The Useless Son In-law Is A Legend

Chapter 8-Whispers In The Dark

Three days had passed since Ryan left the house.  

The mansion felt lighter without him, or at least that’s what Mrs. Harrison told herself.  

But at night, the house seemed too quiet.

Clara sat by her window, staring at the street.  

Every time she heard footsteps outside, her heart jumped a little — though she didn’t know why.

“Stop thinking about him,” she muttered. “He’s gone. That’s all.”

She tried to focus on her phone, scrolling through messages, but her mind kept going back to the moment he walked out without looking back.

---

Downstairs, Eric was pacing in the study, sweat on his forehead.  

He hadn’t slept properly in two nights.  

That video still haunted him — the one showing his man sneaking into Ryan’s room.  

He deleted it, broke his laptop, and even changed his SIM card, yet he couldn’t relax.

“What if he tells the family?” he whispered to himself.  

“What if he’s still around?”

He looked through the window and saw nothing but shadows.

“Impossible,” he said, forcing a laugh. “He’s gone for good.”

But deep down, he wasn’t sure.

---

That evening, Mrs. Harrison walked into the living room and found a brown envelope on the table.  

No one knew how it got there.  

When she opened it, there were a few receipts — all in Eric’s name.

She frowned. “What’s this?”

Eric walked in just then, pretending to be calm.  

“Auntie, you’re still up?”

She showed him the papers. “Eric, are these yours?”

His eyes widened for a second before he forced a smile. “No, of course not! Maybe Ryan left them behind.”

She sighed. “That man again. He just won’t stop bringing trouble.”

Eric nodded quickly. “Exactly. You see what I mean?”

He grabbed the papers and stuffed them into his pocket before she could say more.

But outside, across the street, a man in a black jacket watched quietly, phone in hand.  

He murmured, “Commander, he took the bait.”

A calm voice replied from the other end,  

“Good. Keep watching. Don’t act until I say so.”

---

The next morning, Clara was getting ready for work when she noticed something strange.  

The broken light near the front door — the one Ryan had promised to fix — was glowing softly.  

Perfectly repaired.

Her breath caught for a second.

“Who fixed this?” she asked one of the maids.

“I don’t know, ma’am. It was working when we woke up.”

Clara stared at it, her heart suddenly uneasy.  

She whispered, “Ryan?”

Then she shook her head quickly. “No, it can’t be.”

---

Meanwhile, Ryan sat inside a quiet roadside café, his black cap pulled low.  

A cup of coffee sat untouched on the table as he read a report on his phone.

“Eric’s debts have reached the main city lenders,” his man’s message said.  

“Soon they’ll come for him.”

Ryan typed back: **“Let them. But no harm to the family. Only fear.”**

He leaned back in his chair, eyes calm.  

His phone buzzed again — another message, this time from an unknown number.

**“She still doesn’t believe in you, Commander.”**

Ryan smiled faintly. “She will. In time.”

---

That night, thunder rolled across the sky.  

The lights in the mansion flickered.  

Clara lay awake, staring at the ceiling.

When lightning flashed through the window, she thought she saw a shadow move past the garden gate — tall, familiar, still.

She sat up quickly, heart racing.  

But when she ran to the window, the gate was empty, and the rain had already started to fall.

She pressed her palm to the glass and whispered,  

“Ryan… was that you?”

Only the sound of rain answered.