All Chapters of REBORN, Taking Back What Was Mine: Chapter 21
- Chapter 30
54 chapters
CHAPTER 21: INVESTIGATION
Ethan spent the first day of his "sabbatical" in the public library. Not his office, where Wei's team might monitor him. Not his apartment, where Noah might see what he was researching. The library—anonymous, public, with computers that didn't track back to him. He needed to understand Victor Chen. Really understand him. Not just his current moves, but his history. His pattern. The fifteen years of rebirths that had turned him into what he was. Wei had given him a file, but Ethan suspected it only contained what Wei wanted him to know. He needed to dig deeper. He started with public records. Victor Chen, age 38 (allegedly). Born in San Francisco to immigrant parents. Stanford undergrad, MIT graduate school. First job at Goldman Sachs. Left after three years to start his own fund. Standard Silicon Valley success story. Nothing remarkable. Except for the gaps. Victor's LinkedIn showed employment at Goldman from 2009-2012. But Ethan found a news article from 2011 mentioning "Vict
CHAPTER 22: CATHERINE'S CHOICE
Catherine showed up at his door unannounced on a Saturday morning, carrying two coffees and a look that said she wasn't leaving without answers. "We need to talk." Ethan had been dreading this conversation for weeks. He let her in. Noah was at a friend's house for a playdate—Ethan had made sure of that. Whatever happened in the next hour, his son didn't need to witness it. They sat at the kitchen table. Catherine set down the coffees but didn't drink hers. Just held it, like she needed something to do with her hands. "You've been lying to me," she said quietly. "Catherine—" "Not about big things. Not about other women or money or anything normal. But you've been lying about something. And I need to know what it is." She looked at him directly. "Because my mother almost died. Then she had a second stroke that the doctors can't explain. And you looked at me in that hospital like you knew exactly what was happening but couldn't say it." Ethan's chest tightened. He'd known this mo
CHAPTER 23: THE FIRST MOVE
The boardroom on the forty-seventh floor had floor-to-ceiling windows that framed the city like a conquest already won. Ethan arrived early—not out of nervousness, but because he'd learned long ago that controlling the space meant controlling the narrative. He adjusted his cufflinks, a nervous habit from another lifetime that he'd never quite shed, and took his seat at the head of the mahogany table. Victor Reeves entered exactly three minutes late. Intentionally late, Ethan knew. Everything Victor did was intentional. "Ethan." Victor's smile didn't reach his eyes as he claimed the seat directly across from him, the power position for a challenger. "Thank you for accommodating this emergency session." "Emergency." Ethan let the word hang in the air between them. "Interesting choice of terminology for a scheduled quarterly review." The other board members filtered in—eight faces Ethan had worked with for years, built relationships with, earned trust from. He watched Victor's gaze s
CHAPTER 24: COLLATERAL DAMAGE
The audit notice arrived at Catherine's office on a Tuesday morning, delivered by a federal agent who apologized for the inconvenience while simultaneously making it clear this wasn't optional. Catherine called Ethan from her conference room, voice tight with controlled panic. "They're seizing my files. All of them. Client records, financial statements, communications going back five years. They said it's routine but there are eight agents here, Ethan. Eight. This isn't routine." Ethan was already pulling up his laptop, searching for the pattern he knew would be there. "What's the stated reason?" "Suspected securities fraud. They claim an anonymous tip suggested I've been engaging in insider trading with my clients." Her voice cracked slightly. "This is Victor, isn't it? This is retaliation." "Yes." "Can they actually do this? Can they just—" "If they have probable cause, yes. And Victor's good at manufacturing probable cause." Ethan found what he was looking for—a compl
CHAPTER 25: UNLIKELY ALLIANCE
Ethan sat in his car outside Vanessa's building for twenty minutes before going up. He'd rehearsed the conversation a dozen different ways, each one sounding more insane than the last. There's a man with supernatural abilities who wants to hurt our son. Yeah, that would go over well. But the message from Alexis had been clear: Victor wasn't just pressuring Vanessa to cooperate. He was watching Noah. Studying him. Looking for something. Ethan had to warn her. Even if she thought he'd lost his mind. He took the elevator up, knocked on the door. Vanessa answered, still in her work clothes, hair pulled back, exhausted. "Ethan. I thought we agreed I'd call you when I made a decision—" "This isn't about the custody thing. Can I come in?" She studied his face, and whatever she saw there made her step aside. Noah was in his room, door closed, the sound of video game explosions muffled through the walls. Vanessa gestured to the couch, poured herself the wine she'd been avoiding ea
