Pain was the first thing Tyler Voss felt when consciousness slowly returned to him.
His mind was completely blank.
Suddenly, the deafening blare of car horns shattered the silence around him.
“Honk! Honk! Honk!”
The continuous noise jolted Tyler fully awake.
“What on earth is wrong with that guy?” one driver shouted impatiently.
At first, everything around Tyler appeared blurry, but as his vision gradually cleared, he realized he was lying flat in the middle of a busy street.
“Is he drunk?” another person asked.
A woman gasped loudly before pointing in Tyler’s direction. “Oh no, look carefully. He’s completely naked!” she said.
Tyler tried to push himself into a sitting position, but the moment he moved, every muscle in his body screamed in protest.
He instinctively looked down at himself, only to discover why everyone was staring. He wasn’t wearing a single piece of clothing.
“What…?” he muttered weakly, but his lips were so dry that barely any sound escaped them.
Several people cautiously approached him.
Before anyone could take out a phone, a businessman in his early forties, dressed in a neatly pressed blue suit, raised his hand.
“Let’s get him into my car first,” he said calmly. “He’s barely conscious, and we can’t leave him lying in the middle of the road. I’ll take him to the nearest hospital.”
Everyone quickly agreed.
Together, they carefully helped Tyler to his feet.
A few moments later, he was seated in the back seat, while the businessman climbed behind the steering wheel and started the engine.
“Don’t worry,” the man said as he pulled back onto the road. “We’re taking you straight to the nearest hospital.”
Tyler leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes for a moment.
His breathing slowly became steadier, and after several seconds, he opened them again.
The businessman happened to glance at him through the rearview mirror, but the instant their eyes met, the man’s face drained of color.
He slammed on the brakes so suddenly that the car jerked to a halt.
“What the…?” he exclaimed, staring into the mirror with trembling eyes. “H-how is that possible?”
Tyler frowned in confusion. “What happened?” he asked hoarsely.
“Your eyes,” the businessman replied, pointing at the mirror with a shaking finger. “Why are your eyes glowing like that?”
Tyler’s heart skipped a beat. He instinctively looked toward the rearview mirror, and the reflection staring back at him made his blood run cold.
His pupils were no longer their normal color. Instead, they had become a brilliant, piercing blue.
“Oh no,” Tyler thought in alarm.
Without wasting another second, he blinked.
Gradually, the strange blue glow faded away until his pupils returned to their normal dark color.
When he looked up again, the businessman was still staring at him in complete disbelief.
“What’s your name?”
Tyler hesitated before answering. “My name is Tyler.”
“Tyler what?” the man asked.
“Tyler Voss.”
The businessman frowned thoughtfully. “That name sounds familiar,” he said before asking another question. “Where do you live?”
Tyler swallowed hard before replying politely, “Thank you for helping me, but I don’t want to go to the hospital. I need to go home first.”
The businessman looked surprised. “You clearly need medical treatment,” he argued. “Are you sure about this?”
“I know I do,” Tyler admitted. “But I have to get home first.”
The man sighed in resignation and asked, “alright then. Where exactly is your home?”
Tyler stared silently out of the window for several moments before finally answering.
“Voss Mansion.”
The businessman immediately tightened his grip on the steering wheel, and the car swerved slightly before he quickly regained control.
“What did you just say?” he asked in shock.
“Voss Mansion,” Tyler repeated calmly.
The man’s mouth slowly fell open as he stared at Tyler much more carefully than before as realization suddenly struck him.
“Oh my God,” he whispered. “You’re Tyler Voss… Richard Voss’s son… the young master who disappeared two years ago.”
Tyler simply looked out the window without saying a word. His silence confirmed everything.
The businessman noticed immediately and sighed sympathetically.
“I won’t ask any more questions,” he said softly. “You’ve obviously been through something terrible.”
Tyler nodded gratefully. “Thank you,” he said.
——-
About twenty minutes later, Tyler was standing right in front of the enormous gate of the mansion.
He walked into the estate, his heart pounding with excitement.
Just then, he spotted his father, Richard Voss, the billionaire head of the family and his stepmother, Victoria.
Sitting nearby was Martin Voss, Tyler’s stepbrother.
“Dad!” Tyler called out happily.
Richard slowly lifted his head.
The teacup slipped from his hand and shattered against the floor with a loud crash.
Victoria’s eyes widened in shock, while Martin stood so abruptly that his chair toppled over behind him.
All three of them stared at Tyler as though they had just seen a ghost.
Tyler smiled warmly despite his disheveled appearance.
“I know I probably look terrible,” he said with a small laugh, “but I’m home.”
No one moved. No one smiled or welcomed him.
The excitement on Tyler’s face gradually disappeared.
Confusion replaced it as he looked from one familiar face to another.
“Dad?” he asked quietly. “Martin? Mom?”
An awkward silence settled over the courtyard before Victoria finally let out a cold, mocking laugh.
“So,” she sneered, “the useless one is finally back. The son who dragged the Voss family’s name through the mud has decided to return.”
Tyler stared at her in disbelief. “What are you talking about?” he asked. “I didn’t…”
“You vanished without a word,” Victoria interrupted harshly.
“Do you have any idea how much humiliation this family suffered because of you? People laughed at us. They called us the family whose son ran away.”
Tyler shook his head desperately. “No. That’s not what happened. I never ran away. I…”
“Enough!”
Richard’s thunderous voice echoed across the courtyard, instantly silencing everyone.
He slowly rose to his feet, his expression colder than Tyler had ever seen before.
There wasn’t a trace of fatherly affection in his eyes as he stared at his son.
“What are you doing here?” Richard asked coldly.
Tyler felt as though someone had punched him in the chest. “Dad… what do you mean? This is my home.”
Richard’s expression didn’t change. “I asked you a question. What are you doing here?”
Before Tyler could respond, a cheerful female voice drifted over from the swimming pool.
“My love!”
Tyler instinctively turned toward the sound. A breathtakingly beautiful young woman walked toward the garden with a wedding magazine in her hands.
She hadn’t noticed Tyler yet. Smiling brightly, she walked straight toward Martin.
“My love,” she repeated happily, “I finally found the perfect wedding dress. Look at this one. I think it’ll be absolutely beautiful for our wedding.”
Tyler froze where he stood.
His breathing stopped, and his heart pounded violently against his chest as the magazine slipped from the young woman’s hands.
Slowly, she lifted her head, and their eyes met.
Shock instantly filled her beautiful face.
Tyler’s lips trembled as he whispered her name.
“Isabella…”
It was Isabella Prescott, the woman he loved with all his heart, the woman who he was going to get married to the very day he mysteriously disappeared.
Yet now, she had just called another man, his own brother…
“My love.”
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