Alex's head raced. As Mrs. Harris's utterances rang as a curse, the walls of the Harris property felt too close in around him.
"You are the reason everything is about to fall apart."
Joan was paralyzed; her eyes bounced between her mom and Alex. "Mom, what are you saying?"
Mrs. Harris appeared to be in great grief. Leaning against the desk, trembling, she said, "I thought he was gone, I thought I had buried the past." It was, however, myself who was mistaken. He has returned and is using you, Alex."
Alex advanced a step, his face ashen. "What do you mean he uses me?"
Mrs. Harris looked at him—no longer with contempt, but with sorrow. "Your father—Matthew Swan—wasn't just my lover." He was a threat. consumed. He lost everything when I drove away from him. The kind of work he does. His name is His good name. He criticized your father, Mr. Harris, and promised to destroy all that he ever cherished."
Joan's breath caught. "But Dad passed away in that car accident..."
Mrs. Harris nodded. "But Matthew tried to destroy him before then." He nearly destroyed our whole heritage by leaking private details to the media, damaging agreements, and otherwise. He vanished when he was unable to bring him down... but he made a promise."
She peered at Alex.
"His son would complete what he started."
Fists of Alex clenched. ``You believe I'm here to wreck your family?''
Mrs. Harris was unresponsive.
Alex snapped, "I didn't even realize Matthew Swan was my father till my mother admitted!" I didn't even know any of this till last night!
Mrs. Harris said quietly, "That is how revenge operates: it lurks in the cracks and festers."
On him Joan grabbed her mother's shoulders.
Mrs. Harris shook her head. "Joan, he has already pulled you away from me." He didn't have to use his finger; he didn't have to.
Alex stepped back, as if her remarks had pushed him bodily. "I never wanted this," he said, his voice breaking. Jonas is adored by me. That is the only reality that counts.
Joan approached him and grabbed his hand. We'll find a solution here.
Still, the moment seemed delicate, like a glass sculpture about to fall.
Off the corner of the room, a weird clicking noise bounced off. Everyone turned around. The security system of the study faltered. A red flashing was over the camera in the corner.
Joan's stomach settled "Who is watching?"
Mrs. Harris was turned off; the camera is live and nobody is aware of it.
Alex moved nearer. The light stopped flicking.
Joan's phone buzzed.
unsure number.
She replied carefully.
Truth has a cost, joan; the bill's simply due.
The phone went down.
Later that evening Alex came back to his flat in the city by himself, rejecting Joan's attempts to follow. Really answers were what he wanted. In the drawer where his mother had stored her old letters and journals, he searched.
There had to be signs if his father had engineered his life as a revenge.
And he discovered it next.
sealed red envelope.
I don't have stamps. Only one term on the front, in beautiful cursive: Son.
Alex turned it open with shaking hands.
"My darling Alex,
Chances are I am dead or, much worse, forgotten, if you read this. Still, everything I did was done for you. You were never meant to become a pawn. You were the way I saved myself.
The Harris clan ruined me. Still alive, though. In the shadows I stayed alive. Using monikers they had never heard, I formed an empire no one could link.
And now you will be where my last inheritance is located.
Beside my name, you also bear my sign.
I put the sigil behind your left shoulder on your eighteenth birthday. The legacy of the forsaken son. A sign that ties you to my promise
You will feel it burning when it is time. You will know my voice. And you will know what needs to be done."
Alex dropped the note, tore off his shirt, and bolted for the mirror.
Turning, he squinted to look past his shoulder.
There it sat.
A barely visible faint tattoo—shaped like a twisted crown entwisted in thorns—lightly visible under usual light. It would shine under UV light, rather as a solemn oath spoken in blood.
He breathed in short gasps.
How had his father treated him?
The door opened with a start of noise.
JoJo rested in the hallway with few colors.
"Alex," she murmured. Amazingly, I still need to tell you."
He hadn't visited his sister in weeks— not since his mother fell over that night.
JoJo entered the room clutching a little flash drive with her hands.
I found this tucked away in Mom's room. There are audio files, emails, and evidence showing Dad's pre-death intentions. You have to listen to it."
Alex nodded and connected the drive to his laptop.
The screen fluttered.
A file marked Open Project Thorned Crown opened.
JoJo stared at him. Dad didn't only want vengeance. He wanted to erase the Harris heritage with his own bloodline. And you were in the middle.
He appeared quite angry. older.
Children that make it shall convey my will. My title, my reprisal. If he resists, then he has to be neutralized before he violates the blood oath." Hop into bed.
Alex was frozen.
JoJo gasped.
Still, that means...
Alex choked back. "I was brought up to be a weapon."
JoJo nodded and shook her head with a trembling tone: "Someone out there is attempting now to activate the oath."
Buzzed Alex's mobile App.
Still another unfamiliar number.
One statement.
"It's time to keep your promise." Or else she perishes."
Attached, a picture was given.
Joan.
Bound in the car trunk and muffled.
Alex went on his knees.
"No..." he softly voiced.
JoJo raced to him, crying out "We need the police!"
Rage simmering in his blood, Alex shook his head slowly. "This is my error.
Alex snatched the red envelope and flash drive and stormed for the door. Turning to JoJo, he left.
If I don't return, tell Joan I loved her enough to break every vow."
JoJo seized his arm. You do not have to go about this by yourself.
Already vanished, he emerged into the shadows of a plan begun before he was born behind.
And outside Joan's head, her attackers said something during the night.
"The son is aware."