PART 4: The Final Door
“If the contract ended, where is he?” I begged, tears streaming down my face. “Why didn’t he come home?”
Mr. Chen hesitated, his eyes glistening with restrained emotion. He stood up and motioned toward the back garden, leading me to a small, wooden guest cottage tucked behind a grove of bamboo that I hadn’t noticed when I arrived.
“He couldn’t leave, Theresa,” Chen whispered as he unlocked the door. “The stress of the last ten years… his health broke three months ago. He refused to go to a hospital because he didn’t want any news reaching you until the estate was fully secured in your name.”
The heavy oak door swung open, revealing a sunlit bedroom.
Sitting in a wheelchair by the window, thin and graying but smiling with the exact same warm eyes I had missed for a decade, was my boy.
“Mom,” Marcus whispered, his voice trembling as he held out his arms. “You weren’t supposed to travel all this way.”
How did their story conclude? Continue reading Part 5 below for the final resolution.
