After Discovering My Billionaire Parents Lied, I Vanished for Good Chapter 05

After Discovering My Billionaire Parents Lied, I Vanished for Good Chapter 05

The next morning, they woke me up like always. “Make breakfast.” I acted completely normal and made breakfast just like always. Seeing I was my usual self, they relaxed.

They saw nothing different. Dad gave me his usual warning at the door, “If I catch you gaming, you’ll know the consequences.”

Then they left.

I didn’t go to school. I followed them.

They pedaled their beat-up bikes out of the neighborhood, and ditched them two hundred feet from the gate. A Rolls-Royce Phantom pulled up.

A driver in a tailored suit stepped out to hold the door for them. My parents didn’t even hesitate—they climbed in like they’d done it a thousand times.

I trailed them all the way.

They had always claimed Sophie went to some public school with government aid. But she got dropped off at Westbrook Academy, a prestigious private school with an annual six-figure tuition.

Watching my sister change into her expensive uniform and wave happily to our parents, my resolve to leave only grew stronger. That sealed it.

I went home. Packed light. Agent Quinn called. She was waiting in a sedan by the curb.

Before I left, I took one last look at the apartment I’d slaved for.

“Mom. Dad. Sophie.”

“See you.”

“No….”

“Goodbye, forever.”

I laid the apartment keys on the table, closed the door softly behind me, and never once glanced back.

From now on, they would no longer need to put on that act of poverty in front of me.

After getting in the car, I was greeted by a lovely young lady assigned to pick me up.

Quinn raised an eyebrow when she saw my single backpack. “You’re gone for at least five years. That’s all you’re bringing?”

“Enough.”

I stared out the window at the familiar street. This was it.

Would I miss anything? Yeah. Not them. Just the place I’d called home for eighteen years.

We drove out of Havenwood shortly after.

Quinn mistook my silence for homesickness.

“Everyone feels that way at first,” she said softly. “Leaving your family and your old life behind is never easy. You’ll even be misunderstood by your own family. But one day they’ll understand. This nation stands strong and no enemy dares to provoke us, because unseen geniuses like you are toiling away in the shadows.”

“Maybe they don’t get it now,” she added. “But they’ll be proud of you.”

A bitter, hollow laugh escaped my lips.

I then posed a question that caught her off guard. “How long can someone stay at that facility?”

She blinked. “How long do you want?”

“Forever, if they’d let me.”

“Wait… you’re never coming back?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“They don’t love me. Why would I come back to watch them keep up the act?”

That night, armed escorts blindfolded me and drove deep into a remote mountain range. I had no idea where exactly I was.

Beneath the mountains lay a colossal underground research bunker. A white-haired man in glasses. I later found out he was the director of this secret research institute. Dr. Aldric Voss, the director, greeted me. The soldiers snapped to attention the moment they saw him.

When he took my hand and led me through the heavy steel doors, I knew my old life was gone forever. Nothing would ever be the same again.

Meanwhile, back in Havenwood, Garrett and Elena Whitmore were unraveling by the minute.

An hour ago, they’d come home in their rags, pretending to be exhausted. Usually, dinner would be waiting. Aiden always had it ready.

Tonight, the apartment was empty.

Elena called my name, her voice bouncing off the bare walls.

Garrett flipped on the kitchen light, frowning when he saw no pots on the stove, no steam rising from the rice cooker. The silence was wrong.

Too thick, too quiet. Their son was always here, always waiting.

Resting on the coffee table were his house keys.

At first, they figured he’d forgotten them and gone to the library. But as hours slipped by with no sign of my return, their unease grew.

They dispatched staff to search every possible location—my school, the public library, every friend’s residence, even entertainment arcades.

Their son had vanished without the slightest warning, leaving behind no trace at all.

In their shabby living room, Garrett sat stone-faced. Elena wrung her hands beside him. A squad of private security stood at attention.

The lead guard reported, “Mr. Whitmore, we’ve checked every location. No one saw him today. He never made it to school.”

Garrett slammed his fist. “Find him! Turn this city upside down if you have to! And bring him back safe!”

“Yes, sir.”

The guards filed out.

Elena’s tears started. and Garrett pulled her tightly into his arms to steady her. “He’s just throwing a tantrum. He’ll come back when he cools off.”

She looked at him with red-rimmed eyes. “Don’t you think we went too far?”

“What do you mean?”