Rebound: The CEO'S Revenge System

Chapter 5: The Lawyer’s Visit

The morning sun came through the window. It was bright and harsh. It hit the white sheets of the hospital bed. 

Ryan lay perfectly still. He looked like a statue. His chest moved up and down very slowly. To the world, he was in a deep sleep. To the doctors, he was in a coma.

But inside, Ryan was awake.

His mind was a storm. He could feel his toes, but he could not move them. He could feel the itch on his nose, but he could not scratch it. It was a prison of flesh and bone.

Ding.

A blue screen appeared in the darkness of his mind.

[System Status: Active]

[Energy: 15%]

[Recovery Mode: Ongoing]

Ryan watched the screen. It was the only thing that kept him sane. He waited. He knew they were coming. He did not know when, but he knew Clara would not wait long. She loved money more than she ever loved him.

Then, he heard it.

Click-clack. Click-clack.

High heels on the hard tile floor. Ryan knew that walk. It was fast. It was impatient. It was Clara.

The door handle turned with a squeak. The door opened. A rush of air came into the room. It smelled like expensive flowers. It was Clara’s perfume. She wore too much of it.

"Come in, Mr. Mark," Clara said. Her voice was cold. It did not sound like a wife visiting a sick husband. It sounded like a boss entering a meeting.

Heavy footsteps followed her. Thud. Thud. Thud.

This was a heavy man. Ryan could hear the man breathing. It was a wheezy, wet sound.

"Is he... stable?" the man asked. His voice was deep and scratchy, like he smoked too many cigarettes.

"He is a vegetable, Mark," Clara said. She walked to the side of the bed. Ryan felt her shadow fall over his face. She did not touch his hand. She did not fix his blanket. She just stood there. "The doctor said he might never wake up. And even if he does, his brain will be mush."

Ryan felt a spike of anger. Mush? My brain is sharper than ever, he thought.

The heart monitor next to the bed sped up. Beep... beep-beep...

"Careful," Mr. Mark said. "He can hear us?"

"He can’t hear anything," Clara snapped. "Look at him. He is gone, Mark. Now, do you have the papers?"

Ryan needed to know exactly what they were saying. He needed proof. He focused his mind on the blue screen.

‘System,” he thought. “Give me an edge.”

[Skill Selection Available]

[Skill: Super Hearing]

[Cost: 5 Energy Points]

[Activate?]

“Yes," Ryan commanded.

A warm feeling washed over his ears. It felt like water clearing out of them after a swim. Suddenly, the world became loud.

He could hear the hum of the lightbulb above him. He could hear the wind hitting the glass of the window. He could hear the rustle of a stiff suit jacket as Mr. Mark moved.

"Right here," Mark said.

Ryan heard the sound of a briefcase snapping open. Click. Click. Then, the sound of thick paper sliding out.

"This is the deed to the main house," Mark explained. He tapped the paper. "And this is the transfer of assets. Once you sign this, the property belongs to the trust. And you are the sole controller of the trust."

"And the car?" Clara asked.

"Included," Mark said. "Everything is here. The bank accounts, the investments, and the estate. Ryan signed a power of attorney three years ago, remember? It gives you full control if he becomes incapacitated."

Ryan screamed inside his mind. I never signed that! She forged it!

He remembered three years ago. He was sick with the flu. Clara had brought him soup and some papers for his insurance. She said it was routine. He had trusted her. He was a fool.

"Good," Clara said. Her voice was full of greed. "I want to sell the house immediately. I have a buyer lined up. They pay cash."

"Cash is good," Mark chuckled. "Very good."

"Give me the pen," Clara demanded.

Ryan listened closely. He heard the cap come off a metal pen. Shhhk.

Then, the sound of the tip hitting the paper. Scritch, scratch, scritch.

It was a hateful sound. It sounded like claws on a chalkboard. With every stroke of the pen, Clara was erasing his life. She was taking his grandfather’s house. She was taking his hard work.

[System Alert: Audio Recording in Progress]

[Storage: Memory Bank 1]

The System was recording every word. Every scratch of the pen.

"Done," Clara said. She let out a long breath. "It is finally mine."

"Yours," Mark corrected. "Legally and totally."

Papers shuffled again. Mark was packing them away. The briefcase snapped shut. Click. Click.

"What about him?" Mark asked. He lowered his voice. "When the house is sold... where does he go? The new owners won't want a coma patient in the master bedroom."

Clara laughed. It was a short, cruel sound. "I’ll move him to a state facility. One of the cheap ones. I’m not wasting my money on a private room for a corpse."

Mark laughed too. It was a wet, ugly laugh. "You are a tough woman, Clara. Very tough."

"I am a practical woman," she said.

Mark walked closer to the bed. Ryan could smell him now. He smelled like stale coffee and old sweat. The lawyer stood right over him.

"Well," Mark said, looking down at Ryan’s face. "It’s a shame. He built a nice empire. But I guess he won't need a house where he's going."

Ryan felt a rage so hot it almost burned him. “Where I’m going? I’m not going anywhere. I am coming for you.”

The anger was too much. It flooded his system. He lost focus for one second. Just one second.

His nerves fired.

His right eyelid twitched. Then, it opened just a tiny crack. A sliver of white eyeball showed.

The laughter stopped instantly.

The room went deadly silent.

"Clara," Mark whispered. His voice was tight.

"What?" Clara asked, busy with her purse.

"Did you see that?"

"See what?"

"His eye," Mark said. "I think... I think he moved."

Ryan tried to close it. He tried to force his eye shut. But his body was frozen again. He could not control the muscle. His eye remained open a fraction of an inch. He was staring blindly at the ceiling, but to Mark, it looked like he was watching.

Clara walked over. Her heels clicked slowly now. Click... clack... click.

"Don't be stupid, Mark. It’s just a reflex. Nerves dying. That’s all."

"I don't know," Mark said. He sounded nervous. "It looked like he was looking at me."

Mark leaned down. He brought his face very close to Ryan’s face. Ryan could feel the man’s hot breath on his cheek.

"Hey," Mark said loudly. "Can you hear me? Ryan?"

Ryan did not move. He did not breathe differently. But his heart was pounding against his ribs. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

"Look at the monitor," Mark said. "His heart rate. It’s fast. It’s very fast."

Clara moved closer. She stood on the other side of the bed. Now Ryan was trapped between them.

"Maybe he is in pain," Clara said, but she did not sound caring. She sounded worried that her plan was breaking.

"Or maybe," Mark whispered, "maybe he is waking up."

Mark reached out a chubby hand. He moved his fingers toward Ryan’s face. He was going to touch Ryan’s eyelid. He was going to check if the pupil reacted to light.

If Mark lifted that eyelid, he would see Ryan’s eye moving. He would see the life in them. He would know Ryan was conscious.

And if they knew he was awake... they would not send him to a cheap facility.

They would kill him right here.

Mark’s finger was an inch away from Ryan’s eye.

"Let’s see if anyone is home," Mark muttered.

Ryan commanded the System with a scream in his mind. “Do something! Anything!”

Mark’s finger touched Ryan’s eyelashes.

[System Alert: Energy Spike Detected]