11. Confronting , caulse and conditions
Callum Morris was the eldest. The golden boy.
He wasn't just a Morris - he was the future of the family business. Charming, intelligent, and good with people in a way Neil never bothered to be.
While Neil became the cold, brilliant surgeon, Callum managed most of the Morris pharma wing - involved in funding hospitals, trials, and health tech under the family's empire.
The Scandal: A Trial Gone Wrong
A new experimental heart medication was being pushed into clinical trials by the Morris Company.
Callum raised concerns. He saw inconsistencies in the lab reports - side effects that were being intentionally suppressed. A few test cases had already shown fatal complications, and the pharma board wanted to bury them. His father was the chairperson how can he approve it.
Callum refused.
He tried to delay the drug approval. He called for an independent investigation. He even warned the hospital board at Harmony Care about potential risks - secretly protecting the patients.
But instead of backing him...
The board turned on him.Thwy were cruel they just needed profits.
Someone leaked false documents, making it look like Callum tampered with the trial data himself - accepting bribes, manipulating test results, and putting patients at risk.
He was arrested.
His own father didn't fight it. He let it happen.
Because letting Callum fall would protect the rest of the family, the brand, and keep the Morris name clean.
Mr. Zack Morris sat in his leather chair, a crystal glass of scotch in hand, the air heavy with something expensive and bitter.
He looked up as the door opened.
"Neil," he said, nodding slightly. "Didn't expect you back so soon."
Neil didn't respond.
He stepped forward, pulled the worn letter from Cynthia from his coat pocket, and placed it on the table - slow, deliberate.
"You know what this is?"
Mr. Morris didn't reach for it. Just glanced at it... then back at Neil.
"I assume it's something from that woman who ran off."
Neil's jaw clenched.
"That woman is Callum's wife and my sister in law. And she didn't run. She was pushed. Just like Callum."
A flicker. Just for a second. In his father's eyes.
But then-
Smooth again.
"That woman has been living alone for the whole year, wondering why her husband took the fall. And this-" he tapped the letter, "-says you made sure of it."
A flicker. Then silence.
Then:
"I didn't force him to go, Neil."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"I Don't ?" Neil snapped, voice rising now. "Because this says you knew. You were part of it. You let Callum take the fall for something he didn't do."
Ryle shifted behind him, quiet but watching. Listening.
"You didn't just stand by," Neil added. "You orchestrated it."
Mr.Zack Morris leaned back in his chair and finally picked up the letter, scanning the handwriting.
"HE WAS INNOCENT!" neil screamed.
The room fell into an echo.
Ryle stepped forward then, fists clenched. "He went to prison, Dad. For something which he never committed."
"I know.He made that decision by himself," their father said lowering his voice.
And that was when it hit him.
Callum didn't stay silent out of fear.
He stayed silent out of love.
"Because he loved us." Mr.Morris voice cracked for the first time.
Love for brothers who didn't know the truth.
Love for the dad that didn't deserve it.
"You let him rot," Neil said, his voice is low now. Shaking. "You let me believe he was guilty.
The mansion stood still under moonlight, its silence cold and suffocating.
Mr.Morris walking towards neil "I didn't force him to go, Neil."
"No? But you let him take the blame for something he didn't do."
"I did what I had to do." His tone was matter-of-fact. "There were gaps in the system. Our shares were already crashing. Investors were leaving. Someone had to answer for it. If the public had known where the fault really came from-our family name would've been ruined."
"So you let Callum be the scapegoat?"
Mr. Morris looked him dead in the eye.
"He was the Chief Officer of our pharmaceutical division. If he didn't step down, the company would've collapsed. The entire family would've gone down with him. I didn't push him, Neil. But I also didn't stop him."
"That's the same thing," Neil hissed. "You made this all up to cover your own mess."
Mr. Morris's face stayed still.
"I know," he said quietly. "But I had no other option. Someone had to take the fall. He... he was the only one in position to protect the rest of us."
"He's your son," Neil's voice cracked. "And you gave him away like a shield."
Mr. Morris's expression darkened.
"He did it for all of us."
"You don't get to twist this into sacrifice," Neil snapped. "You let your own son carry a lie so your legacy wouldn't fall apart. And now you expect me to live with that?"
The silence was brutal.
Neil stepped back.
"You should've gone to jail, not him," he said, voice low and venomous.
The tension hung like thick smoke. Neil's eyes were still burning with rage, but Mr. Morris's next words stopped him cold.
Mr. Morris: "You think I'm not trying to bring him back?"
Neil flinched.
Mr. Morris: "From the day he walked into that jail cell... I've been trying to undo it."
Neil's voice sharpened with disbelief.
"Trying how? By doing nothing?"
Mr. Morris (firmly): "By keeping the company afloat. By making sure his name wouldn't come up again. I did everything I could behind the scenes. But now..." he sighed heavily.
"And it all didn't really work that's what you have to say dad."
"Now, we have one option left to bring him back." Mr.morris answers.
Neil folded his arms.
"And what's that?"
"You have to take over the business."
"You want me to take over?"
"That doesn't make any sense"Neil shot his anger back again.
"It's the only way to stabilize things enough to bring him back without the world turning on us. If you become the head officially, I can initiate a release and rebranding of his charges quietly. But there's a catch."
Neil shook his head in disbelief.
