2026-09-22 08:17:33Garrett’s hand was on the brass front doorknob when a bedroom door clicked open down the hallway.
Little Toby walked out into the living room, dragging an expensive teddy bear by its arm. He was wearing brand-new pajamas—a pair Garrett knew he hadn't bought. Toby didn't run over to hug Garrett's leg. He didn't ask where Garrett was going with a packed bag. He didn't even look him in the eye. Instead, the five-year-old threw himself onto the sofa, kicked his feet up onto the armrest, and pointed a finger toward the kitchen. "Get me a glass of ice water," Toby ordered, his voice sharp and demanding. "And don't make it warm like last time." The words struck him like a slap to the face. Garrett froze. His hand stayed fixed on the door handle. Behind him, Evelyn didn't correct the boy. She didn't tell him to say please, nor did she remind him to call Garrett "Dad." She just stood next to Theo, watching with an indifferent look on her face. To her, this was normal. This was how things had always been. Slowly, Garrett turned around. For five years, he had spent midnight after midnight sitting by this boy's bed, pressing damp towels to his forehead when he ran fevers. When he called him ‘Papa’ through his gapped teeth, in discomfort from a high fever. He had gone to sleep on an empty stomach dozens of times just to make sure Toby had fresh fruit and imported milk. He had worked his fingers to the bone, coming home with bleeding knuckles, just to hear the boy laugh. And now, looking closely at the child sitting on the couch, the scales finally fell from Garrett's eyes. The sharp arc of the boy's jawline. The double eyelids. The exact shape of his thin upper lip. Toby didn't have the Dalton family features. Not one. Garrett shifted his gaze slightly to the man standing by the kitchen island. Theo Hudson had the same jawline. The same eyelids. The same arrogant tilt of the chin. It wasn't just resemblance—it was a carbon copy. How had he been so blind? How had he let his love for this family blind him to the blatant truth standing right in front of him for five long years? Worse than the physical resemblance was the way the boy looked at him. There was no affection in those five-year-old eyes. No respect anymore. To Toby, Garrett wasn't a father who slaved away to keep a roof over his head. He was just the man who cleaned the house, fixed the broken toys, and brought food to the table. He was an unpaid servant. Yesterday, Toby had thrown his arms around Theo Hudson’s legs, beaming with pride as he shouted "Daddy!" Today, he looked at Garrett like trash stuck to the bottom of his shoe. Theo smirked, crossing his arms as he waited to see if Garrett would obey the child like he usually did. Toby frowned when Garrett didn't move toward the kitchen immediately. "Did you hear me? I said I want water!" Garrett looked at the boy. The raw, agonizing pain that had threatened to tear his heart apart earlier suddenly left. In its place, a cold unyielding numbness settled in. He didn't get angry. "Get it yourself," Garrett said. Toby’s eyes went wide with shock. Evelyn gasped, taking an instinctive step forward. "Garrett! He's just a child—" Garrett didn't wait to hear the rest of her sentence. He turned his back on all three of them, opened the door, and stepped out into the hallway. He pulled the heavy door shut behind him with a firm, decisive click.
