Shattered Dreams: The System Rises

Chapter 4: The Mystery Man and a Shocking Truth

The man in the expensive suit stared at me like he'd seen a ghost. His hand was tightening on his briefcase, and his jaw was clenched. For a moment, the only sound in the top floor was the quiet hum of the air conditioning.

"I asked you a question," he said, his voice low but powerful. "Who are you, and what are you doing up here?"

I stood my ground. The Divine Blessing ability was flowing through me, making me feel strong and confident. I wasn't going to be intimidated, not even by this clearly important man.

"My name is Willy Morgan," I said. "And I'm here because I have something I need to do."

The color drained from the man's face. His briefcase slipped from his hand and fell to the ground with a heavy thud. For a second, I thought he might collapse.

"Morgan?" he whispered. "Your last name is Morgan?"

The receptionist was watching this interaction with obvious confusion. The man reached out and gripped my shoulder, his hand shaking slightly.

"Come with me," he said. "Now."

He didn't give me a choice. He pulled me toward his private office and closed the door behind us. The office was huge and expensive, with a view of the entire city spread out below us. His name was on the wall: James Morgan, CEO of Morgan Capital Investments.

My heart started racing. Morgan. My last name was Morgan. James Morgan. This man.

"Who are you?" I asked. "Why do you have the same last name as me?"

James Morgan sat down slowly in his desk chair. He looked like someone who'd just been hit by a truck.

"I'm your father, Willy," he said quietly. "I'm James Morgan. And you're my son."

The world stopped spinning for a moment. My father? This rich, powerful man was my father? But my parents had died when I was young. I'd been an orphan since I was five years old. I'd grown up in foster care, never knowing who my real family was. How could this man be my father?

"You're lying," I said. "My parents died when I was five. I've been an orphan my whole life."

James shook his head slowly.

"Your mother died when you were five," he said. "Your mother's name was Catherine. Catherine Morgan. She was my wife. But I didn't die, Willy. I was alive the whole time. The reason you grew up in foster care wasn't because you had no family. It was because I made it that way."

I felt anger rising in my chest. All those years. All those lonely nights. All that pain and suffering because this man chose to abandon me?

"Why?" I demanded. "Why would you do that?"

James looked away from me, staring out the window at the city below.

"Your mother and I had gotten divorced," he said slowly. "It was a messy divorce. I was building Morgan Capital Investments, and she wanted to take you away from me. She said I was too focused on business, that I wasn't a good father. We fought about custody. In the end, she agreed to take you and live with her family in another city. But then she got sick. Cancer. She died quickly, much faster than anyone expected."

"And then?" I asked, my voice hard.

"And then your mother's family came to me and said they couldn't raise you. They had their own problems, their own families to worry about. They asked me to take you in. But by that time, I was... I wasn't in a good place emotionally. I was angry at your mother for leaving me. I was angry at the world. And I was too busy with my company to deal with raising a child alone."

"So you gave me away," I said flatly.

"Yes," James admitted. "I gave you to the foster system. It was the worst decision I've ever made. I've regretted it every single day for the past thirteen years. I tried to find you multiple times, but the adoption agency wouldn't tell me anything. Your records were sealed. I hired private investigators. I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to locate you. But it was like you'd disappeared."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This man, this powerful CEO, had been looking for me? And I'd been right here in Los Angeles the whole time, just blocks away from his office building, struggling to survive?

"How did you know I was your son?" I asked. "Just from my name?"

"Not just the name," James said, standing up and walking over to me. He gripped my face gently and looked at my eyes. "You look exactly like my brother. And you have my mother's eyes. Plus, Willy Morgan is not a common name combination. When you walked out of that elevator, I felt it. I felt it in my bones. You're my son."

I wanted to hate him. I wanted to rage at him for abandoning me. But standing there looking at this man who was my father, I realized something. The system had brought me here. The system had given me a mission to come to the top of this building. The system had known that my father was here.

"I don't know what to say," I whispered.

"You don't have to say anything," James said. "But Willy, I want to make this right. I want to be your father. I want to know you. I want to help you. Please, just give me that chance."

Before I could answer, the system pinged in my head.

"Ding! Mission Complete: Congratulations on reaching the top of the Los Angeles Finance Building! Reward: Precision Sign-In Ability unlocked! Initial capital deposit of fifty million dollars has been added to your account! Additional Reward: Bloodline Mystery discovered! New information unlocked!"

So it was true. I was really the son of James Morgan. This wasn't a coincidence. The system had known. The system had guided me here deliberately.

"I need to tell you something," I said to James. "Something that's going to sound insane. But first, I need you to promise me something."

"Anything," James said. "Anything at all."

"Promise me that you won't ask me how I suddenly became rich. Promise me that you'll just trust me when I tell you that I'm going to change the world. Promise me that you'll help me do it, without needing all the details right now."

James looked at me for a long moment, then nodded.

"I promise, son. I promise."

My phone buzzed with a new message.

What new missions and abilities would the system reveal next, and what would this reunion mean for Willy's journey to becoming the wealthiest man alive?