Betrayed Son-in-Law: System Awakening

Chapter 02

Kael stood still in the living room.

The same afternoon light came through the window. The same television played the news about a school bus attack. Outside, car doors closed one after another.

Marcus Hale was walking toward the house with a smile.

Lila was already at the front door, ready to let him in.

Kael looked down at his hands. No blood. No wounds. His clothes were clean.

His heart beat fast.

This was the same day.

The day everything had been taken from him.

The day Theo had almost died.

A soft voice spoke inside his head.

[Echo System online.]

[You have returned to 3 hours and 17 minutes before your death.]

[Memory cost rule is active. Every power you take will erase one clear memory of the people who betrayed you.]

Kael closed his eyes for a second.

He still remembered Lila’s cold face. He still remembered Marcus’s smile when the bus went over the cliff. He still remembered Theo’s small voice calling him Daddy.

Those memories hurt, but he needed them. They were the reason he could not forgive.

He opened his eyes again.

Lila stepped inside with Marcus. Mrs. Voss followed them, looking proud.

None of them looked at Kael yet. In this timeline, he had not come home early. They still thought he was at the workshop.

Kael’s hands curled into fists.

He could walk out right now. He could go straight to Theo’s school and take him far away. But that would only save his son for today. Marcus and Lila would still be free to hurt other people. They would still have the money and the power.

He needed more than just escape.

He needed to break them.

The system spoke again.

[First mission available.]

[Mission: Stop the school bus attack before it starts.]

[Reward: Basic body repair + one combat skill.]

[Cost: One clear memory of Lila’s kindness will be erased.]

Kael’s chest felt tight.

He still had a few memories of Lila when she used to smile at him. When she used to wait for him after work with warm food. Those memories were already fading at the edges.

If he took the power, more of them would disappear.

He did not care.

Those soft memories had been lies anyway.

“I’ll take it,” he whispered.

A cold feeling moved through his chest. Something small and warm left his mind. He tried to hold on to the picture of Lila bringing him coffee one morning and kissing his cheek. The picture broke apart and vanished.

For a second Kael stood still, feeling an empty space where that memory used to be. It hurt more than he expected. He pressed a hand against his chest, then forced the feeling down.

In its place, new strength settled into his arms and legs. His breathing became steady. Small cuts he had from work earlier healed without a mark.

Kael moved quietly to the side door and left the house without being seen.

He started his old motorcycle and rode fast toward the school.

The rain had not started yet. In his first life, the rain came later. That meant he still had time.

He reached the school just as the last students were climbing into the bus. Theo was near the back, holding his bag tightly, looking for someone who never came.

Kael parked across the street and watched.

Two men in dark clothes stood near a black van a short distance away. He remembered their faces. They were the ones who had pointed guns at him on the bus.

Kael’s jaw tightened.

He could call the police. But in his first life the police had arrived too late. Someone with money had made sure of that.

He had to handle this himself.

Kael walked toward the van. His new strength made every step feel lighter. When one of the men turned, Kael moved first.

He grabbed the man’s wrist and twisted hard. The man shouted and tried to pull a gun. Kael slammed him against the van, but the second man was already raising his weapon.

A shot almost went off.

Kael dropped low, drove his shoulder into the second man’s stomach, and took him down hard onto the wet ground. The gun slid away. Kael picked it up and pointed it at both of them.

His hands were shaking.

His heart pounded so loud he could hear it in his ears.

He had never moved that fast before. The system’s power was real, but his body still felt the fear.

He dragged the two men behind the van and tied them with their own belts. Then he took their phones and the keys to the van.

A small message appeared in his mind.

[Mission complete.]

[Basic body repair active.]

[New skill unlocked: Steady Hands – your aim and grip will not shake under pressure.]

Kael looked at the school bus. Theo was safe for now. The attack would not happen.

He should have felt relief.

Instead, a new fear settled in his stomach.

If he changed this event, what else would change?

He turned on one of the phones he had taken. There were messages from a private number.

“Is the boy on the bus?”

“Confirm when the father is also there.”

“Client wants both removed. Payment after proof.”

Kael’s blood ran cold.

The client was not just after Theo.

Someone had paid to remove both of them.

He scrolled up. The name at the top of the chat was not Marcus.

It was a different name.

A name Kael knew very well.

His own uncle.

Dariac.

The man who had trained him years ago. The man who had always said family came first.

Kael stared at the screen until the letters blurred.

In his first life, he had trusted that man completely.

Now he understood.

The people who smiled at him had been planning his end for longer than he knew.

Rain started to fall.

Kael put the phone in his pocket and looked toward the school. Theo was still on the bus, safe for the moment.

But the danger had only moved.

It was closer than he had ever imagined.

And it carried the same last name as him.