Chapter 5

The officer turned to Miguel. "Sir, we need to check your belongings now."

“Do you even know who the Adolfos are, if you stole anything from them then you will be in great trouble,” one of the officers said sternly. 

Miguel was standing there without a word. He knew within himself that he hadn’t stolen anything.

Besides, what was in that mansion that he couldn't have with just a snap of his fingers? He was incredibly rich and only stupidity would make someone think he’d want to steal from a middle class family like the Adolfos.

Miguel nodded, understanding that resisting would only make things worse.

He opened his suitcase, showing the officers his clothes and personal items. 

“As you can see, these are my clothes,” Miguel said as he opened it fully, so the officers could see that nothing except clothes were inside his suitcase.

“We can’t take your word for it, Mr...”

“We have to search your suitcase ourselves right now. Pray we find nothing incriminating, or else you’ll have to come with us,” the one on the right said, who looked to be around his mid-forties.

The officers thoroughly searched, turning things upside down in the process of their search.

They all thought that he was a poor man anyway, so they didn’t care to handle his things with care, since all the clothes looked cheap.

“Mr. We will have to search through your pockets as well. As for this suitcase, there might be nothing inside, but we need to check to confirm,” the older officer said sternly and Miguel nodded without saying a word or trying to argue with them.

He put his hand into Miguel’s pocket on the left side of his chest, and his hands ran through what was inside.

He touched a wallet and pulled it out, hoping that if Miguel stole something then it would be hidden in such places and not the suitcase.

Just as he flipped the wallet open, Miguel’s Business ID slipped and fell to the floor.

The ID landed in a way that the back was up, while the front which carried all the details faced the floor.

The officer picked it up and glanced at Miguel’s details causally.

“What?!!” The officer exclaimed the moment his eyes met the details of Miguel’s ID. 

He was too shocked to say another word. His hands began to shiver at the recognition of Miguel’s surname, Grayson, and the business details written boldly in the card, stating that Miguel held the position of the CEO in that company.

He wouldn’t believe that this was the same Miguel Grayson who owned the biggest business groups across the country and beyond.

The confirmation came from the fact that he saw the photo on the ID. His eyes moved repeatedly between the photo on the ID and Miguel’s face.

“Officer, are you not going to do the job we called you here to do? What is so interesting in the photo of this man standing here?” Annabelle said to the officer who was still shocked at what he just discovered.

The officer knew the Grayson Enterprises as the biggest, wealthiest business entity in that country, and with recent records, it had emerged the 1st in the entire continent. 

He couldn’t believe his eyes, he didn’t even care to reply to Annabelle’s question as he was in shock.

“Are- Are you really.... Miguel Gr-” The officer said, but was interrupted quickly by Miguel before he could mention the surname Grayson. 

“Yes,” Miguel said. The police man covered his mouth with one hand, in total shock of what he had just found out.

Not many were privileged to see Miguel Grayson in such a close range.

In fact, in the past few years, Miguel had been studying abroad so nobody had really seen him.

That was the same reason Annabelle didn’t know he was wealthy. He fell in love with her few weeks after he returned to the country.

It was not too long before his father disowned him after finding out he was going out with a girl from a middle class family like the Adolfos.

The officer gently and quietly showed the ID card to his colleague. Seeing it, his colleague’s mouth dropped in shock, and as he turned to Miguel again, he bowed slightly.

“We are so, so sorry sir. We would never have taken this call if we had known that you were the one here. I’m so sorry about this misunderstanding Sir, please don’t inform our superior about this mess we did her,” the younger officer said, putting his hands together as he spoke to Miguel.

Annabelle and her family had no idea what was going on anymore. Shock was written all over their faces.

They had expected the officers to start rough-handling Miguel instantly, but instead they were bowing to him and apologizing?

“What the hell is going on here? This man is a criminal, we called you here to arrest him, not to behave as if he has cast a spell on you,” Annabelle said.

At this time, Miguel had retrieved his ID card and was about to start packing his things back into the suitcase, before the younger police officer grabbed his hand.

“No, sir, let me do it sir. This is a privilege sir, not everyone get this chance in a lifetime to help a man of your calibre,” he said, stopping Miguel from doing the work.

Miguel let him do it, after all they made the mess. He folded his arms to his chest and watched him pack up his clothes.

This left Annabelle and her family further speechless and confused on what was going on.

“Officers, do you even know what your job is? You have no idea who this man is, he is a criminal and should be treated as such, why are you standing there doing nothing?” Mr. Adolfo stepped forward to back his daughter up.

