The Useless Son-in-Law Is a Hidden Tycoon

Chapter 3: The End of the Experiment

The elevator doors slid shut, cutting off the panicked shouting inside Jasmine's office.

Aren sat alone in the quiet metallic cabin as it descended.

He lowered his eyes to his motionless legs.

There had been a time when he hated the wheelchair. He hated the way people looked at him when they saw it.

He hated the pity in some people's eyes and the disgust in others.

Most of all, he hated the way his disability had slowly become the only thing people saw when they looked at him.

But over the years, he had learned to live with it.

What he could not accept was being loved only when he was useful.

He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a plain black phone he had not touched in three long years.

He pressed a single speed-dial key.

The call connected on the very first ring.

"Young Master Greyson?" a sharp voice came over the line, filled with shock.

"It is me, Xavier," Aren said quietly, his voice devoid of all previous warmth. "The experiment is over."

On the other end of the line, Xavier dropped his pen in complete disbelief.

For three years, Xavier had watched in silence while the sole heir to the multi-billion dollar Greyson Empire lived as a humiliated, live-in son-in-law.

More than once, Xavier had begged Aren to return.

More than once, Aren had refused.

Not because he needed Jasmine's family.

He had simply wanted to know whether Jasmine truly loved him.

He had wanted to believe that someone could look beyond his wheelchair, beyond the Greyson fortune, and simply see Aren.

For three years, he had given her that chance.

Tonight, she had given him his answer.

"Young Master... are you certain?" Xavier asked, his voice filled with respect and caution. "If we pull back now, the Richards family will fall."

"Terminate everything," Aren commanded coldly.

"Cancel every anonymous investment. Pull back all bank guarantees. End every supplier arrangement and financial protection connected to Richards Group."

Xavier took a sharp breath. "Every single one, sir? The primary material contract alone keeps forty percent of their operations running."

"I said everything, Xavier," Aren repeated, staring at his lifeless legs.

“I gave that family three years to prove they valued me for who I was. They failed. Effective immediately, Richards Group stands entirely on its own."

"Understood, Young Master," Xavier replied without hesitation. "I'll begin the withdrawal immediately."

"Pick me up outside the building," Aren said, ending the call.

Meanwhile, back on the top floor of Richards Group, chaos erupted.

Jasmine gripped the phone receiver so hard her fingers turned white.

"What do you mean by frozen?" Jasmine yelled at her chief secretary over the line. "Our primary supplier contract was secured for the next five years! They cannot just freeze our account!"

Nikolai frowned, stepping toward the desk with a confident wave of his hand. "Calm down, Jasmine. It is probably just a minor banking glitch. Let me talk to them."

Before Nikolai could take the phone, Jasmine's desk computer chimed with a loud, red urgent alert.

An official legal notice flashed across her screen in bold red text.

Notice of Immediate Termination: All supply agreements, raw material allocations, and credit guarantees extended to Richards Group have been revoked by the parent company.

Jasmine's breath hitched in her throat.

Without those materials, three of her biggest factory lines would grind to a complete halt by morning.

Her company would lose millions in revenue every single hour of downtime.

"Nikolai..." Jasmine said, her voice suddenly trembling as she looked at him with panicked eyes. "Look at this. They just terminated our main contract."

Nikolai smirked, buttoning his suit jacket with absolute confidence.

"Do not worry, my love," Nikolai boasted, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "My family has plenty of connections. I will call my contacts right now and fix this for you before dinner."

Jasmine let out a relief-filled sigh, nodding eagerly. "Thank you, Nikolai. I knew I could rely on a real man."

Down on the main street, a black luxury sedan pulled up outside the building.

The driver's door opened, and Xavier stepped out in a sharp black suit.

Xavier stepped forward and opened the rear door for Aren. He carefully helped Aren into the back seat before folding the wheelchair and placing it in the trunk.

As the car door clicked shut, Xavier glanced at Aren through the rearview mirror.

"Where to now, Young Master Greyson?" Xavier asked respectfully. "Shall I prepare for your return to the Greyson Empire?"

Aren looked out the tinted window, watching the grand glass tower of Richards Group shrink into the distance.

"No," Aren said, his expression becoming thoughtful.

"If I return to Greyson now, everyone will say I succeeded because of my family name."

He leaned back against the leather seat, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Find me a struggling, undervalued company in the city," Aren ordered softly. "A business that everyone else has already abandoned. I will build my own empire first."