Five minutes after ending the call with Collins, Axel remained seated, utterly frozen.
The phone still rested in his hand, the screen dark, reflecting his own stunned expression back at him.
The office, once calm and familiar, suddenly felt too large, too quiet, too unreal.
’Aunty Martha’s son. Noah Henry Davis is Ethan Wright...’
The words slamd into his mind like a thunderbolt, leaving sparks of disbelief behind.
Axel blinked slowly, as if waking from a dream.
But the truth did not vanish.
Instead, it settled more heavily with every breath.
He could not think straight. His mind refused to move forward, looping the sa revelation again and again until it felt almost absurd.
Ethan. The boy he rescued. The man he trained. The brother he trusted.
Was the missing son of Aunty Martha whom Evelyn searched for?
Axel let out a soft, breathless laugh that carried no humor at all. It sounded more like disbelief surrendering to fate.
Another five minutes passed before mories began to stir, creeping into his thoughts with startling clarity.
Years ago.
Willow Country.
A land of endless conflict, gunfire echoing through broken streets, where survival was never guaranteed. Axel had gone there for business, to lay the foundation for his growing empire. He had brought a team. He had been prepared for any resistance.
But not for betrayal.
A rival organization had sent assassins after them. A clean hit. Quick. Silent. Deadly.
Except nothing went according to plan.
Their convoy was ambushed. Bullets cut through the air. Screams and explosions filled the night. Axel and his n fought to break through, but the enemy numbers were overwhelming. Death had hovered close, patient and eager.
Then, out of nowhere, a young man appeared.
He moved like a shadow, striking with precision that belonged to soone born in war. He turned the tide of the ambush long enough for Axel’s team to escape the kill zone. A miracle wrapped in blood and chaos.
But miracles demanded paynt.
By the ti they reached safety, the young man had collapsed, his body torn by bullets and blades. He clung to life by the thinnest thread.
Axel had not hesitated.
He arranged transport out of Willow Country. He found doctors willing to treat a naless rcenary with no history. He paid in cash and silence.
When the young man finally woke, days later, his eyes were blank. No recognition. No mories. No na.
He rembered nothing of his past. Not his family. Not his origins. Not even how he had learned to fight like a weapon.
Only instinct remained.
That was when Axel gave him a new identity.
Ethan Wright.
A clean slate. A second life. A chance to beco sothing more than a disposable soldier in a forgotten war.
Axel trained him, guided him, molded him into a man who could survive both boardrooms and battlefields.
Over ti, Ethan beca more than a subordinate. He beca a partner. A confidant. A brother in everything but blood.
And now, fate has circled back.
The boy with no past.
Was the very son they had been searching for.
Axel pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling a strange mixture of dread and awe crawl through him.
"How could this happen?" he whispered, a shaky laugh escaping his lips. "What kind of twisted destiny is this?"
Then another mory surfaced. A recent one.
The file Evelyn had shown him. The photograph of a young boy. The familiar curve of the jaw. The shape of the eyes.
It seed familiar then.
Now it made perfect sense.
"Ethan," Axel murmured, a slow smile forming. "We finally found your family, buddy!"
The joy was brief. A fragile fla in a storm.
Because reality struck again.
Nevalis City.
Gunfire.
The danger signal.
Ethan, alone against ard attackers.
The smile faded instantly.
"Damn it," Axel hissed, rising from his chair so abruptly it scraped against the floor.
He walked to the window. Snow drifted past the glass, soft and peaceful. A cruel contrast to the storm raging in his thoughts.
He stared into the dark sky, jaw tight, fists clenched.
"Gods," he muttered quietly. "Whoever is listening out there... bring him back. Please."
His voice dropped to a whisper, sounding raw and unexpectedly vulnerable.
"He finally has a family waiting for him. He deserves to know the truth. He deserves to live."
Axel stood by the window, unmoving. His reflection stared back at him, sharp-eyed and controlled, yet beneath the surface, tension coiled like a loaded gun.
The cell phone rested in his hand, his fingers tightening around it every passing second.
He did not know how long he stood there. One minute. Ten. An eternity.
Then the phone vibrated.
His heart clenched instantly.
Collins.
Axel answered before the second ring could finish. "Collins. Any news about Ethan?"
There was a brief pause, then Collins’ voice ca through, breathless but steady. "Boss. Yes. Renata just alerted . They found him."
Axel exhaled, but the relief lasted only a fraction of a second.
"He’s injured," Collins continued. "After a brutal fight with more than thirty people."
"Thirty?" Axel repeated, disbelief slipping into his tone before he could stop it.
"Yes, thirty... It seems another enemy team ambushed him," Collins confird grimly. "And half of them were fully ard. Whoever sent those n... their goal was to eliminate Ethan’s life."
Axel’s grip tightened around the phone. The calm mask on his face did not crack, but inside, sothing molten ignited. A slow-burning rage, hot enough to scorch reason itself.
"Have you found out who sent those goons?" His voice dropped into sothing cold, sharp enough to cut steel.
"I’m working on it. The vehicles had fake registrations. We’ll need more ti to complete the investigation. And we have to wait until Ethan is fully conscious and tell us what he knows," Collins said. "But don’t worry, boss. By morning, I’ll give you a na or two."
Axel closed his eyes briefly, drawing a slow breath to leash the fury threatening to spill over.
"Good," Axel said finally. "Take care of Ethan. Make sure he receives the best dical treatnt available."
Reviews
All reviews (0)