The older officer who had been silent turned to Mr. Adolfo in anger, pointing at his face...

“You, I have seen that you want us to lose our jobs. Do you even know who this young man is?"

"You are the one who have no idea of what you are talking about, be grateful that I’m not having you and your family arrested for trying to incriminate an important personality like this young man,” the older officer said through clenched teeth.

Annabelle turned to her father, shocked. She turned back to the officer again...

“Did I just hear you call this man right here, Miguel Williams, an important personality?” she scoffed. She clearly believed there was something wrong.

“This must be a misunderstanding. This man right here, called Miguel is of no importance to anyone around him. He is worth no recognition from anyone. He is just a broke man I was unfortunate to marry, and even I rejected him because of how useless is,” Annabelle said to the officers.

“Hey, mind your tongue. If you don’t stop harassing this young man, you will be the one to come with us. Would you not even be lucky that this man right here found anything in your wretched house worth stealing? I mean, I would allow him come to my house and pick anything he wants without my permissions. You know why? Because it is indeed a privilege,” the older officer said.

Annabelle thought he was losing his mind, and then she walked up to him and gritted her teeth.

“If you don’t do your job right now, I’ll call your superior and explain your incompetence to him,” Annabelle threatened and then the officers laughed at her. She was thrown into confusion.

“I can see how ignorant you are. If my superior finds out about this mess you and your family will be the one he would take to the station,” the older officer said.

Annabelle and her entire family stood frozen in shock. This was the first time their influence couldn’t solve their problem.

The police officers made sure to arrange everything that they had made a mess off.

Just before they walked out, the older one bowed slightly again. 

“Again, I’m really sorry sir. I promise that this won’t happen again. And just to be sure, I would want to know if our apology is accepted and our job is safe,” he asked Miguel, and Miguel gave him a silent nod. 

Just as the officers rushed out, Miguel turned to see the shock on the faces of the Adolfos.

They all, including Leonard were frozen in one place, having no idea what just happened right in front of them.

Miguel grabbed his suitcase and walked out through the main door...

The moment Miguel walked out, the entire Adolfo family followed him as he walked towards the gate.

The embarrassment they wanted him to go through didn’t work out, and Annabelle won’t let him go just like that.

"Now that we've taken the car key from you and sealed your accounts, I wonder how you'll get that heavy suitcase to the corner of the streets where you'll be living from now on," Anabelle yelled.

The entire family smiled darkly, except for Annabelle, who continued mocking him. "You can’t even afford to pay for a cab now, so I hope the street you’ll be living on is close to the mansion, so you can drag it all the way there."

As she mocked him, Miguel ignored her and approached the gate.

Suddenly, the gate opened, and a car came to a stop. 

Annabelle's mouth widened when she recognized the model: a 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre.

The entire family moved closer, freezing in shock as they saw Miguel approaching the car worth over $400,000.

Mrs. Adolfo asked her husband, "Were you expecting any guests today?"

Mr. Adolfo replied, "No, I wasn't expecting any guests. But even if I was, who among my friends would own such an expensive car? You know I am the wealthiest among my peer, and I don’t even own such a car at the moment."

Annabelle, confused, told her parents, "If that isn’t our guest, then why is such a car here?"

Just then, a man in a black suit exited the car and quickly approached Miguel, bowing slightly.

Shock was written all over Annabelle's face as she watched.

The man in the black suit, who was dressed more expensively than Miguel, grabbed Miguel’s suitcase and placed it in the car before returning to open the car door for him.

Annabelle was in disbelief. She shook her head quickly, not wanting to believe what she had just seen. "He probably paid someone for that act to deceive us," she said to her parents.

Miguel's car took off, leaving the Adolfo family in complete shock.

Mrs. Adolfo turned to Annabelle, "But how could he get the amount of money needed to hire such an expensive car just to deceive us?"

Annabelle chuckled. "Don't think about it, Mom. He is just fooling himself. He must have got a favour from his close friends who wanted to help him put up the act. We all know Miguel can’t even afford a meal on his own without the wealthy life we gave him,” she said to her parents.

“Why are you second-guessing what is the only possible explanation?" She rolled her eyes and walked back inside, leaving her parents and Leonard standing there, still watching the car glide away.

Inside the luxurious car, Miguel felt a strange sense of satisfaction. He had endured their insults and condescension, but now he was free and reclaiming his true identity.

The man in the black suit, his father's trusted assistant, handed him a folder.

"Everything is set for the evening, sir, you’ll be taking your father’s full position." the assistant said.

Miguel nodded. "Thank you."