Killed at Eighteen, Billionaire Alpha at Dawn

Chapter 5

They didn’t give him time to recover from all he'd learned.

Arashi noticed that immediately. 

Rue escorted him straight from the old room into a place that looked like a lab. Harsh sterile lights, clinical white coating. The machines beeped. 

The walls were a stark gray, and Arashi stopped at the door. “If this is about cutting me open—”

Rue didn’t interrupt him, simply waiting for Arashi to finish talking.

Arashi exhaled through his teeth. “You should’ve asked first.”

Rue met his gaze. “You would’ve said no.”

Of course. The geezer wasn’t as dumb as Arashi originally thought.

“Yes.”

“And we would’ve done it anyway,” Rue replied, his words dry in their inflection. “This way, you’re conscious.”

Arashi fought the urge to slam him into something, and laid back on the medical table without protest, even though his muscles were tight and his jaw was locked. 

The restraints slid into place automatically, holding him in place. 

Great. Fucking great. 

The medical staff moved around Arashi with efficient detachment. Even from his limited vantage point, Arashi could see that they wore no nametags, and they didn’t engage in idle banter. 

They treated him like a patient. Arashi's mood soured. 

He was about to start thinking of how to break free and leave this entire place behind when the scanner descended over his head.

“Neural sweep,” a mechanical voice said. “Initiating.”

The machine hummed.

Arashi stared at the ceiling, resigning himself to the situation by counting his breaths. 

He knew his outward appearance was calm even though his thoughts kept circling the same question.

What part of his life was authentically his?

The scanner stuttered, and a flicker of static rippled through the display.

“Run it again,” someone said. It came from the intercom and was muffled, but Arashi thought it sounded like Rue.

Even though he knew Rue was in the room with him.

The medical staff didn’t ask any questions, and their movements showed no hesitation. They simply did as they were ordered, running the scanner again.

This time the hum spiked.

Arashi’s vision blurred and a pressure bloomed at the base of his skull, deep and invasive, like fingers pressing from the inside, trying to dig its way out. It felt like warmth. His eyes watered. His vision fuzzed slightly. 

“Stop,” he said sharply, not really expecting anyone to, and he wasn’t surprised when no one did.

The display glitched as the data projected above his eyes fragmented and a warning tone sounded.

Arashi’s heart caught in his throat.

“I’m seeing interference,” a technician closest to him said. “Localized. Deep spinal junction.”

Rue stepped closer, seemingly appearing from nowhere. “Show me.”

The image shifted and Arashi could see that something was there.

Medical x-rays might have not been his specialty, but Arashi didn’t need anyone to tell him that the thing lighting up was not organic. 

It wasn’t foreign enough to stand out at first glance and it threaded through his nervous system with surgical intimacy, wrapped around critical pathways like it had grown there.

Arashi’s breath caught again, and his voice came out faint. “That shit is inside me?”

“Yes,” the technician said, as if this was an everyday occurrence for him. “Embedded along the cervical-thoracic junction. Integrated into neural tissue. Absolutely impressive work. Must have cost a fortune to implant.”

“How long?” Arashi asked, not really expecting an answer.

Rue answered him, his face grim. “Since you were a wee lass, boyo.”

The words hollowed him out.

“You put it there,” Arashi said, irritation spiking up his spine.

It lit up on the x-ray, but Arashi kept his eyes on Rue.

“No, boyo,” Rue replied. “Cassian did. Like I said, he was meticulous.”

“Remove it,” Arashi snapped. “Now.”

He didn’t care if it would kill him. Nobody got to put anything inside him and then abandon him without saying anything.

The lead surgeon hesitated. “That may not be possible.”

“Try.”

No one moved. The next moment, the room went dark. Every display cut to black.

The restraints released and Arashi sucked in a breath, sitting up instinctively.

Then the lights returned.

A projection shimmered into existence from Arashi's chest. 

A man appeared.

He looked younger, but he was familiar in a way that made Arashi’s stomach twist. He had the same eyes Arashi had seen reflected in mirrors, the same shock of black hair, the same impetuous gaze, but while Arashi always looked like he was spoiling for a fight, this bloke looked like a king.

