“Reborn With the Future in My Hands”

Chapter 8: The Truth Victor Carried

Victor's message remained on Ethan's screen.

I know what happened to Elena Vale.

And I know why someone wants Amelia Rose dead.

Ethan read it again.

Then he deleted the notification.

Not the message.

Just the notification.

If someone was watching his phone, he didn't want them to know how seriously he was taking it.

Richard was still standing across the room.

“Don't meet him,” his father said.

Ethan looked up.

“Why?”

“Because if Victor knows about Elena, then someone else knows he knows.”

“That doesn't make sense.”

“It will.”

Richard walked toward the window and looked outside.

The black car was still there.

“You see that car?”

“Yes.”

“It has been there for twenty minutes.”

Ethan's eyes narrowed.

“You noticed it?”

“I notice things now.”

Richard pulled the curtains closed.

“Ethan, listen to me carefully. Whatever you're planning, don't go anywhere alone tonight.”

Ethan almost laughed.

His father had spent years telling him to stay away from danger.

Now, for the first time, Richard sounded genuinely frightened.

“I need to meet Victor.”

“No.”

“I need answers.”

“You need to survive.”

The words stopped Ethan.

Richard stared at him.

“That's the first thing you should understand. Truth means nothing if you're dead before you can use it.”

Ethan remembered the rooftop.

The gunshot.

The rain.

His own body collapsing.

His expression hardened.

“I know.”

Richard studied him.

“You really have changed.”

Ethan didn't answer.

---

At 9:30 that night, Ethan received another message.

**Victor: Old Riverside Café. Ten minutes. Come alone.**

Ethan looked at the message.

The café was nearly empty at this hour.

Perfect place for a private meeting.

Perfect place for an ambush.

He opened his laptop.

Within minutes, he checked the café's public security system.

The cameras covered the entrance and parking lot.

He memorized the locations.

Then he sent a message to Daniel.

**Ethan: I may need a favor.**

Daniel replied almost immediately.

**Daniel: What happened?**

**Ethan: If I don't contact you within thirty minutes, call me. If I don't answer, send someone to the Riverside Café. Don't come yourself.**

Daniel took several seconds to respond.

**Daniel: That's not exactly comforting.**

Ethan smiled faintly.

**Ethan: Just do it.**

He closed the laptop.

The System activated.

[Future System]

[Decision Point Approaching.]

[Current action may influence multiple future events.]

Ethan waited.

No probabilities.

No reward.

Just a warning.

He preferred it that way.

---

The Riverside Café was almost empty.

Victor was sitting in the far corner.

Alone.

Ethan entered and immediately checked the room.

Two customers.

One waiter.

Three visible exits.

No obvious threat.

Victor stood.

“You came.”

“You said you knew about Elena.”

Victor nodded.

“Sit.”

Ethan remained standing.

“Talk.”

Victor looked at him for several seconds.

“You've changed.”

Ethan's expression didn't move.

“Everyone keeps saying that.”

“Because it's true.”

Victor lowered his voice.

“You used to trust people too easily.”

“And now?”

“Now you look like you're expecting everyone to betray you.”

Ethan pulled out the chair.

“Maybe I've learned.”

Victor looked down.

“You haven't learned enough.”

Silence.

Then Victor reached inside his jacket.

Ethan's body tensed.

Victor slowly placed a small black notebook on the table.

“I found this six years ago.”

Ethan stared at it.

“What is it?”

“David Hayes's private records.”

Ethan's eyes sharpened.

“Your father's?”

Victor nodded.

“He kept notes about Blackridge.”

“Why?”

“I don't know.”

“What's inside?”

“Names. Payments. Meetings.”

Victor pushed the notebook toward him.

“And Elena.”

Ethan opened it.

Most of the pages contained dates and numbers.

Then he found a familiar date.

**October 14, 1996.**

Below it was one sentence.

**Transfer completed. Child moved before ignition.**

Ethan's breathing slowed.

“What transfer?”

Victor shook his head.

“I don't know.”

“You expect me to believe you?”

“No.”

Victor turned another page.

A handwritten list appeared.

**Richard Carter. Marcus Rose. David Hayes. Elena Vale.**

Then, beside Elena's name:

**Asset carrier.**

Ethan's eyes narrowed.

“Asset?”

Victor nodded.

“She wasn't just protecting a child.”

“Then what was she carrying?”

Victor looked around the café.

“That's what I couldn't find out.”

Ethan flipped through more pages.

Then he stopped.

A name had been written at the bottom of one page.

**Rose Foundation — Guardian File 17.**

Ethan immediately thought of Amelia.

“What is Guardian File 17?”

Victor didn't answer.

“Victor.”

“I don't know.”

“You're lying.”

Victor leaned closer.

“I found one more thing.”

He took out his phone.

“I found the original Rose family birth registry.”

Ethan's heartbeat accelerated.

“Where?”

“Locked archive.”

“Can you access it?”

“I already did.”

Victor showed him a photograph.

A birth record.

The name at the top was partially damaged.

But the date was visible.

**October 15, 1996.**

Ethan stared.

One day after the warehouse fire.

Then he saw the mother's name.

**Elena Vale.**

His entire body went still.

Victor whispered,

“That child survived.”

Ethan looked up.

“Who is the child?”

Victor hesitated.

Before he could answer, every light in the café went out.

The waiter shouted.

A chair crashed somewhere behind them.

Ethan immediately stood.

“Victor!”

“I’m here!”

A gunshot exploded outside.

The café windows shattered.

People screamed.

Ethan grabbed Victor and pulled him down.

Another shot struck the wall above them.

Then silence.

Ethan slowly lifted his head.

Victor was staring at him.

His face had gone pale.

“Ethan…”

“What?”

Victor pointed toward the broken window.

Someone had left a message painted across the glass.

Four words.

**STOP LOOKING FOR AMELIA.**

Ethan stared at it.

Then his phone vibrated.

[Future System]

[Critical Event Changed.]

[Amelia Rose's survival is now uncertain.]

Ethan's blood ran cold.

Victor looked at him.

“What happened?”

Ethan stood.

“Someone just declared war.”

Outside, the black car disappeared into the night.

And Ethan finally understood something terrifying.

The people hunting him weren't afraid of his investigation.

They were afraid of what Amelia would remember.