The Rejected Heir
1613 Words
The doctor arrived less than an hour later.
According to him, Adrian had suffered a high fever during the night. There was no sign of injury and nothing seriously wrong with him.
He recommended rest.
Claire thanked him and walked him downstairs.
Daniel followed, but not before looking back at his son twice.
Adrian waited until their footsteps disappeared.
Then he locked the bedroom door.
For the first time since waking up, he was alone.
He walked toward the mirror.
Sixteen years old.
Black hair. Gray eyes. A face that had never been shot, cut, or broken.
Yesterday, he had been Ethan Carter.
Thirty-four years old.
Orphan.
Black Veil operative.
Dead.
Today, he was Adrian Vale.
He touched the mirror.
"This is insane."
The boy staring back at him didn't disappear.
Adrian stepped away.
The memories inside his head were becoming clearer.
This house belonged to Daniel Vale.
His father.
Three floors. A private garden. Two cars in the garage. Several employees.
To an ordinary family, they were wealthy.
To the Vales, they were almost poor.
Daniel Vale was Richard Vale's eldest son.
Once, everyone expected him to inherit Vale Group.
Then Daniel fell in love with Claire.
Richard had already arranged a marriage that would strengthen the family's business connections. Daniel refused.
The argument nearly destroyed their relationship.
Daniel married Claire anyway.
He left Vale Group soon after and built a small manufacturing company without his father's help.
It survived.
It even made good money.
But compared to Vale Group, it was nothing.
Adrian walked toward the window.
A six-year-old sedan was parked outside.
He almost laughed.
In his previous life, he had seen Victor Vale arrive at meetings in cars worth more than this entire house.
The difference told him everything.
This was the branch of the family nobody expected anything from.
That could be useful.
Ethan Carter had spent sixteen years learning how powerful people operated.
He had protected them.
Threatened them.
Killed for them.
But until last night, he had misunderstood where their real strength came from.
Victor couldn't beat Ethan in a fight.
He probably couldn't survive one of Ethan's missions.
It didn't matter.
Victor had people for that.
Money bought soldiers.
Money bought information.
Money bought influence.
Enough money could even buy an organization like Black Veil.
Ethan had spent his life becoming a weapon.
Victor had learned how to own weapons.
Adrian looked at his reflection in the window.
If he wanted revenge, knowing how to fight wasn't enough.
He needed money.
Influence.
People.
Most importantly, he needed something nobody could take away from him.
Ownership.
A knock came from the door.
"Adrian?"
Daniel.
Adrian unlocked it.
His father entered carrying a tray.
"Your mother thinks you're dying."
"I'm fine."
"You asked her who she was."
Adrian paused.
"That probably didn't help."
Daniel stared at him.
Then he laughed.
"No. It didn't."
He placed the tray on the desk.
"You remember me now?"
"Daniel Vale."
Daniel's smile disappeared.
"Dad would be better."
Adrian looked at him.
Dad.
The word felt strange.
Ethan Carter had grown up without parents. He couldn't remember his mother's face. He didn't even know his father's name.
Now a man he had known for only a few hours was waiting for him to call him Dad.
"My head still feels strange," Adrian said.
Daniel's expression softened.
"The doctor said the fever could leave you confused."
Adrian nodded.
Daniel pointed at the food.
"Eat."
Adrian sat down.
Daniel remained beside him.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Adrian studied him quietly.
Daniel wasn't weak.
Walking away from one of the country's largest fortunes and building something yourself required courage.
It also required pride.
Maybe too much pride.
Adrian could work with that.
"Are we going to Grandfather's tonight?"
Daniel's expression changed.
"Who told you?"
Adrian searched the memories that now belonged to him.
Richard Vale's birthday.
Every member of the family had been invited to the main estate.
"I remembered."
Daniel leaned back.
"We aren't going."
"Why?"
"You know why."
Adrian did.
Daniel and Richard barely spoke.
They attended some family events because Claire insisted, but Daniel usually left early.
Richard rarely paid attention to Adrian.
Victor's children received expensive gifts, private tutors, and introductions to important people.
Adrian received birthday cards.
Sometimes.
"We should go," Adrian said.
Daniel looked at him strangely.
"You hate going there."
"Maybe I changed my mind."
"Since yesterday?"
"Since this morning."
Daniel laughed.
"Your fever really did something to you."
Adrian continued eating.
"Grandfather is still family."
"That's never mattered much to him."
