Chapter 5 - Ethan’s First Words to Adrian Were Not About Money or Power—They Were a Child’s Question That Finally Made the Mafia Boss Understand What He Had LostEthan asked questions.
Many.
“Do you have a house?”
“Yes.”
“A big one?”
“Very.”
“Do you have dogs?”
“Two.”
“Can I meet them?”
“When you're stronger.”
“Do you fight people?”
Adrian paused.
“Sometimes.”
“Why?”
“To protect people.”
Ethan thought.
“Mom said fighting is bad.”
“Your mother is right.”
“Then why do you fight?”
“Because sometimes good people have to stop bad people.”
Ethan nodded.
He accepted that.
Children can understand complicated things if adults explain them honestly.
I watched them.
The man I had once loved.
The son he never knew.
They were beginning to know each other.
But danger hadn't disappeared.
The Aegis network found our medical facility.
A helicopter appeared.
Security detected it.
We moved Ethan through an underground tunnel.
He was still weak.
I carried him.
Adrian guarded the rear.
Someone fired.
We ran.
Then Ethan whispered:
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Why are they after me?”
Adrian looked at me.
Then answered:
“Because some people think you're important.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you're my son.”
Ethan smiled.
That answer was enough.
We escaped.
But the attack revealed something.
The network had access to military technology.
Someone with government connections was helping.
We needed to expose them.
The answer was in Project Aegis.
Its creator had left one final archive.
A physical facility beneath Los Angeles.
We went there.
Inside were thousands of files.
Names.
Children.
Families.
Pregnancies.
Genetic profiles.
My name.
Ethan's.
Adrian's.
The program wasn't just monitoring descendants.
It was creating them.
I found a list.
Future Compatible Families.
At the top:
Blackwood.
Bennett.
Bellmont.
Drake.
Four criminal dynasties.
They had been trying to engineer a permanent alliance through children.
Ethan wasn't the first.
He was simply the first one who activated the system naturally.
Adrian looked at the list.
“We have to end this.”
I nodded.
But then we saw the final entry.
Secondary Child: Possible.
A child besides Ethan.
My heart stopped.
I looked at Adrian.
“What does that mean?”
He stared at the record.
“I don't know.”
We searched.
Nothing.
Then a photograph appeared.
A baby.
The face was blurred.
The mother was my friend from years ago.
Someone I thought had died.
I stared.
“She was pregnant.”
Adrian looked at me.
“With another Blackwood heir.”
May you like
The program had more children.
The conspiracy was larger than we had imagined.
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