When Family Became a Place I Couldn’t Return To novel Chapter 216

Three years ago, Nicholas had come to the Capital and asked Gregory to help find someone. Back then, Gregory wanted nothing to do with the Watson family, so he turned Nicholas down. Now, though, things had changed. Nelly was offering a hefty reward online, and Gregory could really use the money.

“Nicholas asked you for help?” Nelly glanced at the table, which was piled high with files. There was no way he’d pulled all this together in just one night.

Gregory just arched an eyebrow and gave her a smug little smile. He hadn’t actually helped Nicholas, but once he got Ben’s photo, his old habits kicked in. He couldn’t resist doing a little digging.

Ben was fifty-one now, a pharmaceutical researcher who’d disappeared from his institute at twenty-two. He’d been really close to his sister Sandy, sending her a message every month just to let her know he was safe. After Sandy died, Ben vanished without a trace. The only time anyone had seen him since was three years ago, when Nicholas’s people spotted him right here in the Capital.

Nicholas had never stopped looking for Ben, all because of Sandy’s last wish. Gregory found this whole thing pretty interesting. The Watson family was powerful. Even if Ben had gotten into trouble, the Watsons could help him get out of it, so did he really need to disappear completely? Out of curiosity, Gregory reached out to a few friends online and asked them to look into Ben’s social ties. Still, he didn’t get much. All he found out was that, before Ben disappeared, he’d apparently joined some top-secret research project. Now, every other person who’d worked on that project was dead. It was like the whole thing had been wiped from existence.

“Looks like Ben’s in deep trouble,” Gregory said, and Nelly was clearly thinking the same thing. There were plenty of dark corners in the world, places even the Watson family couldn’t touch. But that wasn’t what Nelly cared about. Her mind was set—she needed to find Ben.

“Gregory, do you think he’s still in the Capital?” she asked.

Gregory leaned back against the desk, lit a cigarette, and took a slow, thoughtful drag before answering. “Yeah, I think so.”

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