Cassian Giodanzo looked directly at him.

“If you’re seeing this,” Cassian said, “then I'm dead.”

Arashi froze. Rue was watching, his eyes deep with sadness .

Cassian’s expression was composed. It wasn’t warm, and it wasn’t distant. It looked more evaluative than anything. Then he laughed.

“I'm sorry, that sounded so dramatic. I'm dead, eh?” He laughed again. “What a funny thought.”

He cleared his throat. 

“I won’t apologize,” Cassian continued. “That would be dishonest.”

Arashi’s hands curled into fists. “Of course you won’t,” he hissed. 

The recording didn’t react, because of course it didn’t. It was a fucking recording.

“I am your biological father,” Cassian said. “I couldn't be there and raise you directly, even when I wanted to. Because I had to protect you. Because revealing your connection to me would have endangered you. That was why I wanted you raised in anonymity. 

“But there was one thing I chose myself. Your name. Arashi Ren. 嵐 蓮. It means ‘Storm Lotus.’ Or ‘Lotus dancing in a stormy gale,’ if you like a bit of poetry. It represented my wish for you. I wanted you to survive hardship, pressure. A lot of people are born gifted, a lot of people are born with resources. Many of them fail because they never got tested.” Cassian's eyes hardened all of a sudden. “You will be.”

Arashi laughed under his breath.

The projection shifted and schematics layered over Cassian’s image. 

“The implant within you contains encrypted access to my holdings,” Cassian said. “Not just the raw cash. My whole infrastructure. Rue will explain the rest to you, but for now, think of it as the keys to my empire.”

Arashi’s chest tightened. “You used me.” 

“You will think I used you,” the recording said. 

“Why?” Arashi demanded.

Cassian’s gaze sharpened. “I did use you, and I'm not asking for your forgiveness. I'm dead so I don't care. You must earn what I'm giving you.”

The room felt too small.

He was talking to his father for the first time and it was with a fucking recording.

“The empire will not unlock all at once,” Cassian continued. “I’ve built in layers, steps. Think of it like a building with levels. When you clear a threshold of competence, it'll automatically grant you access and you'll activate one of these recordings. There are seven in total.”

Arashi slammed his hand against the table. “You fucker.”

Cassian’s mouth twitched, and it was not a smile. “I feel dirty doing this, but I don't have a choice.”

The words cut deeper than Arashi expected.

This man might have been his father, but he had left Arashi behind. 

Arashi didn’t owe him anything.

“This isn't father to son talk, boyo. This is a wakeup call. There are guys about to come and bloody your nose. I can't give you emotional reconciliation,” Cassian said. “If you need one, you are not ready. What I can do is prepare you to swim with the sharks. To dance in the storm.”

Arashi swallowed hard. He felt more ticked off than anything, but he had at least been hoping for something like that from Cassian.

The man had built him as a vault for christ sake, Arashi deserved an apology or something.

“This is not a gift,” Cassian went on. “It is a responsibility. You can't refuse it. Rue has orders to shoot you dead if you do.”

Arashi’s head snapped up. “You never said that,” he said to Rue.

Rue shrugged. 

Cassian’s eyes gleamed, and it seemed more maniacal than anything, like the man was excited to be in such positions to be making the recording. “Refusal will not erase the implant. Best you can do is work with what you have.”

“Refuse and die. Don't refuse and still die, but later. You're a sick fuck, pops,” Arashi muttered.

From beyond the grave, Cassian seemed to smile. “Crack or rise, my son. I like those odds. They're the only ones I've ever been given.”

The projection began to destabilize.

“By the time this recording is over,” Cassian said, his voice steady, even as his image began crumbling, “then the world is already moving toward you, already reacting to you. Learn quickly. Choose carefully … And don't die for at least the next twenty years. I never planned to live long, but I don't see why you can't.”

The bastard had the gall to wink. 

The image of Cassian vanished, and the room fell silent.

Arashi stared at the air where his father’s project was still flickering.

“That’s it,” he said. 

Rue watched him closely. “You wanted proof.”

“Bloody fuck.”