Chapter 159 Breathe
RYAN'S POV
No, this can’t be possible.
That was the only sentence repeating itself inside my head over and over again. It felt like my mind was refusing to accept what my eyes had just seen.
What the hell did I just watch?
I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t real. That may be someone had edited the video, or used some kind of AI trick to make it look like my father. But deep down I knew that was impossible.
I had just seen my late father’s face.
I heard his voice clearly.
And it wasn’t just me.
Everyone in this hall saw it too.
A heavy weight settled in my chest as reality began to sink in.
Dad… was the person who kidnapped Anna?
My thoughts immediately drifted back to years ago, when Mrs. Quinn had told me the story about how Anna had been kidnapped as a child. I remembered how sad she looked while telling it. I remembered how she said it was one of the worst moments in their family’s life.
And I also remembered something else.
My dad was there for them.
That was the story I grew up hearing.
My father had comforted the Quinn family during that difficult time. He stood beside Mr. Quinn like a true best friend. Our families were close. Our companies worked together so many times over the years that it felt normal to see the Quinn name connected with ours.
So what was this?
What did I just see on that screen?
Why did my father look like he hated them?
I could still hear his voice from the video echoing in my mind.
“How the hell am I going to get back at those bastard Quinn family now?”
That line alone made my stomach twist.
It didn’t make sense.
None of this made any sense.
“Take it easy, breathe.”
Dan’s voice pulled my attention away from my racing thoughts.
I turned slightly and saw him standing beside his father, gently tapping Mr. Quinn’s back while trying to help him calm down. Mr. Quinn looked like he was struggling to breathe, and for a moment guilt stabbed through me.
Because whether I liked it or not…
The man who caused this pain was my father.
Slowly, my eyes moved away from them.
They landed on Anna.
For a moment, I wasn’t even sure if that was really her looking at me.
The way she stared at me…
It felt cold.
Distant.
Like I was no longer someone she knew.
A strange uneasiness crept into my chest.
Hold on…
Don’t tell me she actually believes that my whole family, including me, knew about this.
No.
That couldn’t be what she was thinking.
“Anna, it’s not what you think,” I said, taking a step closer to her.
I needed to explain.
I needed her to understand.
But the moment I moved closer, she did something that completely caught me off guard.
She stepped back.
One small step.
But that single movement felt heavier than anything else that had happened today.
It was something she had never done before.
Not once.
Anna had never looked at me like I was a threat.
Yet right now, that was exactly what it felt like.
My chest tightened.
“Look, just calm down, okay?” I continued quickly, trying to keep my voice steady even though everything inside me was falling apart. “Whatever you’re thinking… let’s talk about this first. I never knew anything about this.”
I meant every word.
I truly had no idea.
But Anna didn’t respond.
She just kept staring at me.
Then slowly…
She shook her head.
Not angrily.
Not dramatically.
Just disappointment.
That look hurt more than anything.
Like she had already made up her mind about me.
Like I had betrayed her somehow.
I could understand why she was angry. Anyone in her position would be. After what we all just watched, it would be impossible not to question everything.
But she needed to know the truth.
She needed to know that right now I was just as shocked as she was.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” I asked, my voice starting to lose its strength. “You don’t believe me?”
I took another step closer.
And that was when something else happened.
Dan suddenly moved away from his father’s side.
He raised his hand and pointed his index finger toward me, signaling for me to stop where I was.
I froze.
Then he slowly shook his head.
It was a silent message.
Don’t come closer.
My brows lifted in disbelief.
Even him?
Dan too?
I was already struggling to accept the fact that Anna didn’t believe me.
But Dan?
My best friend.
Someone I had known since we were kids.
Someone who knew me better than most people.
Surely he wouldn’t think I had anything to do with this.
Right?
“Dan… come on,” I said, my voice sounding weaker now. “Dan, come on, tell me you believe what I’m saying.”
I didn’t even realize how desperate I sounded until the words had already left my mouth.
At this point, I didn’t care about the hundreds of eyes staring at me from all over the hall. The whispers, the silence, the tension in the air, none of it mattered.
I just needed one person.
Just one of them to believe me.
But the expressions I was seeing made my chest feel hollow.
Even Mrs. Quinn was looking at me differently now.
Mr. Quinn too.
The same way Anna had just looked at me.
Suspicion.
Distance.
Pain.
“I suggest you leave, Ryan,” Dan finally said.
For a moment, I thought I heard him wrong.
Leave?
He was asking me to leave?
I blinked slowly, trying to process what he had just said.
Were they actually seeing me as the villain here?
Or was it simply because my last name was also Cole?
Because my father was the man in that video?
I opened my mouth, about to speak again, but then I stopped myself.
I had to remember where we were.
There were too many people watching.
This event was important to the Quinn family. It was supposed to be a major moment for their company, and the last thing they needed was more chaos because of me.
Even though I felt like everything inside me was collapsing, I couldn’t make things worse for them.
I took a slow breath.
Then I nodded slightly.
“Alright,” I said quietly.
I stepped back.
One step.
Then another.
I didn’t want any of them saying things they might regret later just because emotions were running high right now. Everyone had just been shocked by something none of us expected.
They needed time.
And maybe… so did I.
So I would leave.
Give them a few days.
Then I would come back and do everything in my power to prove that I had nothing to do with this.
Because I really didn’t.
Someone had uploaded that video.
Someone had planned this.
Someone who clearly wanted to destroy either my family… or the Quinn family.
Or maybe both.
And the worst part was…
That person was still out there.
They didn’t even show themselves.
Whoever it was had the kind of video that had been buried for years.
Which meant something else too.
If they had this…
Then they probably had more.
A lot more.
And I had a very bad feeling that this wasn’t the last video they might reveal.
And if that was true… then what happened today might just be the beginning of something much worse.