The Billionaire CEO Mocked a Single Dad for Buying a $100 Car—5 Days Later, a Racing Legend Paid $5M
Chapter 4
Victor Reynolds lived outside Indianapolis in a quiet house surrounded by trees.
Daniel arrived after dropping Sophie at school.
Victor opened the door himself.
He looked older.
Thinner.
A scar ran from his left temple down toward his jaw.
But his eyes were unchanged.
Daniel stared at him.
“You’re alive.”
Victor smiled.
“Last I checked.”
They shook hands.
Then Victor pulled Daniel inside.
On the table sat an old racing helmet.
Daniel recognized it immediately.
“You kept it.”
“I kept everything.”
Victor sat down.
“I’ve been looking for you.”
“Why?”
“Because I finally found the person who sabotaged us.”
Daniel froze.
“Who?”
Victor placed a folder on the table.
Inside were financial records.
Emails.
Engineering reports.
Names.
Daniel read them.
His face went pale.
“The telemetry was altered.”
Victor nodded.
“Before the crash.”
“Who did it?”
“Someone inside the racing program.”
Daniel looked at the documents.
Then he saw the name.
Alexander Harrington.
He frowned.
“Alexander?”
Victor shook his head.
“Not him.”
“Then who?”
“His father.”
Daniel sat back.
Alexander’s father had been chairman of Harrington Motors at the time.
Victor explained that the company had feared Daniel’s engine technology would become too powerful.
A competitor had offered millions to suppress it.
Someone inside Harrington Motors accepted the deal.
Daniel had been blamed.
Victor had been injured.
The project had been buried.
“Why tell me now?”
Victor looked at him.
“Because I found the original engine.”
Daniel stared.
“Where?”
“Storage facility.”
Victor opened another file.
“The technology still works.”
Daniel’s hands trembled.
“That’s impossible.”
“I tested it.”
“Without me?”
“With an old prototype.”
Daniel looked at the numbers.
They were real.
The engine could still produce the performance they had dreamed about.
Victor leaned forward.
“I want you back.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I have a daughter.”
“I know.”
“She comes first.”
Victor nodded.
“That’s why I’m offering you something.”
“What?”
“Five million dollars.”
Daniel stared.
“Victor…”
“I don’t want to buy you.”
“Then what?”
“I want to fund the company you should have built six years ago.”
Daniel said nothing.
Victor continued.
“Five million dollars. No ownership of your work. No control. You decide.”
Daniel looked at the old helmet.
Then at the documents.
Then at the man who had nearly died because of a machine they built together.
“I need time.”
Victor smiled.
“You have five days.”
Daniel laughed.
“Why five?”
“Because on the sixth day, I’m announcing the project.”
Daniel stood.
“I’ll think about it.”
Victor nodded.
As Daniel left, Victor called after him.
“One more thing.”
Daniel turned.
“Don’t trust Harrington Motors.”
Daniel nodded.
But he didn’t know that Alexander had already discovered the same conspiracy.
And Alexander had begun questioning everything his father had ever taught him.
