2025-11-12 20:22:27Declan couldn't speak. His mind was blank as he tried to process what this man had just said. He was the Steele Family's heir. Him?
Franklin noticed his silence, then clearing his throat, he continued in a calm and patient voice.
"I understand this is difficult to believe, young master. And that's understandable. After we finally found you, we discovered that the Reyes Family who adopted you had always told you that you were an orphan. But that wasn't the case at all."
Declan’s heart pounded in his chest. "What are you talking about?"
"In truth, you are the young master of the Steele Family," Franklin went on. "You were separated from your birth parents in a tragic incident shortly after you were born. It was only recently that we managed to track you down."
Declan leaned against the brick wall of a nearby building, his legs suddenly weak.
"If that's true," He said slowly, his voice hoarse, "then why haven't my parents come to find me themselves? Why are you calling me instead of them?"
Franklin sighed. "The situation within the Steele Family is extremely complicated right now, young master. Suddenly introducing a grown heir is a very sensitive matter. There are power struggles and people who wouldn't be happy about your return. For your safety and theirs, contact between you and your parents has to be restricted for now. Your identity has to remain secret."
His throat tightened.
"But please understand," Franklin continued quickly, as though he could sense Declan’s disappointment, "Your parents want nothing more than to bring you home. I can assure you of that, young master. To make up for all the years you've lost, they've taken steps to ensure your future. They've secretly transferred one hundred million dollars to your account. And that's not all."
"They've also transferred ownership of Apex Financial Corporation to you. It's the largest financial enterprise in Boston. The CEO will be in touch with you shortly to discuss the details."
His mind went blank. Apex Financial Corporation. He'd heard that name before. Everyone in Boston had, in fact.
They owned shopping malls, office buildings, and investment firms. They were literally everywhere. And now this man was telling him that he owned it?
"A hundred million dollars," Declan whispered. "A whole company. Just... just given to me?"
"Yes, young master. It's your birthright. Everything that should have been yours from the beginning." Franklin said, then his tone turned urgent, “Young master, we've been on the line too long. To avoid any risk of being traced or monitored, I need to hang up now. But I'll be in touch again very soon. Please take care of yourself. And remember, you must keep your identity secret for now."
The line went dead before Declan could say anything.
He stood there on the empty street, staring at his phone.
The notification was still glowing on the screen. One hundred million dollars. Real money. This was not some dream or a scam.
His whole life had just been turned upside down in the span of fifteen minutes.
He stood in that spot for a long time, trying to process everything
The sting from Carlos' punch had faded completely now.
His mind kept replaying everything that had happened tonight. Laura and Carlos on that couch. The fight. The betrayal. The money. The phone call. The Steele Family.
Just moments ago, he'd been humiliated for being poor and not being able to afford nice things.
For being nothing more than an adopted orphan with no future. And now he was suddenly worth hundreds of millions.
His phone rang again, bringing him back to reality. He looked at the screen.
It was his adoptive mother calling.
He answered. "Hello?"
"How dare you!" she screamed into the phone, her voice filled with rage. "How dare you steal Carlos' girlfriend! What is wrong with you? You ungrateful piece of trash! Get your ass home right now!"
Declan’s jaw tightened. Of course. Knowing Carlos, he must have called her, spinning some story about how he was the one in the wrong.
"Carlos is the one who stole my girlfriend,”
“"Don't you dare talk back to me!" Clarke screamed. "Get home now or I'll make sure you regret it!”
The line went dead.
Declan stared at his phone for a moment. He had a hundred million dollars in his account now. He didn't need to go back there, to that family that despised him.
But he still had things at that house. His clothes, his books and a few other belongings.
He needed to get them before they destroyed everything.
When Declan walked through the front gate of the Reyes Family house, he went still.
There in the yard, his belongings had already been stuffed into black garbage bags and thrown onto the lawn.
Clothes, textbooks, his old sneakers, everything he owned was scattered across the grass in torn plastic bags that were already getting wet from the light drizzle.
The parents he had known for as long as he could remember were in the front yard, glaring at me. His adoptive mother, Clarke had her arms crossed and her face twisted with disgust while his father, Tom stood beside her with a cold, cruel expression.
"You've got some nerve showing your face here," Clarke spat.
Anger surged through him "It was Carlos who stole my girlfriend," His voice shook with rage as he spoke, "Not the other way around. I caught them together on her couch."
"Shut up!" Clarke screamed "Why would Carlos ever want something you had? You think you have anything worth taking?"
Tom stepped forward, "You're the one who's jealous of Carlos. You've always been jealous of him. Not the other way around."
Declan laughed bitterly. Well, they were not so wrong. "Of course I'm jealous. How could I not be? You've never treated me as a son,” He said, “You made me live in a storage room while Carlos got the master bedroom. You made me do all the chores while he sat around doing nothing. You never gave me a single cent. Even with my tuition, I had to scrape it together myself by working jobs I hated, jobs that made me want to die from exhaustion."
Clarke's face turned red. "Finally! Finally you admit it! You resent your brother. After everything we've done for you, after raising you all these years, you're still an ungrateful wretch."
"We should have thrown you back to the orphanage the moment Carlos was born," Tom added coldly.
Clarke’s eyes shone with hatred, "Well, today we're going to teach you a lesson you'll never forget." She turned to the side and snapped her fingers. "Get him!”
Four men stepped out from behind the house. Declan had not seen them before. They were big, rough-looking with intimidating muscles.
They surrounded him fast. One cracked his knuckles, grinning while the other pulled out a baton and tapped it on his palm.
Declan clenched his fists, ready to fight back. He'd already beaten Carlos tonight and he could handle these bastards too.
The first thug lunged forward with his baton raised high while others closed in from all sides. Three feet away. Two feet.
