THE WHEELCHAIR WAS HER BIGGEST MISTAKE

For seventeen years, I had believed Richard Hayes was dead.

I had attended his funeral when I was twenty-one. I remembered the black coffin, the flowers, and my father standing beside me with one hand on my shoulder.

Richard had been my father's closest friend and business partner. Together, they had built the first Hayes factory. When Richard supposedly died in a boating accident, my father withdrew from public life for almost six months.

Now the man was standing twenty feet away from me.

Alive.

Older, heavier, but unmistakably Richard.

He adjusted his coat and looked at me.

“Hello, Marcus.””

I couldn't speak.

My mother began trembling.

“Richard,” she whispered.

He glanced at her.

“Eleanor. You really should have stayed out of this.””

I stepped between them.

“You're supposed to be dead.””

Richard smiled.

“People die when their families stop asking questions.””

Daniel moved closer to me.

“Who is this man?””

“Richard Hayes,” I replied.

“My father's former business partner.””

Richard chuckled.

“Former? That's a little harsh. Your father and I were partners until the very end.””

I looked at him.

“You attended your own funeral?””

He shrugged.

“Your father arranged it. He needed the world to believe I was gone.””

“Why?””

Richard's smile disappeared.

“Because your father was a coward.””

He took another step forward.

“He discovered that I had been moving money through the company. Instead of confronting me privately, he threatened to report everything. So I gave him a choice.””

“What choice?””

“Share the company or lose everything.””

My mother began crying.

Richard pointed at her.

“She knows what happened.””

I turned toward Eleanor.

“Tell me.””

She shook her head.

“Marcus, please.””

“Tell me!””

Richard answered for her.

“Your father chose you.””

The words landed heavily.

“He transferred his shares to you and created a separate trust for Adrian. He thought he could protect both sons while keeping me away from the business.””

I frowned.

“And Ethan?””

Richard laughed.

“Ah. Ethan.””

He looked toward Daniel.

“Did you find him yet?””

Daniel said nothing.

Richard continued.

“Ethan was the only child who understood what his father had done. He knew the original ownership agreement had never been properly dissolved.””

I stared at him.

“What agreement?””

Richard opened his briefcase.

He removed a document and held it up.

“The original partnership agreement. Fifty percent belonged to your father. Fifty percent belonged to me.””

I looked at the paper.

The signatures were old, but unmistakable.

My father's name appeared beside Richard's.

“You can't own half the company,” I said.

“The partnership ended when you died.””

Richard laughed.

“I didn't die, Marcus.””

Daniel stepped forward.

“Even if this document is authentic, the legal ownership structure would need to be examined. You cannot simply claim the assets.””

Richard ignored him.

“Your father knew I would eventually return. That's why he hid the red ledger.””

I tightened my grip on the book.

“You wanted this.””

“Of course.””

“Then why didn't you come for it yourself?””

Richard's expression darkened.

“Because your father made sure I couldn't.””

He looked at my mother.

“Eleanor, explain what happened the night he died.””

She lowered her head.

Richard smiled.

“Go ahead. Tell your son.””

My mother wiped her cheeks.

“Your father discovered that Richard had been paying Dr. Harrison to falsify medical records and conceal financial transfers.””

I looked at Daniel.

The doctor's name appeared repeatedly in the ledger.

She continued.

“Richard wanted your father to sign a new agreement giving him control of the company. Your father refused.””

“What happened?””

“Richard arranged for Dr. Harrison to administer medication that would make your father appear seriously ill. He intended to have him declared medically incapable.””

Richard laughed.

“That's not quite how I remember it.””

My mother looked at him.

“You poisoned him.””

“I gave him an opportunity to cooperate.””

“You killed him!””

Richard's expression became cold.

“Your husband was a stubborn man.””

I felt my hands shaking.

“You killed my father?””

Richard looked directly at me.

“Your father made his own choices.””

I wanted to hit him.

I wanted to grab him by the collar and demand that he explain every year I had spent mourning a man who had been murdered.

But Daniel placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Marcus. Don't.””

Richard noticed the movement.

“Still listening to other people? Just like your father.””

He pointed toward the ledger.

“Give it to me.””

“No.””

“Then your mother comes with me.””

He raised his hand.

Two men emerged from behind the parked vehicles.

One held a gun.

The other held a small black case.

Daniel immediately shouted toward the officers.

“Armed suspects!””

Gunfire erupted.

An officer tackled Richard.

The second man fired toward the containers.

Daniel pulled me behind a concrete barrier.

My mother screamed.

Then I heard a crash.

A vehicle was speeding toward the terminal entrance.

Richard had managed to escape the officer's grip.

He climbed into the passenger seat.

Before the car disappeared, he leaned out of the window.

“Ask your mother who really owns the company, Marcus!””

Then he was gone.

At 2:30 a.m., the police confirmed that Richard had escaped.

Two men had been arrested.

Raymond was taken into custody again, and Eleanor was transported to a secure location.

Daniel and I returned to my office.

The red ledger sat between us.

I opened it to the final pages.

There were several handwritten entries, followed by a sealed envelope.

My father's handwriting appeared across the front.

For Marcus, when Richard returns.

I carefully opened it.

Inside was a letter.

My son,

If Richard has returned, then I have failed to protect you.

There is something I never told you. The company was never entirely mine to give.

When I started Hayes Industrial Group, Richard and I entered into a private agreement. But years later, I discovered that he had secretly transferred part of his ownership to another person.

That person was not Eleanor.

It was someone I trusted more than anyone else.

I turned the page.

The final sentence was written in darker ink.

The true owner of the controlling shares is Patricia Lewis.

I stared at the name.

My assistant.

The woman who had worked beside me for fifteen years.

The woman who had welcomed me back to the office.

Daniel read the letter over my shoulder.

“Marcus, do you understand what this means?””

I slowly closed the envelope.