CHAPTER 26: THE CHILD
The Metropolitan Museum was quiet on a Tuesday afternoon. Tourists wandered through the Egyptian wing, snapping photos of sarcophagi and hieroglyphics, oblivious to the two men sitting on a bench in front of a three-thousand-year-old statue of Thoth. Victor arrived first. Ethan saw him from across the gallery—impeccably dressed, perfectly composed, radiating the kind of confidence that came from fifteen years of winning. Ethan sat down beside him. Neither spoke for a long moment. "You know," Victor said finally, "most people who discover what you discovered would have used it immediately. Threatened me. Demanded concessions. Made it public if I didn't comply." "I'm not most people." "No. You're not." Victor turned to look at him. "Which makes you either very principled or very stupid. I haven't decided which yet." "Maybe both." A slight smile. "How did you find out about Elena?" "I hired someone better at research than your security is at hiding things." "Alexis Volk
CHAPTER 27: SAFE HOUSE
The call came at 2:47 AM. Ethan jerked awake, phone already in his hand before he was fully conscious. Unknown number. He answered anyway. "Get Noah out. Now." Wei's voice, clipped and urgent. "Victor's moving tonight. He's not waiting for contracts or meetings or negotiations." "What? He agreed—" "He lied. Or changed his mind. Doesn't matter. I'm seeing movement. Multiple teams converged on Vanessa's building. You have maybe twenty minutes before they breach." Ethan was already out of bed, pulling on clothes. "What kind of teams?" "Professional. Armed. They're not there to talk." Wei's voice was grim. "Victor's decided that cooperation is too slow. He's taking what he needs." "Jesus Christ—" "Move. Now. I'm sending coordinates to a safe house. Get Noah there. I'll meet you with additional security." The line went dead. Ethan called Vanessa while pulling on his shoes, grabbing keys, checking his gun—the one Webb had insisted he keep after the first threats started. She answ
CHAPTER 28: THE MOLE
Wei's secure location turned out to be a brownstone in Brooklyn, tucked between a bodega and a laundromat. Unremarkable. Invisible. Exactly the kind of place you'd walk past without noticing. Inside, it was surprisingly comfortable. Wei had clearly maintained this place for years—real furniture, stocked kitchen, security systems that looked professional but not obvious. A genuine safe house, not just a hastily arranged hideout. "How long have you had this place?" Ethan asked as they settled in. "Twelve years. Bought it under six layers of shell companies. Never told anyone about it. Not my organization, not my contacts. No one." Wei checked the security feeds on his tablet. "It's as close to the unknown as anything can be in this world." "Park didn't know about it?" "Park didn't know about it." Wei's expression was tight. "Though finding out he'd been selling me out for six months makes me question everything else I thought I knew." Vanessa got Noah settled in one of the b
CHAPTER 29: THE RESCUE
The alarm went off at 11:47 PM. Not the loud, obvious kind. Just a soft chime on Wei's tablet, indicating a breach in the perimeter security. Ethan was still awake, sitting in the living room, preparing for his meeting with Victor. He looked up as Wei came out of his room, already dressed, already moving. "They're here," Wei said quietly. "Four entry points. Professional formation. At least twelve people, maybe more." "How much time do we have?" "Three minutes. Maybe less." Wei was already waking his security team—the two men stationed inside the brownstone. "Get Vanessa and Noah. Back exit. Now." Ethan moved fast, throwing open the bedroom door. Vanessa was already awake—she'd developed the same hypervigilance they all had now. Noah sat up in bed, clutching his stuffed animal, eyes wide but calm. "They found us," Noah said. It wasn't a question. "Yes. We need to move." Ethan grabbed the go-bag they'd prepared. "Can you run?" "Yeah." Noah slipped on his shoes, still in
CHAPTER 30: THE EQUATION
The safe house this time was a hotel room. Nothing fancy—a mid-range place in Jersey City where nobody asked questions if you paid cash. Wei had checked them in under false names, swept the room for bugs, and positioned his remaining security outside. It was 4:17 AM. Nobody had slept. Ethan sat on the bed, scrolling through his phone, trying to assess the damage from the USB drive Victor now possessed. Vanessa paced by the window. Noah had finally crashed, curled up in the armchair, still wearing the clothes they'd escaped in. Wei was on his laptop, pulling information from sources Ethan didn't want to know about. Ethan's burner phone buzzed. Catherine. He'd texted her hours ago—a brief message saying they were safe, that he'd explain later. Now she was calling. He stepped into the bathroom for privacy, closed the door. "Are you okay?" Catherine's voice was tight with worry. "I got your message but—Ethan, what's happening? The news is reporting a shootout at Grand Central.