The baton came swinging down towards his head –
Just as Declan was about to raise his fists, the sound of an engine roared through the quiet street.
A luxury car, the kind he had only ever seen in magazines, came to a stop outside the gate. It was sleek, black, with tinted windows that reflected the streetlights.
Everyone froze.
The driver's door opened first. A man in a black suit stepped out. He moved quickly to the back door and opened it.
Then, a woman stepped out.
She was stunning. The kind of beauty that didn't seem real, that made you forget how to breathe.
Her long black hair fell over her shoulders in perfect waves.
She wore a tailored white suit that hugged her figure. Her heels clicked against the pavement as she walked forward.
Behind her, a row of bodyguards emerged from a second car that Declan hadn't even noticed pulling up. Six of them, all tall and built, all wearing dark suits and earpieces, fell into formation behind her, their faces stoic.
The woman looked around. Her gaze landed on him, surrounded by servants with makeshift weapons, and her expression hardened.
"Stop!"
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Chapter 0155 - The Invitation
The envelope arrived on a Tuesday morning.It came through channels that told Declan immediately it wasn't ordinary correspondence. Not through Steele Corporation's mail system or through Franklin's usual network. It appeared on his desk in the training facility after his morning session with Edmund, placed there by someone who had accessed a room that regular staff didn't enter. The seal on the back was a jade-coloured phoenix in raised wax.He brought it to Edmund without opening it.His grandfather looked at the seal for a moment and then nodded once. "Open it," he said.Inside was a single card, heavyweight paper, the text printed in a style that was formal without being decorative. An invitation to a gathering of young cultivation talents from various families and organizations. The host was identified as the Jade Phoenix Society. The date was one month out. The location would be communicated separately to confirmed attendees.Edmund sat with the card in his hands for a while aft
Chapter 0154 - Growing
Georgina's last evening at the estate, they walked through the gardens after dinner.The grounds were lit at intervals along the paths, the main buildings visible behind them through the trees, the night sky clearer out here than it ever was in Boston.She had been quiet since dinner, not unhappily, more like someone processing a large amount of information and finding that it was taking longer than expected."Say what you're thinking," Declan said.She was quiet for another moment. "It's a lot," she said finally. "This place, your family, the scale of everything." She looked at the main building visible through the treeline. "I keep thinking about the café on Meridian Street where we used to sit and talk, and then I look at this and the distance between those two things is difficult to hold in your head at once.""I know," Declan said. "I live that distance every day.""Does it feel strange to you still?""Sometimes," he said honestly. "Less than it did."She looked at him. "Do you t
Chapter 0153 - The Visit
The crowd's reaction came in two distinct waves.From one side of the seating, genuine applause, building quickly into something sustained and loud. From the other side, where Sebastian's supporters had been most vocal during the duel, a silence that was heavy and particular, the silence of people revising their positions in real time.Declan stood in the centre of the arena and breathed steadily while his legs finished their complaint about the Phoenix Rebirth Strike and went back to functioning normally. His vision had fully cleared. He felt emptied out in the specific way that complete energy release produced, not weak exactly, more like a room after everything has been moved out of it, spacious and quiet.He looked across at Edmund.His grandfather was not applauding. He was sitting very still with his hands resting on his knees and an expression on his face that Declan had not seen there before. Something open and unguarded that the old man made no effort to conceal.His mother w
Chapter 0152 - Phoenix Rebirth
Sebastian entered first.He walked into the arena with the ease of someone who had been in formal settings his entire life and knew exactly how to use them. The cultivation robes he wore were elaborate, dark with gold detailing at the collar and cuffs, clearly chosen for the occasion. The ceremonial sword at his hip was decorative, its purpose symbolic rather than practical, but it completed the image he was presenting to the crowd. He bowed to the family elders with practiced precision and took his position at the far end of the arena.Several people in the crowd applauded.Declan entered from the opposite side.He was wearing a simpler outfit, dark and clean, nothing ceremonial about it. He bowed to the elders and walked to his position and stood there looking across the arena at Sebastian without any particular expression on his face.The elder who was officiating stepped to the centre and addressed the crowd and then both fighters in turn. The rules were clear and standard. The du
Chapter 0152 - The Duel
Declan raised the challenge at a family dinner three days after his father's warning.He waited for a natural pause in the conversation and then looked directly at Sebastian across the table and said, "I'd like to propose a formal cultivation duel. You and me. In front of the family."The table went quiet immediately.Sebastian set down his wine glass slowly. Whatever he had been expecting from Declan, this apparently wasn't it. He looked at Declan for a moment with the expression of someone recalculating.Then he smiled. "Accepted," he said.The confidence in his voice was genuine, which told Declan that Sebastian believed he had already won. Years of formal cultivation training from childhood, within a family that had practiced these methods for generations, against someone who had started learning a few months ago under a field medic at a war zone. From Sebastian's perspective the outcome was straightforward.The duel was scheduled for one week out.Edmund called Declan to the trai
Chapter 0151 - Settling In
The routine established itself within the first week. Mornings with Edmund in the training facility. The sessions ran two hours on easy days and closer to three when Edmund decided Declan was ready for the next layer of something. The old man was a demanding teacher, more exacting than The Physician had been and with considerably more depth to draw from. He rarely praised directly but Declan had learned to read the small indicators, the slight nod, the adjustment of a technique that meant the previous version had been accepted rather than corrected. His cultivation was progressing in ways he could feel clearly. The energy he could access was deeper and more responsive than what he had worked with at the Northern Border. The Phoenix Heart Ring was a constant presence, warming slightly each morning when he settled into practice as if it recognized what was happening and was participating in it. Afternoons with his parents in the Steele Corporation offices, which occupied an entire wi
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