Reclaiming my Rich-kid Status

Chapter 3: 10 Million Dollars?

Kagern was tired of the disgusting testimonies accusing his father. Thus, at some point, he stopped going to the internet to read the updates about his father's trials. He already knew what he would find there, anyways.

Lots of memes mocking his father, lots of pictures extracted from a viral album where his father was naked, seemingly being intimate with a minor...

And lots of videos from a terrorist group that had kidnapped 100 school girls, demanding the release of Kagern's father while claiming that he was its sponsor.

He was tired of that.

About going to the court, Kagern would never dream of such a thing. A few times he did 3 years ago, people threw tomatoes and eggs at him, lots of insults escorting them.

As if that wasn't enough, there were these men in black suits hunting him with guns, bullets being shot at him with hidden snipers.

He was not safe.

The government promised him protection, the protection which made him become like a prisoner, instead. That's why he faked his suicide by jumping off the bridge.

This was on his father's advice.

Following this, Kagern went to another city with the help of one of his father's loyal friends, Mr. Stanley.

This old man helped Kagern to fake a new identity as his illegitimate son, enrolled him into the most prestigious university in Surreal City, ForTalent Academy, popularly known as 4TA.

The old man never revealed even to his wife who Kagern was.

Unfortunately, after a year, the old man died, leaving Kagern into the hands of a woman and children who were never pleased with the idea of their father having another heir.

This would reduce their inheritance share.

Plus, they were yet to find a way to eliminate their elder step sister, Lilyon Stanley, a child Mr. Stanley's first wife had died while giving birth to.

They could not accept another obstacle to their inheritance.

Kagern had to be dealt with!

And so, they did.

When they forced him out of their mansion and blocked all his access to their family's money, Lilyon used her accounts and paid his school fees for all the years he would spend at 4TA.

This left her broke, hence unable to help him with daily necessities. That's how Kagern found himself doing part time jobs to earn a living.

Now... Now his father was back. He didn't need to do any other part time job to survive. He didn't need to negotiate with David for money anymore. Now he could repay Lilyon's kindness and save his best friend, Eric.

'This might be a hallucination!'

Yeah! Even if he had not googled his father's updates back when he left the bus, he was sure that the man was still in prison, the difference being only that his lawyer was claiming to have found a proof of his innocence.

How on earth was he released this soon, then?

What kind of a proof was that?

"Dad..."

"Son, it's me!"

"It really is your voice."

"Of course son, it's me! Let's speak in person."

"Dad..."

"I said it's me, fool! I mean, I'm out of prison and thought you're the first person I should call. Hurry up and come home! I don't want to be the CEO anymore after those images. It's time you take control."

Kagern didn't even know how to respond, so it took him a few seconds to gather his thoughts. However, before he could say anything, he heard his father's voice again.

"Sorry son! Give me a minute!"

"No problem!" he replied, still in a daze.

His father warned, "Don't hang up!"

This was indeed his father. Always too direct.

'I thought prison changes people,' Kagern said to himself internally. 'Why is he still the same?'

He then let out a chuckle.

Seeing this, Erica asked, "Who were you calling dad on the phone? Isn't your dad dead?"

When Mr. Stanley took Kagern to 4TA calling him his son, everyone was eager to befriend him. That's when Erica approached him and proposed love. Everything went south after this old man died.

Now Kagern was calling someone dad. Wasn't Mr. Stanley dead? Erica wondered.

Kagern stared at her with a disgusted look on his face before he replied, "It's none of your business!"

Not giving them a chance to say anything, he turned around and exited the apartment.

His business here was over.

To his surprise, as soon as he stepped into the cold evening, a row of 5 Rolls Royce cars came to a halt in front of him.

Guys in black suits rushed to him.

This brought back the memories of those who had been hunting him.

When his instincts kicked in and he was about to run, one of the men said, "This way, Mr. McHegan! Your father sent us to fetch you. We located your phone while you were talking to him."

Kagern let out a sigh of relief and allowed them to escort him into the car in the middle.

"Dad, are you still there?"

"Of course, son!"

"How come these people have reached me this fast?"

"A bodyguard agency in that city. My secretary just needed to make a phone call to have them with you."

"I see!"

"Enjoy your ride home then! I still need to attend to some matters here. We'll talk when you arrive."

"Wait!" Kagern hurried to say before his father could disconnect. To many things when happening at the same time but he did not forget that Eric was in danger.

"What shall I do for you, son?"

"Send me some money!"

Instead of asking how much, his father disconnected the call, only for Kagern to receive a notification after a few seconds.

[10, 000, 000 dollars credited to your account from... ]

'10 million dollars?'

Kagern could not believe his eyes. Was he really back to being a rich kid?

'Ha! I guess it's time I reclaim my rich kid status then!'

...

Kagern sent a few thousands to Eric's account and hurried to g****e about his father. He still couldn't imagine what kind of a proof could have been strong enough to convince the court to release a prisoner for 3 years in just a matter of minutes.

His eyes landed on a video, titled, the truth about Billionaire Pergan McHegan's sudden release.

He clicked on it. Three people appeared, and one of them said, "Firstly, I want to apologize to you all, but most importantly, to Mr. McHegan who lost his son because of what I did. I'm ashamed of it. Uhm... we. Me and my family. I mean, you see, my family owns a small business. It's where we earn a living.

"Williams Group owns most of our shares. We couldn't say no to them when they told us to do what we did. To help them in the scheme against Mr. McHegan. You see... they were threatening us that we would lose our business... '' she burst out crying.

There was a middle aged woman sitting next to this girl. She was also blond.

"...and our lives, too," the woman continued as she pulled her daughter for a hug.

"We really didn't want to do this. Nothing had happened between my daughter and Mr. McHegan. The images were taken after they drugged Mr. McHegan. It's Williams family's elder son who took my daughter's virginity that night. They..."

The woman also burst into tears.

A bald man in a blue T-shirt sat on the girl's left side.

"I had kept some proofs so that I would have a chance to save my family if something went wrong," he added.

"Now, the Williams family is demanding we hand those proofs to them or else we will die. We are tired of being used. We're ready to go to prison for what we did. We don't need the business anymore. The Williams Family can take it. We want our freedom. We're ready to fight for it. What we're not ready for is to die, leaving this innocent man to rot in prison."

'So, it was the Williams who were hunting me with guns?'

A wicked smile appeared on Kagern's face after this thought.

'They'll pay for it!'

With this, Kagern read more articles.

[Pergan McHegan found guilty and reclaims his title as the richest man in Cereal City.]

[Government sends condolences to Billionaire McHegan for the loss of his son.]

[Williams blame everything on their eldest son who says he did everything on his own, not on the family's behalf.]

[Now that we know that Billionaire McHegan was framed by the Williams Family, does it mean the Harbinger Terrorist Group was operating under Williams orders? Are the kidnapped girls still alive?]

From all these articles, it really seemed that everyone had believed Kagern's fake death.

'I'm not dead, fools!'

...

Soon, the convoy came to a stop. There was a private jet in front of Kagern when he stepped out of the Rolls Royce.

'I still can't believe this! Ha! Sometimes life can be so surprising! I wonder what would be Erica's reaction once she finds out this.'