The Billionaire They Buried

Chapter 2: The Fall Of An Heir

The handcuffs clicked around my wrists, and I stared at them like they belonged to someone else's life. This had to be a nightmare. Minutes ago I was celebrating my grandfather's birthday. Now people who had known me for years were looking at me like I was a murderer.

"There has to be a mistake," I said.

The detective didn't react. "Mr. Ethan Hayes, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court." I barely heard the rest of it. My eyes found Ryan across the room.

"Ryan."

He looked away first, then sighed like the words cost him something. "I never thought you'd do something like this."

"What are you talking about? You know I didn't kill him."

"I wanted to believe that. But everyone saw you leave Grandfather's study." He said it so evenly that for one disorienting second I almost doubted myself.

I turned to Victoria. "You know I'm innocent."

She wiped her eyes without meeting mine. "I don't know what happened to Charles. But if you really loved him why didn't you save him?" A murmur moved through the room, and I looked around at the faces I'd grown up with, business partners, family friends, board members and I understood, all at once, that not one of them was going to speak up for me.

As the paramedics carried my grandfather's body out, I lowered my head. "I'm sorry," I whispered, though I wasn't even sure who I was apologizing to.

"Let's go," the detective said, and I let him lead me.

Reporters had already found us by the time we reached the street, camera flashes exploding one after another as security struggled to hold the barricade. Ethan! Did you poison Chairman Hayes? Did you kill your grandfather to take over Hayes Group? Do you have anything to say? I didn't answer any of it. I didn't understand it well enough myself to answer. The officers pushed me into the car and the door shut on all of it the noise, the flashes, the version of my life that had existed an hour ago.

For the first time in years, I felt completely helpless.

The interrogation started almost immediately. Two detectives — Marcus Cole and Sarah Bennett sat across from me with a file between them.

"Let's make this easy," Marcus said. "Did you poison Charles Hayes?"

"No."

"Were you alone with him before dinner?"

"Yes. He wanted to talk about the company. About succession."

Marcus glanced at his notes. "Witnesses say they saw you hand him a glass of wine."

"I never handed him any wine."

Sarah slid a few photographs across the table Grandfather and me talking, walking into his study, standing beside each other at dinner. Nothing that looked like anything. Then Marcus placed an evidence bag in front of me: a small glass vial, traces of white powder still visible inside.

"It was found in Chairman Hayes's study. Your fingerprints were all over it."

"I've never seen that before. That's impossible."

"If you're hiding something," Sarah said, "now's the time to tell us."

"I'm not hiding anything."

"The lab confirmed poison in Chairman Hayes's wine," Marcus said, and closed the file like that settled it.

I stared at the vial and understood, with a clarity that turned my stomach, that this wasn't bad luck. Someone had built this case against me weeks maybe months before Grandfather ever collapsed.

"You'll remain in police custody while the investigation continues," Marcus said, and the two of them left me alone with a locked door and too many questions.

Who would do this. Why me. And then I remembered what Grandfather had told me an hour before he died don't leave this house until you've spoken to me and a cold understanding settled over me.

He had known something was coming.

A knock pulled me out of it. A young officer stepped in. "Mr. Hayes, you have a visitor. He says he was Chairman Hayes's personal lawyer."

"I've never met him."

"He says your grandfather left something behind. Something meant only for you."

My heart skipped, and for the first time since the handcuffs closed around my wrists, I felt something I thought I'd lost that night.

Hope or maybe just the first thread of a reason not to give up yet.