

“Where are you going?”

“Coffee.”

“You don’t drink coffee in the middle of an active security operation.”

“I do today.”

“Young Master—”

“Come with me.”

Daniel reluctantly followed.

Ryan entered the shop.

The woman didn’t look up when he approached.

He stopped beside her table.

“Claire Bennett?”

Now she looked at him.

Her eyes were dark and cool.

“Ryan Harrington.”

Ryan’s suspicion increased.

“You know me.”

“Your face has been all over the news since yesterday.”

Fair.

He pulled out the chair opposite her.

“Why are you here?”

Claire took another sip.

“That’s usually something you ask after saying hello.”

“Hello. Why are you here?”

One corner of her mouth moved.

Ryan stared at her.

Yep. Annoying.

Claire’s eyes narrowed slightly, as though she could somehow sense the insult.

Unlike his family, she couldn’t hear a word.

“What do you want, Mr. Harrington?”

Ryan showed her the message.

“Did you send this?”

She read it.

“No.”

“You were staring at my car.”

“Because four black SUVs arrived in a neighborhood where nobody owns four black SUVs.”

Ryan leaned back.

Reasonable.

Annoyingly reasonable.

Then he noticed something on the chair beside her.

A folder.

On top was a photograph.

Elena.

Ryan’s expression changed.

Claire immediately closed the folder.

Too late.

“Where did you get that?”

Her gaze hardened.

“That’s none of your business.”

Ryan reached for the folder.

Claire slapped her hand over it.

Daniel stepped forward.

Claire looked at him.

“If your bodyguard touches me, this conversation ends.”

Ryan raised a hand.

Daniel stopped.

Ryan looked at Claire.

“You have a picture of the woman I’m looking for.”

Claire’s expression changed.

Only slightly.

“Who are you looking for?”

“Elena Ward.”

Silence.

Claire slowly removed her hand from the folder.

“Why?”

“She was my nanny.”

That got a reaction.

Claire stared at him.

“Your nanny?”

“Yes.”

Ryan leaned closer.

“Now tell me why you have her photograph.”

Claire studied him for several seconds.

Then opened the folder.

Inside were documents.

Photographs.

Bank statements.

Newspaper clippings.

Ryan recognized one headline.

HARRINGTON HEIR MISSING.

His stomach tightened.

“What is this?”

Claire spoke quietly.

“My father was investigating your disappearance before he died.”

Ryan looked at her.

That wasn’t something he remembered from the novel.

At all.

“What?”

“He was a journalist.”

Ryan searched his memory.

Claire’s father had been dead before the novel began.

That much he remembered.

But investigation?

No.

“He believed Elena Ward didn’t kidnap you.”

Ryan’s attention sharpened.

“Why?”

“Because three days before you disappeared, she contacted him.”

Ryan stopped breathing.

Claire pulled out an old photocopy.

A handwritten note.

“She said someone inside the Harrington family was planning to hurt a child.”

Ryan stared at the words.

Inside the family.

His mind immediately returned to the threatening note.

The first son should never have been born.

“Did she name anyone?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“She disappeared before she could meet him.”

Ryan sat back.

This changed everything.

Again.

“Why are you investigating this now?”

Claire’s face became colder.

“Because my father died six months after you disappeared.”

Ryan remembered that.

Car accident.

At least, he thought it had been.

Claire continued.

“The police called it an accident.”

Ryan’s eyes slowly narrowed.

Another accident.

Claire saw his reaction.

“Yes.”

She opened another photograph.

A destroyed car.

“My father’s brakes failed.”

Ryan went completely still.

Victoria.

Her brakes.

Claire’s father.

His brakes.

Fifteen years apart.

Same method.

That’s not a coincidence.

Claire couldn’t hear him.

But she saw the change in his expression.

“You know something.”

Ryan looked at her.

“Maybe.”

“Then tell me.”

“No.”

Her eyes flashed.

“You expect me to give you information while you hide yours?”

“Yes.”

Claire stared at him.

Ryan almost smiled.

I remember why readers liked her.

Then another memory surfaced.

Claire standing beside someone.

Not Ryan.

Ethan.

Ryan’s smile disappeared.

He remembered a scene.

Ethan holding Claire’s hand.

Maybe romance.

Maybe not.

Was she Ethan’s love interest?

Ryan frowned.

That complicated things.

Claire snapped her fingers once.

“Where did you go?”

“Nowhere.”

“You looked at me like I suddenly became dangerous.”

“Maybe you did.”

She rolled her eyes.

Then Ryan’s phone buzzed.

Both looked down.

Unknown number.

A photograph loaded.

Elena again.

But this time, she wasn’t tied to the chair.

She was standing.

Free.

Beside a window.

The message underneath contained only one sentence.

Claire Bennett is lying to you.

Ryan slowly raised his eyes.

Claire was watching him.

“What?”

He turned the phone toward her.

She read the message.

For the first time, her calm expression shattered.

“That’s impossible.”

“Why?”

Claire grabbed her bag.

“Because that photograph wasn’t taken today.”

Ryan stood.

“How do you know?”

Claire looked at him.

“Because that building burned down eight years ago.”

Ryan’s blood chilled.

Before he could respond, every light in the coffee shop went out.

Someone screamed.

Glass shattered.

Daniel reached for Ryan.

And in the darkness, Claire grabbed Ryan’s wrist.

“Move!”

Ryan had exactly one thought as they dropped behind the table.

This definitely wasn’t in the novel.