Chapter 10: The Waiting Son

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This entry is part 10 of 15 in the series Trapped in a $200,000 Corporate Contract That Erases Eight Hours of His Life Every Day, a Software Engineer Must Defy His Own Father to Expose the Darkest Tech Secret in Silicon Valley

Trapped in a $200,000 Corporate Contract That Erases Eight Hours of His Life Every Day, a Software Engineer Must Defy His Own Father to Expose the Darkest Tech Secret in Silicon Valley

Chapter 4: The Unwitting Courier

Chapter 5: The Auditor’s Offer

Chapter 9: The Penthouse Vault

Chapter 13: Arthur’s Confession

Chapter 14: The Severance Revoked

Chapter 15: A Simple Coffee

👉 Previous Decision: You chose Option A – Wait for Arthur in his private inner office to confront him face-to-face in strict privacy.

I pulled the unredacted contract from the vault, clutching it tightly. The choice was made. I would confront Arthur, not as an avenging son, but as someone seeking truth, even if it shattered everything.

I closed the heavy vault door, securing it carefully. Then, I walked into Arthur’s private inner office, a smaller, more intimate space adjacent to the main penthouse office. A leather armchair faced a floor-to-ceiling window.

I sat down, placing the contract on the small, polished table beside me. The room was quiet, almost reverent. The city lights twinkled below, a sea of distant possibilities. I waited.

Minutes stretched into an hour. The building was utterly still. I listened to the rhythmic beat of my own heart, trying to steady my breath. Doubt gnawed at the edges of my resolve. What if he called security? What if he denied everything?

Then, the soft click of the main elevator. Footsteps approached, slow and deliberate. The sound of a key turning in the lock.

Arthur Kincaid walked into the main penthouse office. He was alone. His shoulders seemed to slump slightly, as if carrying an invisible weight. He didn’t turn on the main lights, leaving the room in shadows.

He set his briefcase down by his desk with a soft thud. He didn’t immediately notice me, half-hidden in the dimness of the inner office. He walked over to the window, staring out at the city, a silhouette against the vibrant backdrop.

My throat tightened. This was it. The moment I had worked toward, and dreaded, for so long.

He sighed, a long, weary sound that seemed to fill the quiet room. He didn’t call out. He didn’t reach for a phone. He simply stood there, a solitary figure.

“Father,” I said, my voice low but clear, breaking the silence.

His head snapped toward me. His body stiffened, a sharp intake of breath. He hadn’t expected me. He hadn’t expected anyone.

➡️ Read CHAPTER 12 to continue the story.