The Worthless Son-In-Law's Trillion Dollars Secret

Chapter 2: The Tower of Secrets

Romeo's Point of View

Five o'clock came faster than I expected. I had spent the entire day moving through the Chen mansion like a ghost, doing my normal tasks but feeling completely different inside. Every time I mopped a floor or carried a tray, my mind was somewhere else. I kept thinking about Vincent Shaw's words. Your life as you know it is over.

At precisely 5:30 PM, I told Margaret I felt sick and asked to leave early. She just waved her hand, lost in her phone call. That was simple to pull off. Nobody cared what Romeo did after work anyway. I found my only good shirt, bought long ago before Emma and I wed, then changed in my little storage room where I slept.

The taxi to town felt endless but so fast too. I sat, hands jittery, watching bright city lights as we neared the heart of town. Buildings rose high above me. The roads appeared spotless. This place seemed alien, like another dimension. Turning the corner to see Phoenix Empire HQ, I gasped loud and hard.

The building sprouted way up high like glass and steel. It stood so big I craned my neck, but the top faded in the misty clouds. "Phoenix Empire" shone in huge gold letters out front. I felt like an ant just staring up at that giant place. This was a super strong place, and I had to go in it. I would have freaked before. I would have spun the cab around and sped back home. But something new was growing inside.

"We're here," the driver said with a nod. "End of the line."

I paid him with my last bucks and stepped out. Even the air felt new, fresh, like fancy parts of town get better air. People in sharp suits and dresses passed by, and some sized up my old shirt like I didn't fit. They had a point. Romeo the cleaner had no place here. But maybe Romeo the boss did. Maybe that was who I should be.

I went through the doors into the shiny inside space.

Phoenix Empire's insides defied all my past visions, quite uncanny. Its floors had slick black stone, mirroring overhead lights in strange ways. Wall-sized windows framed the city, displayed down below. A huge lobby fountain had water with strange, unreal patterns. A guard looked up as I came in; his eyes asked a silent thing. Why is this person standing here?

"Looking for Vincent Shaw," I said, feigning a sturdy tone. "He surely waits for my arrival."

The guard's face did a quick change right then. He grabbed a phone and talked low into its parts. He then motioned to some lifts. "Top floor. A person will meet you."

Going up felt much like I left the real world now. I saw numbers get higher, climbing more and more. Fifteen. Thirty. Fifty. My heart sped up fast; it felt unreal to me. What was I doing there? What was I entering? Who was this Vincent Shaw, why all the info on me?

The lift doors opened; I stepped into a space from a strange dream.

The building's crown was one big space, glass on each side. Sunset painted colors unseen before, a vibrant, strange scene. Each light in the city seemed just for me to see. But the main thing wasn't just the awesome view.

It was the man stood there by the window side.

He stood quite high and slim, locks like moonlight catching dust motes. A fancy suit hung well, worth far more sums than I'd earned, three years scrubbing Chen halls. Though his face truly stole my wandering gaze. He seemed sweet, yet firm in a strange way. Like one who'd seen dark times but stayed gold. A smile bloomed as our eyes met, calming fears.

"Romeo," he then breathed, stepping near to me. "Welcome back here."

"This isn't quite that," I then blurted out. "That place is—"

"Chen's grand house, yes, I knew it well," he said, his tone smooth. "But that held you not as your real heart's place. It just kept your form from true dark harm." He reached out his hand to touch mine. "I am named Vincent Shaw, so you know. I've longed to meet you, Romeo, face to face."

I took his hand. His grasp felt sure and nice. "How can you know? How do you know my birth? And my real name? And... every single part?"

"Your gramps told me," Vincent said with calm. He strolled back to his desk, pressed a switch there. A bright screen sprang out on the blank stone wall, and I sucked quick air. There stood my grandpa with his warm, bright stare. He looked known to me, a pang struck my heart. "Before Edward Martinez left this earth, he left clear orders. Orders timed for now. Your twenty-eighth year."

The man there spoke, a voice from old dreams. A voice lost somewhere in the deep past. A kind voice which flowed like true love's bright stream.

"Hey there, my boy," the old guy spoke. "If you see this now, you must be twenty-eight years old. So, Vinny located you and brought you here. I wish I could have told you this in person, but I ran out of time. You must learn a few things now. Things from way back when. Things like who you are for real and why you lived three years as a Chen house servant."

My knees turned to jelly. I looked for a seat and landed on it fast.

"You were not dumped," the old guy said still, and his eyes looked sad, so my eyes began to get wet. "Your folks were killed when you turned five years of age. The man who did it, the guy who has looked for you all your life, might know just where you are right now."

The screen died out.

Vinny leaned close to me, looking quite serious all of a sudden. "I need to show you stuff, Romeo. Something I just saw one hour back. We got a call about Chen house security." The screen came to life again, and what I saw made me freeze up. A dark car stopped near the Chen house. Big guys in black got out of it. And then they moved up to the front door where Emma was still inside.

"They spotted you," Vinny spoke in a soft tone. "And now where you’ve been stashed."