Chapter 3.

Nathan was led into a wide living room, where he'd been offered to sit. His shirt had been crumpled due to the way he'd been handled by the hefty guards, but he didn't mind. His hair had been scattered as well.

The whole area was sparkling neat and clean, all around its vicinity scenting with a soft essence of lavender. Nathan had always loved lavender.

"You used to love the lavender air freshener," said the old man who'd pronounced himself as his butler, Fernando. It was as if he'd been hearing Nathan's mind. He chuckled.

Nathan adjusted on the fine leather chair, straightening his posture. "Who are you exactly?" He was certain that the old man neatly dressed before him was not anyone he'd met before. He looked like he was in his sixties, but he was still well built for a man of that age. He wasn't too tall and one could say he was a petite man. His calm eyes were richly filled with mystery that Nathan could instantly tell the man must have lived that age with a lot of experience to tell.

"Sire, it's me, Fernando. You really have forgotten, haven't you?" Fernando said, then when he got no reply from him, he continued to say. "I used to be the butler of this household years ago, before the unfortunate incident that happened to your late parent."

Nathan did not hear him clearly. "You knew my parents?" He asked with widened eyes, and Fernando confirmed with a slight but firm nod. "So you're telling me that I used to be part of this household?" His hands pointed to the large vast space.

Fernando thought carefully on how to reply. "You used to be the young master of this entire household, son of the late Anakins." He bowed his head in pity. "May their gentle souls rest in peace."

Nathan couldn't believe his eyes. He said instead, waiting for Fernando to continue further. "Amen."

"They were betrayed, and that saddening betrayal led to the destruction of the household, causing them to break down overnight. It was truly devastating and forlorn, sire." He narrated slowly, and almost every sentence followed with a heavy sigh. "You were too young back then, and so, you never knew who you truly were. Your true identity was hidden ever since then, and I had longed to see you all these while. I searched for you for many years and only a few nights ago did I discover that you had been right under our noses all along. It was then I noticed that you had been married into the Castiel family, and well, finding you became easy from there. "

It took a moment for all the words to sink in but eventually, it started to make little sense to him. "If what you're saying is true, why am I here now?"

"The Castiels are not who they seem to be, you see. They worked for your father, and were nothing more than his mere followers. The Anakin household helped the Castiels and saved them from so many financial problems and one could even say that they became their saviours. But after the betrayal that led to your parents death, they adopted you and ran off. And I never heard from them again."

"But now they're back." Said Nathan. They'd all just moved back to the city a few years ago. Nathan was still quite shocked that the Castiels had known his parents and had even worked for them before.

"Apparently, and they'd kept you hidden. When I even approached Evelyn, your foster mother, years ago, she claimed she knew not where you were. She denied having you with her. I had feared that something terrible had happened to you, but I didn't relent in my search for you."

The Castiels had lied to him all those years. They never said much about his real parents, and had claimed that they did him a huge favour by adopting him. Something wasn't right. "But why would they lie about my identity? Isn't that just pure evil? They should have explained to you all along that I was alive and hale!" Anger was starting to overwhelm him as he didn't understand why people could become so evil and heartless. After all the torture and maltreatment. They could have made it up to him by connecting him back to his real family.

"Because Evelyn is evil. When your parents died and the Castiels took you away, they also took away all of your property and wealth." With a bittered heart, Fernando continued. "Illegally, all of the fortune that should have belonged to was snatched by the Castiels, and so that was why they ran off."

"What!" Flustered Nathan, a heavy frown forming on his face. Horizontal lines wrinkled across his forehead.

"There was a chance to step up after that night when your family fell, so they took you in, pretending to be nice, and next, ran off with files and properties worth millions. Apparently, they'd been satisfied with that amount, and so they must have been happy. But, little do they know that that was just a tip of the iceberg."

Nathan had sat still, his left palm resting on his cheeks, then it fell again back to his laps. He was nearly lost in thought, thinking of the evil that the people he thought were his family had successfully done, then the last words of Fernando brought him back. "What do you mean?"

"It's exactly what I meant, sire. That's because the majority of your family’s fortune has been kept safe by me all these years. Your father had secretly entrusted me with the original documents, and I'd vowed to fulfil his wish even if it were the last thing I would do. See this is why I am so gratified that I have finally found you again."

It was in that moment that Nathan knew that he would after all laugh last. After all the terrible suffering he'd been through, who'd have thought that he had been a billionaire all along! His eyes met with Fernando who was seated opposite to him, but he did not speak.

Fernando took the silence as an opportunity to make his announcement. "Sire, a lot has happened since you've been gone. And it is of no surprise that even you must understand that there is a lot of work to do. This is why I have searched all these years to find you." Fernando said, then sat up straight, and Nathan wondered how an old man like him still maintained a well mannered sitting posture that had been quite firm and straightened.

"As the last surviving heir of the richest and most powerful family of Anakin, I ask you to come back and claim your rightful place."