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CHAPTER 10: THE APOLOGY
Garrett finally released the breath he had been holding for too long, letting it out in a slow, deliberate manner.One. Two. Three.Slowly, he released his tight grip on the steering wheel. His hands were numb, but the shaking had stopped. He flexed his fingers once, feeling the stiffness in his knuckles.He looked out at the dark alley, then caught his reflection in the mirror. The broken look in his eyes was gone, replaced by a dangerous clarity.He was sitting on a fortune worth two billion dollars. He held the key to an offshore empire that could buy and sell Theo Hudson three times over.Crashing his car or throwing his life away in a fit of rage over two manipulative leeches was the stupidest thing he could do.They weren't worth his future.They weren't even worth his anger.Garrett took one last deep breath and reached for the gearshift.He had spent five years destroying himself for people who never deserved it.He wasn't going to waste another minute.Garrett put the car in
CHAPTER 9: TARGET LIST
“Two targets,” Garrett said, his voice flat. “My first target is my wife, Evelyn Dalton.”Jason picked up the paper and adjusted his reading glasses. “Give me the specifics.”“Evelyn Ross. Thirty years old! Senior marketing specialist at Apex Media Group. Her office hours are eight-thirty to five, but for the past six months, she’s claimed to work late three or four nights a week.”Jason’s pen scratched across his notepad. “Does she drive?”“A white 2021 Toyota Camry. It’s registered under both our names, but I paid it off last year.”“What about her routine?”“She drops our son off at school at eight-fifteen every morning. Tuesdays and Thursdays, she claims to go to a gym on 4th Street after work. Verify whether she’s actually going inside or meeting someone in the parking lot.”Jason nodded, jotting down the details. “Alright. If she’s not working late or at the gym, my people will find out where she really goes. Now, who’s target number two?”Garrett’s jaw tightened slightly.“Her
CHAPTER 8: EYES IN THE SHADOWS
Garrett had barely made it to the elevators when Victoria’s door opened behind him. The sharp sound of her heels echoed down the hallway.“Garrett, wait up,” she called, walking toward him with a folder in her hand.He turned around, resting his bag against his leg. “Is something wrong?”“Not wrong. Just a detail we need to plan for,” Victoria said, stopping in front of him. “We can handle all the legal paperwork for the Singapore company right here from my office, but turning the digital money into actual cash means you’ll have to go there in person.”Garrett’s brows furrowed. “I have to fly to Singapore?”“Just for two days,” Victoria explained.“Because of Singapore’s strict banking laws, a new account holding this much money requires the owner to sign the papers at the bank in person. Once you sign the first papers, you can handle every transfer online from anywhere in the world.”Garrett thought about it quickly. Flying out of the country for two days meant he would be away right
CHAPTER 7: 3% DEAL
Victoria leaned back, studying the screen.“Moving two billion dollars isn’t as simple as a bank transfer,” she said. “If you sell it through a public app or put it straight into your local account, the tax authorities will flag it, the bank could freeze the money, and your wife’s lawyers might find out before the day is over.”Garrett stayed silent for a moment. “Then what do we do?”“We build a legal wall around it,” Victoria said, tapping the screen with her pen. “First, I’ll set up a company for you in Singapore. Once it’s registered, we’ll move the digital money into the company as assets you owned before you got married.”Garrett leaned forward. “And after that?”“Then I bring in my firm’s international tax experts and crypto brokers,” Victoria said. “They’ll handle the sale privately instead of dumping everything on the open market. That keeps the price from dropping while we sell.”She paused, meeting his eyes.“My team will structure the entire process so the money ends up in
CHAPTER 6: BILLION DOLLAR CLIENT
The receptionist put down the phone and looked at Garrett differently.“Mr. Dalton... Ms. Mercer will see you right now,” she said, her cold voice now hesitant and polite. “End of the hall. Door on the left.”Garrett nodded, picked up his duffel bag, and walked past the front desk.He knew why that door had opened so fast.It wasn't his name. And it definitely wasn't his denim jacket.It was Malcolm Reed.Malcolm was a lead murder detective with the city police and Garrett’s childhood friend. He had eaten at Garrett’s family table long before they lost everything. When everyone else turned their backs on Garrett, Malcolm was the only one who stayed loyal.Two hours ago, after leaving the testing lab, Garrett had called him from his car. Malcolm heard what was happening and immediately called in a personal favor with Victoria Mercer, one of the most feared senior lawyers in the state.That favor had gotten Garrett through the door.Garrett pushed it open.The office was huge, with gian
CHAPTER 5: THE LINE IN THE SAND
The heater in Garrett’s old car rattled loudly, blowing barely warm, dusty air against his hands as he drove through the morning traffic.On the passenger seat, his duffel bag sat open just enough for him to see the three transparent plastic bags inside.He glanced at his rough hands gripping the wheel. Five years of lifting drywall, moving pallets, and driving late-night shifts had left them hard and worn. He had worked himself to the bone for a wife who treated him like a servant.He wasn't angry anymore. The fury he'd felt outside Toby's school had hardened into something colder—like ice.Ten minutes later, Garrett pulled into the parking lot of Veritas Forensics, a low, gray-brick building tucked inside an industrial park outside the city. A small sign beside the glass doors read: Clinical Testing & Diagnostic Services.He grabbed his bag, turned off the car, and stepped into the damp morning air.Inside, the lobby smelled of floor wax and old coffee. A small TV in the corner play
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