The Man They Blame

Wake up to find out that being wealthy

“Who are you?” Derek tried to get up, but was quickly and frantically held back by those gathered around him.

“You don’t need to get up, sir.”

“Rest, sir. You’re not fully recovered yet.”

They were bustling about, adjusting his position and watching him intently, all to make sure he was comfortable.

Derek’s gaze fell on a group of strangers who, strangely enough, were addressing him and treating him with such respect.

Slowly, one by one, they introduced themselves, causing the furrow on Derek’s brow to deepen, even though he didn’t say a word.

Derek never expected that when he woke up, he would see private doctors, lawyers, bodyguards, assistants, and a white-haired servant standing by his bedside, as if they had been waiting for someone important to regain consciousness.

Derek immediately grew wary.

He suspected these people had been sent by Jacob West—either to thank him or, worse yet, to force him to sign some kind of liability waiver.

His voice was hoarse as he said, “If this is about the rescue, talk to my department.” He was currently in a complicated situation after leaving the house he shared with Erin and realising he might not be able to handle it on his own.

But the servant’s eyes softened as he said, “Young Master, we’ve finally found you.” His hand reached for Derek’s and gripped it tightly.

Derek froze. For a moment, he thought he was still hallucinating due to oxygen deprivation. He even tried pinching his stomach, only to feel the pain and realize he wasn’t dreaming.

Young Master? What on earth were they talking about?

“No, sir.” The old man dismissed his words with conviction, his expression turning serious. “It’s not what you think. You’re not an orphan—you’re the biological son of Jacob West, the long-lost head of the Taylor-West Group.”

More than twenty years ago, during a power struggle within the West family, Derek was kidnapped from his family home and has been missing ever since. Jacob had never stopped searching for him.

Derek’s first reaction wasn’t shock. He stared intently at their faces, realising that these people might be deceiving him for reasons he didn’t know.

Just then, his phone vibrated. A bank notification appeared on the screen. A new deposit of fifteen million dollars had been made into his account.

Derek stared at the screen in confusion. Instead of softening, his expression grew even colder. He was still convinced this was just some kind of trick. He even suspected that these people had investigated him beforehand and orchestrated all of this to manipulate him.

He tossed his phone aside and said, “Nice trick. But if this is a scam, you’ve picked the wrong person.”

The attendant looked at him calmly, his face appearing warm in response to Derek’s attitude. Without offering any denial, he handed Derek a black ID card with both hands.

The card was entirely black, with a dark gold pattern along its edges. It had no standard card number, only the Taylor-West family crest and Derek’s name.

“Sir, this is the highest-level ID card, held exclusively by immediate members of the Taylor-West family. The holder of this card possesses authority approaching that of a CEO within the group.” The attendant looked into Derek’s eyes.

Realizing that Derek was trying to process the situation, the attendant explained further, “You may use all products and services under the Taylor-West Group free of charge, appoint and dismiss managers below the director level, and allocate up to eighty million dollars from the group’s funds without additional approval.”

Just then, the hospital’s administrative director rushed in with several security guards. The man glared directly at Derek. “Who put a firefighter in the most expensive suite without contacting me first?” The man scanned every doctor on duty there.

Ignoring Derek’s comfort as a patient, he raised his voice even higher. “This is a premium hospital; letting a low-level worker in will only tarnish the hospital’s reputation. Will you take responsibility if other VIPs find out about this?!” he shouted right in their faces.

Derek was stunned to find himself called a lowly worker, but before he could speak, the waiter turned to face him with a cold stare. “You’d better apologize for what you said.”

The administrative director frowned. “Old man, you’d better shut up, or I’ll call more security guards to drag you all out of here.”

Ignoring that, the butler asked, “Who appointed you?”

The director froze. The butler’s overwhelming composure made him realise something felt wrong. But he brushed it off, saying, “You don’t need to know that—”

Until the butler placed Derek’s black ID card in front of him.

The arrogance on the director’s face vanished instantly.

This hospital is part of the Taylor-West Group’s medical system. As soon as the system verified Derek’s ID card, his authority took effect immediately.

“What are you waiting for? Get this man out of here right now.” Holding up the card, the attendant took command, giving orders to the security staff accompanying the man.

The director tried to protest, “No, wait—something’s not right here!” He resisted their attempts to drag him out.

But just then, one of the security guards stepped forward and showed him the suspension and investigation notice sent by headquarters. As he read the message on the screen, his body stopped struggling; cold sweat broke out on his face, which was etched with panic.

“No. I… I was just doing my job. I can’t be fired!” he rambled, but the staff quickly dragged him out.

Derek was stunned. This wasn’t just empty talk. This was real power.

Derek tried to process everything, lowering his head to think, then lifting it again to look at them. “All right, you may indeed be from the Taylor West Group, but that doesn’t mean I’m Jacob West’s son.” He didn’t want there to be any mistake. “I want a DNA test.”

If it were true, he wanted to prove it.

The attendant nodded. He then handed Derek the DNA test results. “We’ve already verified it to make sure there’s no mistake.”

Derek opened the report. After reading it, his fingers began to tremble. The results stated: Probability of a father-son relationship: 99.9998%.

The blood relationship between him and Jacob West had been confirmed. Derek felt shaken.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t accept the fact. However, more than twenty years of his life couldn’t be undone with just one sentence: “You are my son.”

He asked softly, “Where is Jacob?” His gaze was blank.

The head nurse paused for a moment. “MasterJacob is still under observation outside the ICU. His lungs were nearly filled with smoke from the fire; he forced himself to stay conscious to check on your condition, sir, until his body finally reached its limit.”

The butler looked sombre. Then he regained his composure. “I’ll take you to see him.”

The head butler led Derek to the ward and let him look at Jacob West through the glass.

Derek looked at him with emotions too complex to explain. He then said, “I want to walk around by myself, you can leave me for a moment.”

They agreed and let him go. Just as Derek turned a corner in the hallway, he saw a man who seemed to be staggering and was about to fall. Seeing this, he immediately ran to support him. At the same time, a woman coming from the opposite direction did the same, and their hands clasped as they held onto the elderly man.