Chapter 4

The car door opened and a tall man who looked like he was in his late forties walked toward Ryan, about two bodyguards escorted him.

The  man was no other person than the family butler.

He bowed slightly before Ryan. "Sir, your three-year period agreement with the master has ended and since you couldn't keep Miss Stephanie with you all these while, you should return to New York and inherit the family business according to your promise."

Ryan was fifteen years old when he was abducted by people he couldn't recognize, and he had lost his memory since then. 

When he was at the orphanage home, he accidentally saved a man sprawled on the floor. 

The man turned out to be the master of Hill's family. He took Ryan to the Hill family and three years ago, Stephanie's grandfather, to show his appreciation to Ryan, asked that Ryan get married to Stephanie. 

Ryan had been under the impression that the Master of the Hill's family might have arranged the marriage for an extra purpose, but he never knew why. The Joy of being with Stephanie tempered his doubts.

On the wedding night, Stephanie didn't show, and a bunch of people with masks on their faces came in to their room.

They beat Ryan up until he passed out.

When Ryan woke up, he had regained his memory. He realized that he was from a family worth billions. 

Later, Ryan got to know that the people in the mask were Stephanie's friends who had come to surprise him on their wedding night.

Ryan knew he was supposed to have gone back to his family, but he wanted to honor the agreement he made to Stephanie's grandfather to marry his granddaughter and yes, he had loved Stephanie. 

  "Sir?" The butler called when he didn't hear a reply from Ryan.

  Ryan snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the butler. "I am not going yet."

  "Sir, we need you back home. If three years were not enough for Miss Stephanie to see how much you love her, I am not sure she will ever do."

  "She is no longer the reason why I am staying," Ryan said. 

  The butler looked at him and Ryan could tell from the expression on the man's face —one that Ryan had grown to know to be an expression of curiosity— that he wanted more information. Since Ryan was young, the butler had always seemed to see into the core of him and just like now, he would not take any excuse that wasn't convincing.

  Ryan shifted his weight on one foot and looked at the road. Cars flashed past them.

  He could trust the butler. At least, he had more memories than he had ever had with anyone with the man.

   "I need to find out more about those who caused my amnesia," Ryan said.  "I have been secretly investigating for the past two years and…" he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

  "...from the information I have been able to garner, the person who abducted me is someone in the family. Going home will be really dangerous since I am not sure who the person is. It is safer to pretend that I don't remember anything."

  The butler sighed. "Master guessed correctly. He said someone close to you must have done it. Only Master and a few of us know about the place from which you disappeared."

  Ryan felt slightly angry about the mention of his father. 

  Anytime he thought about the abduction, he felt that his father had been slightly nonchalant about the whole thing. No matter how he was transported from New York to Atlanta, it was impossible that someone connected to his father had not seen him. Hell, Ryan's family had connections all over the place. Maybe if he had not gotten back some of his memory, maybe it would have been impossible for him to ever know where he came from.

  "Just tell Dad that I need some more time and that I will come home when I am ready to," Ryan said.

  "Okay, Sir."

  He gave the butler a warning look. "Don't mention my suspicions to him."

  "I promise I won't, Sir."

  "And… did anyone other than Dad know you were coming?" Ryan asked.

  "No one, Sir, knows that you have recovered your memory except me and Master. Not even Mistress."

  Ryan nodded in relief.

  The butler took out a supreme gold card and bowed as he handed the card to Ryan.

  "This is your bank card, Sir, with thirty billion in it," the butler said.

  The butler gestured to one of the bodyguards who quickly handed Ryan a fresh contract.