Rebirth of the Forsaken Heir

Chapter Five: The Lion's Mouth

The message echoed in Ethan’s mind long after the screen dimmed.

“You’re walking into the lion’s mouth. Be careful who you trust.”

No name. No number. Just a warning.

Ethan paced his office, fingers clenching and unclenching. The skyline blinked like a battalion of watching eyes.

He had allies. He had a plan. But the ghosts of the past weren’t just watching—they were moving.

And someone was already too close.

Flashback – Ten Years Ago

The ballroom had glimmered with gold and crystal, packed with business magnates and trust fund children.

Sixteen-year-old Ethan had stood awkwardly in a too-tight tux, holding a glass of water while Cassandra charmed the future of the Blake Empire.

That night, Marcus had introduced him to Victor Rane—a man with dead eyes and the aura of a viper.

“Your son has potential,” Victor had said. “But he’s soft.”

Marcus had laughed. “That’s why I keep him in the background. He’s not built for blood.”

Ethan had heard every word.

That was the night he realized something horrifying.

His father didn’t just want to control him.

He wanted to erase him.

Present – The Fire Trial

In the center of Atlas Venture’s under-construction research annex, Zara stood in a ring of computers and cables, holding a detonator.

Jayden adjusted the wiring on a black console. “You sure this will work?”

“If we’re launching the full AI next week, we need to see how it performs under sabotage.”

Ethan stepped into the lab. “Is the sim ready?”

Zara nodded. “We’ve recreated a crisis scenario: data breach, power outage, malware attack. One push, and the system either survives or melts.”

“Do it.”

Zara pushed the detonator.

The room plunged into darkness, then stuttered to life under red emergency lights. Monitors blinked. Warnings flashed. Code lines scrambled.

Then—stability.

The AI core pulsed blue.

“Holy hell,” Jayden whispered. “It stabilized itself.”

Ethan stared at the mainframe.

Their creation wasn’t just smart—it was learning in real time.

[AI Stability Test: Passed]

[Auto-Patch Protocols: Activated]

[Security Rating: Alpha]

“This,” Zara said, “is what BlakeCorp will never have.”

Ethan smiled.

And then his phone rang.

A Threat Reborn

“Hello, Ethan.”

The voice was ice. Smooth, low, and deadly familiar.

“Victor Rane,” Ethan said quietly.

“I heard you’ve been playing kingmaker. Thought I’d call and welcome you back to the game.”

“You should’ve stayed buried.”

Victor laughed. “You don’t get to kill me, boy. You’re not your father yet.”

“I’ll never be him.”

“No, you’ll be worse.”

Ethan’s blood chilled. Victor wasn’t just part of the old regime—he had been Marcus’s fixer. The man who made problems disappear.

“You’re wasting your breath,” Ethan said. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“Oh, but you should be,” Victor said. “Because the last time I let you live, it was a mistake I plan to correct.”

The call ended.

Zara’s Discovery

Later that night, Zara barged into Ethan’s office with a laptop.

“You need to see this.”

She tossed the laptop on his desk. A paused video sat on the screen. A security feed—time stamped ten years ago.

“Where did you get this?”

“Cole found a buried server from the old estate. Encrypted, but I cracked it.”

Ethan clicked play.

The video was grainy, shot from the estate’s east wing.

It showed Marcus, Cassandra, and Victor standing over something.

Then the camera tilted—and Ethan saw himself.

Bloodied. Barely conscious. Dragged by two guards.

“What is this...?”

Zara’s voice was tight. “The night they faked your death. They were going to drown you.”

The footage continued. Cassandra said something—inaudible—but the guards hesitated. Then one of them shoved Ethan over the railing.

Water.

Splash.

Cut.

Ethan stared at the screen. His knuckles turned white.

“I always thought the guards disobeyed Marcus and let me live.”

Zara whispered, “No. Someone saved you. But it wasn’t out of mercy.”

A New Lead

Jayden cross-referenced the footage metadata with estate security logs.

“One name keeps popping up,” he said. “Arden Vale. Former BlakeCorp intelligence officer. Disappeared the same night you did.”

“Dead?”

“No record of death. He went dark.”

Ethan’s heart pounded. If Arden was alive, he might be the only person who knew the whole story.

“I need him found.”

Jayden nodded. “Already working on it.”

Cassandra’s Dilemma

Across the city, in a penthouse swathed in designer silence, Cassandra Blake stood barefoot in front of a full-length mirror.

She stared at herself—perfect makeup, flawless dress, a mask of power.

But the eyes staring back betrayed her.

Fear. Regret. Anger.

She poured a glass of wine and turned toward her personal assistant, a young woman named Elena.

“Make arrangements. I’m flying to Geneva tomorrow.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Oh—and have someone follow Victor. I don’t trust that snake.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Cassandra looked back at the mirror.

“If Ethan wants to play king, let him. But he’ll learn fast—ruling costs more than revenge.”

The Turning Point

Cole returned with news.

“Arden was last seen in Prague three years ago, working under the alias ‘Edward Vale.’ He operated a data leak group that exposed corporate corruption.”

“And?”

“He vanished after a fire destroyed their base. No bodies were found. But...”

Cole handed Ethan a torn fragment of a photo. The face was blurred, but the eyes—dark, sharp, alive—looked familiar.

“I think he’s alive.”

Ethan set the photo down carefully.

“I want him found. And I want to know who helped him disappear.”

A Glimpse of the Enemy

Inside the underground vaults of BlakeCorp HQ, Victor stood before a wall of screens.

Each displayed a moving target.

Ethan.

Zara.

Jayden.

Cole.

“I trained you better than this, Marcus,” Victor muttered.

Marcus’s image blinked on one of the screens. “You’ve been silent for weeks.”

“I’ve been preparing. The boy has teeth.”

“He has a following,” Marcus growled. “Even Grayson is backing him.”

Victor’s eyes gleamed. “Then we’ll cut the head off the snake.”

Marcus frowned. “Not yet. We need to discredit him first. Make him lose public trust.”

Victor smiled thinly.

“I have just the thing.”

He clicked a button.

A screen displayed a sealed file: ETHAN BLAKE – CLASSIFIED MEDICAL INCIDENT.

Cliffhanger – The Hidden Truth

Zara burst into Ethan’s office just after midnight, a pale expression on her face.

“I decrypted the rest of the server files,” she said. “And there’s something you need to see.”

Ethan turned the laptop toward him.

It was a medical file. Sealed. Stamped with BlakeCorp’s crest.

Patient: Ethan Blake.

Diagnosis: Genetic Degeneration – Neural Variant.

Status: Subject unstable. Prognosis: Fatal within 10 years without treatment.

His breath hitched.

“What... what is this?”

Zara swallowed hard. “You were sick, Ethan. They didn’t just try to kill you—they were planning to experiment on you first. Your ‘treatment’ was never real. It was a prototype neuro-suppressant Marcus funded using stolen research.”

Ethan stared at the screen.

“They were trying to control me.”

Zara nodded. “And now… they might still be.”