The Man Behind the $200 Million
Ethan remained hidden inside the study.
The footsteps stopped outside the door.
He held his breath.
A shadow appeared beneath the doorway.
Then disappeared.
The person walked away.
Ethan waited several minutes before moving.
He quietly opened the window and climbed outside.
His heart was pounding.
He drove directly to his company's headquarters.
By sunrise, Daniel was waiting for him.
“You look terrible.”
“Someone broke into my father's house.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“What?”
Ethan placed the black folder on the table.
“I found this.”
Daniel read the documents.
His face became serious.
“This is old.”
“Twenty-eight years old.”
Daniel pointed to the investment structure.
“This explains everything.”
“What?”
“Your father owns the controlling trust behind the entire $200 million commitment.”
Ethan stared at him.
“So the investment isn't his personal money?”
“No.”
Daniel paused.
“It's worse.”
“What do you mean?”
“The trust controls several companies.”
Ethan looked confused.
Daniel continued.
“Your father isn't just investing $200 million in your company.”
“He is deciding whether your company survives.”
Ethan sat down.
The humiliation from the previous night suddenly felt insignificant.
His father could destroy everything he had built.
But why?
Why would a man who had lived modestly possess such power?
Daniel turned another page.
“There's something else.”
He pointed to a signature.
“Victor Hale.”
Ethan remembered the photograph.
“The dead businessman?”
Daniel nodded.
“But there's a problem.”
“What?”
“Victor Hale didn't die in 1998.”
Ethan's heart stopped.
Daniel opened his laptop.
“I checked old records.”
He turned the screen around.
Victor Hale had disappeared in 1998.
No confirmed death certificate.
No body.
No official cause of death.
Ethan stared at the screen.
“So why did everyone believe he died?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Ethan suddenly remembered the anonymous caller.
Your father protected you for twenty-eight years.
He looked at Daniel.
“Do you think Victor Hale is alive?”
Before Daniel could answer, his phone rang.
This time, the caller ID showed a name.
MICHAEL HARRISON.
Ethan answered immediately.
“Dad?”
Michael's voice was calm.
“Go home.”
“What?”
“Go home, Ethan.”
“I need answers.”
“You aren't ready for them.”
“Then make me ready.”
Silence.
Michael finally said,
“The man you're looking for has been watching you for years.”
Ethan's face went cold.
“Who?”
Michael didn't answer.
Instead, he said one final sentence.
“Check the birthday gift.”
The call ended.
Ethan looked at the small antique watch on the desk.
He slowly turned it over.
Then he noticed something he had missed.
The back of the watch could be opened.
Inside was a tiny folded photograph.
And the person standing beside Michael...
May you like
was not Victor Hale.
It was Ethan's mother.
