They Dumped a Dead Engine on a Single Dad as a Joke—28 Days Later He Became Their Biggest Rival
Chapter 4
On day ten, Marcus received an unexpected visitor.
Greg Barton walked into the garage without knocking.
He was sixty-two.
Expensively dressed.
Silver-haired.
And accustomed to people standing when he entered a room.
Marcus didn’t stand.
Greg looked around.
“So this is where you ended up.”
Marcus wiped his hands.
“Still better than working for you.”
Greg smiled.
“You always had an attitude.”
“And you always had bad ideas.”
Greg’s smile disappeared.
“Give me the engine.”
“No.”
“I’ll pay you.”
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand.”
Marcus laughed.
“You’re offering fifty thousand for something you supposedly dumped as junk?”
Greg’s expression hardened.
“One hundred.”
“No.”
“Two hundred.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Not interested.”
Greg stepped closer.
“You don’t understand what you’re dealing with.”
“I understand it better than you think.”
Greg stared.
“You got it running.”
Marcus said nothing.
Greg’s face changed.
“You did.”
Marcus crossed his arms.
“Why were you so interested in destroying it?”
Greg looked toward the engine.
“Because some technology shouldn’t exist.”
“That’s not your decision.”
“It became my decision when people started dying.”
Marcus frowned.
“What?”
Greg lowered his voice.
“The original prototype failed.”
“So?”
“Two engineers were killed.”
Marcus froze.
“That’s impossible.”
“That’s what the company told everyone.”
Greg walked toward the door.
“Return the engine.”
Marcus followed.
“What really happened?”
Greg stopped.
“You don’t want to know.”
Then he left.
Marcus stood in silence.
That night, he searched old records.
He found nothing.
No accident reports.
No engineering deaths.
No prototype failure.
Everything had been erased.
But one detail remained.
A newspaper article from eleven years earlier.
Two engineers had died in a highway accident while returning from a Barton Motors research facility.
Marcus stared at the article.
Their names were familiar.
They had worked on his project.
His stomach tightened.
Were they really killed in an accident?
Or had someone wanted them silenced?
He didn’t know.
But now the stakes were bigger than money.
Marcus decided to investigate.
He contacted an old friend who worked in investigative journalism.
The journalist listened.
Then said:
“Marcus, if you’re right, this could be huge.”
“I know.”
“Do you have evidence?”
“Not enough.”
“Then get some.”
Marcus spent the next five days rebuilding the engine while quietly gathering information.
Noah noticed the change.
“You aren’t sleeping.”
“I’m okay.”
“You said that yesterday.”
Marcus smiled.
“I’m trying to solve something.”
Noah looked at him.
“Like a mystery?”
“Exactly.”
“Can I help?”
Marcus shook his head.
“Stay out of it.”
Noah frowned.
“You’re always telling me to be brave.”
“I am.”
“Then why can’t I help?”
“Because being brave doesn’t mean being reckless.”
Noah sighed.
“Fine.”
Marcus hugged him.
“I’m doing this for us.”
“I know.”
But on the eleventh night, someone broke into the garage.
The alarm woke Marcus.
He ran downstairs.
The door was open.
Tools were scattered everywhere.
Drawers had been pulled out.
The prototype engine was untouched.
Marcus stared at it.
Whoever broke in hadn’t wanted the engine.
They wanted something else.
Then he noticed the missing item.
His old engineering notebook.
The one containing his original designs.
Marcus’s face went cold.
Someone wasn’t trying to destroy his work.
They were trying to steal the proof that the technology had been his idea first.
And Marcus suddenly realized the greatest danger wasn’t that Barton Motors wanted the engine.
They wanted his identity erased.
