The Billionaire Firefighter

Chapter 9: The Name He Chose

The entire VIP corridor went silent.

The West family relatives and corporate executives who had been so aggressive only moments earlier were frozen in place. They couldn't connect what they were seeing — a pale, injured firefighter in a hospital gown, smoke still visible in the creases of his skin — with Jacob West's biological son, missing for more than twenty years.

Fae stared at Derek too. The man who had helped her hold up an elderly stranger in the hospital lobby downstairs. The "true heir" whose return had been quietly terrifying her all day.

The silence lasted about three seconds.

Then the relatives rearranged their faces with a speed that was almost impressive. Contempt became warmth. A man who had been speaking to Fae like she was an inconvenience stepped forward with his hand extended and a smile that had no business being that wide.

"We've been waiting for this day," he said. "Mr. West, your return means everything to this family."

"The whole family," Derek said, "just tried to have me removed from the building."

The smiles dimmed slightly at the edges.

An elder cleared his throat and stepped forward, producing three documents.

The first authorized the board to temporarily manage Jacob's affairs. The snd froze the authority of Jacob's private team — Harlan and every core assistant Jacob had personally chosen. The third removed Fae from Jacob's medical decisions on the grounds that she wasn't related by blood.

Fae's face went white. Derek saw her read the third document and understand exactly what it meant — not just her removal, but the removal of every loyal person standing between Jacob and these relatives. If Derek signed, Jacob would be completely isolated.

"This is shameless," Fae said quietly. "He's barely conscious and you're already—"

"Miss West." The elder's warmth vanished instantly. "You are an adopted daughter. Jacob's biological son has returned. This is no longer your place to interfere."

Someone else spoke from the side. "She's been comfortable here for years. Of course she feels threatened now that the real heir is back. Don't let her emotions cloud your judgment, Mr. West."

Fae opened her mouth and closed it. There was nothing she could say they wouldn't use against her. Derek could see her knowing it — the way her jaw tightened, the way she went still.

He looked at her.

And remembered what she'd said in the elevator. A name that belongs to you doesn't stop belonging to you because someone hid it.

He'd been resisting the West name not because he disbelieved the DNA result, but because accepting it meant accepting everything underneath it. That his father had existed all along. That his name had existed all along. That twenty years had been taken from him by people who had never been held accountable.

But the people in front of him already wanted to use that identity. If he kept refusing it, they'd divide Jacob's power and turn him into nothing but a signature on three documents.

Fae saw the struggle on his face.

"If that name was stolen from you," she said quietly, "refusing it only helps the people who stole it."

Something settled in his chest.

Then the beeping started from Jacob's ward.

Urgent, irregular. Through the glass, Derek saw Jacob moving — weakly, one hand pressing at the mattress, trying to sit up beneath the oxygen mask. He'd heard the argument. His face was turned toward the door.

Derek looked at him. The pale face. The hand still reaching.

He picked up the documents.

The relatives' faces shifted — a flicker of triumph.

Derek tore them in half.

The sound was sharp in the quiet hallway.

"My father is still alive," Derek said. His voice wasn't loud. It didn't need to be. "No one divides his power in front of his door."

The first time he'd said it. My father. His own choice.

Harlan's eyes went red at the edges.

The relatives erupted — board procedures, family protocol, legal obligations. Derek held the black card out to Harlan without looking at them.

"Freeze their access to this floor. Audit everyone who entered my father's room after the fire. His medical team stays." A pause. "And nobody removes Fae."

Fae went completely still.

Security turned and faced the relatives instead. The elder's face darkened but he didn't move forward. None of them did.

They left. The noise went with them.

In the quiet that followed, Fae instinctively stepped back. She looked toward Jacob's ward.

"I can wait outside. You should go in. He's your—"

"You don't have to leave," Derek said. "He gave you the name West. That means you belong here too."

Fae's eyes went bright. She turned toward the window and didn't say anything for a moment.

Derek looked at Jacob through the glass and understood something clearly for the first time. He couldn't keep living the way he had before — charging into fires, saving others, then letting fate drag him wherever it wanted. He wasn't only Derek Moss anymore. He was also Jacob West's son. If he remained passive, Fae would be driven away, Jacob would be controlled, and the people who had stolen his life would keep laughing in the dark.

His phone rang.

Christian.

"You deserted your post, Moss. The department doesn't need cowards."

"I'm in a hospital," Derek said. "Because I saved someone."

Christian's laugh was short and sharp. "The man you rescued is still lying in a hospital bed. Doesn't say much for your methods, does it?" He hung up.

Fae looked at Derek. "What happened?"

Derek lowered the phone. "I've been fired."

Victor's expression changed immediately. He'd been standing near the corridor wall, quiet until now. He straightened and said that after Jacob had briefly regained consciousness, the first thing Jacob had done — before asking for water, before speaking to Harlan — was authorize a five-million-dollar donation to the Vendric County Fire Department. Because Derek had saved his life.

Victor said it slowly, each word carrying weight.

He could not believe, he said, that a department receiving Jacob West's money would treat the man who saved Jacob West this way.

He pulled out his phone. "I'm canceling the donation."

"Don't," Derek said.

Victor stopped.

Derek looked at him. His voice was steady and quiet, the voice of someone who had already decided.

"Don't cancel it. Not yet." He put his phone in his pocket. "I'm going to the station. I want to see exactly how far they're willing to go."