"So let me get this straight. You've known this clause for the whole year. You watched me live my life in surgical scrubs and hospitals and you never said a word. Why?"
"Because you always refused the business. You hated it."
"I still do!"
Mr.zack Morris stood. His voice was calm, almost tired now.
"You're right. I should've told you earlier.
But I thought I could fix it myself not letting anyone interfere in this before the situation get worsen.Every backdoor deal, every call-nothing worked.
The only thing the board respects... is legacy.
Bloodline. Protocol. You take the seat-you're the Morris now-they'll vote to expunge Callum's records. Quietly. Officially. Permanently."
Neil was quiet. He walked toward the window, back straight, fists clenched.
"So what now?"
"If I continue to be the chairperson it won't be possible for me to bring back Callum as board members will know it.The official judgement was a 5 year imprisonment and it's been a year Callum leaving home and me trying to bring him back finding the loopholes in the system but nothing really worked. "
"You should take over the business Neil." Mr.morris insisted.
"Fine, I will do it." neil was not hesitated he was sure.
"But-"
"What now?" Neil quarried.
Mr. Morris stood up and walked to the old cabinet behind his desk. He pulled out a thick leather-bound file-The Morris Family Succession Will-the one passed down from their grandfather to his father, and then toward the next generation.
Mr. Morris: "The business can only transfer power under certain clauses... Callum inherited it first, as the elder son. But since his disqualification, it falls to you."
Neil's gaze sliced through the room like a scalpel.
His father leaned back, weary. "There's only one way we can bring him back. You have to take up the family business ,But... it has conditions applied."
"Conditions?" Neil scoffed. "Of course there are. There always are in this damn family."
Mr. Morris slid a leather-bound file across the desk-stamped with the Morris family crest.
"The succession will."
Neil arched an eyebrow. "You're digging up the will now?"
Mr. Morris opened to a highlighted clause. His voice steady but reluctant:
"The business is structured generationally. After your grandfather passed it to me, it was meant to go to Callum. Since his 'resignation'... you're next in line. You take over, and the board will consider his charges irrelevant. We can bring him home clean. But the title has a clause-"
He tapped the paper.
"'No Morris heir may inherit the primary company stake unless legally married.'"
"What?" Neil frowned in disbelief.
Mr. Morris sighed. "Your grandfather was a traditional man."
"Traditional? He built a billion-dollar business but forgot to update his medieval marriage clause?"
"It was his way of ensuring stability. A man with a family, they believed, would make wiser decisions."
Neil turned away, pacing with clenched fists.
Mr. Morris (calmer): "Think beyond yourself, Neil. You're the only one with the skill, the control, and the spine to run this empire now. Ryle isn't ready. And Callum-he's paid enough."
"You take control... we get Callum out quietly. Clear his name. And no one ever questions his integrity again."
Silence.
Then Neil spoke, voice low:
"So this is it. My whole life spent running away from your messes and now I'm supposed to marry someone just to clean them up?"
Mr. Morris spoke gently this time.
"No. You're supposed to marry someone... to bring your brother home."
That hit.
Neil turned back.
"And what happens if I say no?"
"Then Callum stays where he is. And you'll never have the power to change it."
Silence. Long. Heavy.
Neil slowly exhaled, shoulders tense.
"Fine."
Mr. Morris looked up.
"Fine?"
"I'll take over. I'll marry. But you don't get to pick who and why. I am gonna do this callum."
"Agreed."
Neil looked down at the will.
So this was his life now.
A surgeon turned businessman. A man with no interest in love forced to find a wife-just to free the only person who ever protected him.
He muttered under his breath.
Ryle standing next to Neil said,
"Grandpa really had to be that dramatic with this marriage clause..."
Neil gave him a shut the fuck up look walking out of this suffocating place which they call home.
"Okay, not time for sarcasm got it. But what now? Do you have a girlfriend ?"
Ryle running behing him matching his pace.
His eyes flared.
Neil didn't answer. His long strides echoed down the marble hallway, every step heavier than the last.
Ryle jogged behind him. "Bro, I'm asking a serious question! Do you even have a girlfriend? Or were you planning on proposing to your stethoscope?"
Neil stopped abruptly, turning around so fast Ryle nearly crashed into him.
"Do I look like someone who has time for relationships?"
"Okay okay, chill-no need to bite me."
Neil's jaw clenched, his voice low and tight.
"I've got surgeries stacked till 3 a.m., hospital rounds that never end, and now a company and a marriage dumped on my head in the same breath. So no, Ryle. I don't have a girlfriend."
"Well," Ryle said thoughtfully, "you're definitely gonna need one."
Neil resumed walking. "Then I'll find someone. Anyone. I just need Callum out."
"Oof. Poor girl. She's gonna marry a human cactus."
Neil ignored him, slipping into his sleek black car with the intensity of a man ready to go to war with the world.
Ryle jumped in beside him. "So, what's your type? Quiet librarian? Bold or cute? Chaotic dancer with daddy issues? A doctor?"
Neil turned, eyes murderous.
"You talk too much."
"You love me anyway."
Neil started the engine, knuckles white on the wheel.
His thoughts were racing.
Who could he ask?
Who could he trust with this kind of insanity-someone smart enough to handle the situation, strong enough to keep quiet, and not foolish enough to fall in love?
Ryle leaned back, feet on the dashboard.
"Okay but be honest-who's the first name that popped into your head?"
"No one."