That morning felt heavier than any other. Ryan was returning home for his father’s funeral, the man who meant the world to him.
When he entered the church, he noticed his mother. She seemed older than the last time he had seen her. Her fragile figure broke his heart. “How could she continue her life without my father?” Ryan thought to himself.
Bella, his father’s dog ran towards Ryan, but she didn’t act as calm as usual. To Ryan’s surprise, Bella wouldn’t stop barking. She tried to climb on the coffin, and Ryan knew just how much she missed her owner.
He tried to calm her down, but Bella disobeyed – it was as though she wanted a closure by seeing Arnold one last time.
“Can you open the coffin?” Ryan asked. But he was told it wasn’t possible since his father died of some sort of a highly infectious virus and the lid was sealed.
In fact, Ryan hadn’t seen the documents by the medical examiner,but something felt odd. Where could his dad contract such an infection, he wondered.
Realizing how disturbed Bella was, he once again demanded the coffin to be opened, so they did – to Ryan’s shock, it was empty.
Arnold’s body was missing.
Everyone at the church was shocked and confused. His mother almost fainted on the church’s floor.
Bella could sense something wasn’t right, and she warned the family.
From that moment on, Ryan was determined to get to the bottom of the story.
He alerted the police, but they assured him that according to the coroner, the cause of death had been clearly documented and the remains had been properly processed.
But if that was true, then why was the coffin empty?
After a couple of days, Ryan received a call by his father’s lawyer. He told him that the family’s company was in trouble and that all the money was gone.
Nothing made sense. His dad was a man who always put his family first. He would never do them any harm, or at least Ryan thought so.
In the days to come, Ryan was looking for answers that he couldn’t find on his dad’s email where every message was deleted or in the company’s documents that suddenly vanished.
But then, he received a message from an unknown number. “Your dad had an affair with his secretary, Miss Peterson. Follow the figurine and you’ll learn the truth.”
Ryan recalled that the two figurines from his dad’s office were missing, but he didn’t think much about it at first. He also recalled that his father struggled to get the third figurine and complete the set for years. So maybe if he could trace the third figurine he could find the answer to the mystery surrounding his father’s “passing.”
After researching day and night, Ryan finally learned that the third figurine was in possession of a man named Mr. Frederick. Ryan didn’t waste time contacting the man, who asked $750,000 for the piece. It was way above the figurine’s worth, but Ryan needed to have it.
He contacted his father’s lawyer and said, “I need to liquidate some shares—$750,000 worth. The lawyer warned him that this move could cost him the controlling stake at the company, but Ryan was ready to learn the truth.
Once the figurine was his, he waited for the auction of artifacts to start and he listed it there, hoping it would catch the attention of someone who needed it badly.
When the day of the auction come, Ryan heard a familiar voice bidding. It was Arnold’s.
His father was very much alive, and Ryan couldn’t believe his eyes.
He stood from the chair and approached him. “Dad, how could you do this?” Ryan asked.
“Ryan, you tricked me,” his father shouted and ran towards the entrance. However, the detectives were there, waiting for him.
Arnold faked his own dead so that he could be with another woman. He shattered his family and now he was going to pay the price.
Please SHARE this story with your family and friends on Facebook.
Bored Daddy
Love and Peace