"It should matter to us."
Daniel's face hardened.
"I don't need anything from Richard Vale."
There it was.
Pride.
Adrian put down his fork.
"I didn't say you did."
"Then why do you suddenly want to see him?"
Because Richard Vale controlled an empire.
Because Adrian remembered what that empire would become.
Because he knew which investments would fail and which ones would make fortunes.
Because one day Victor would use the Vale family's power to have Ethan Carter killed.
Adrian couldn't tell him any of that.
"I want to know him."
Daniel stared at him.
"You've met him."
"That's different."
"How?"
"You left Grandfather. I didn't."
Daniel went quiet.
Adrian continued.
"Whatever happened between you and him happened before I could understand any of it. I don't want to spend my life hating someone because you do."
"I don't hate him."
"Then going shouldn't be a problem."
Daniel narrowed his eyes.
Adrian realized he'd pushed too hard.
Sixteen-year-old Adrian wouldn't normally speak to his father this way.
He softened his voice.
"I just want the chance to decide what I think of him myself."
Daniel didn't answer for a long time.
Then he stood.
"Your mother has been saying the same thing for years."
"She's smart."
"Don't tell her I agreed with you."
Adrian almost smiled.
Daniel walked toward the door.
"I'll think about tonight."
When the door closed, Adrian returned to his desk.
He already knew they would go.
The memories of his new life told him Daniel rarely refused Claire when it concerned their son.
Adrian opened the laptop.
It was painfully slow.
He checked the date again.
Twenty years.
He had twenty years of information nobody else possessed.
Companies that didn't exist yet.
Technologies people would laugh at today.
Businesses that would become giants.
Others that would disappear completely.
But Adrian couldn't simply walk into a bank and say he knew the future.
He was sixteen.
And although Daniel had money, Adrian didn't.
Not the kind he needed.
He opened a search engine.
South Harbor.
The area was still mostly warehouses and cheap industrial property.
Adrian remembered it differently.
Years from now, Black Veil would use a building there for an operation.
By then, South Harbor would be filled with hotels, luxury apartments, offices, and one of the largest shopping complexes in the city.
He searched property records.
One result caught his attention.
Vale Development.
Adrian leaned closer.
Vale Group already owned a large parcel there.
Then the memory came back.
A government transport project.
Delays.
Political pressure.
Cancellation.
Vale Group eventually sold much of its land after years of losses.
Then a new administration revived the project.
Property values exploded.
Vale Group had sold too early.
Adrian stared at the screen.
He knew exactly what Richard Vale didn't.
That land wasn't a failure.
It was a fortune waiting for the right year.
Adrian sat back.
His first opportunity was already inside his grandfather's company.
The problem was getting Richard to listen.
Why would a billionaire with decades of business experience listen to a sixteen-year-old grandson he barely knew?
Adrian searched through his new memories.
Then he remembered something.
Richard liked challenges.
Every year during his birthday dinner, he gave his grandchildren a problem.
Sometimes mathematics.
Sometimes business.
Sometimes negotiation.
The winner received a gift.
The younger Adrian had never won.
His cousins treated it like a competition for watches, trips, cars, or money.
Adrian smiled.
They could keep those.
A car lost value.
A watch sat in a drawer.
Cash disappeared.
Land was different.
If Richard gave him the chance to ask for anything, Adrian already knew what he wanted.
A knock came from the door.
Claire entered carrying a dark suit.
Adrian looked at it.
She smiled.
"Your father said we're going."
"Tonight?"
"Unless you suddenly hate your grandfather again."
"I never hated him."
Claire raised an eyebrow.
"You hid in the bathroom for forty minutes the last time we visited."
Adrian paused.
"I was younger."
"That was six months ago."
He stared at her.
Claire started laughing.
Adrian couldn't help smiling.
This family thing was going to take some adjustment.
She placed the suit on his bed.
"Be ready at six."
Claire started toward the door.
"Mom."
She stopped.
It was the first time he'd called her that.
Her expression softened.
"Yes?"
Adrian hesitated.
"What's Grandfather like?"
Claire thought for a moment.
"Richard?"
She smiled faintly.
"He respects people who don't waste his time."
That was enough.
After she left, Adrian walked toward the suit.
Tonight, he would meet Richard Vale.
His grandfather.
The man who controlled everything Adrian needed.
Money.
Companies.
Land.
Connections.
And somewhere inside that same mansion would be Victor Vale.
Twenty years younger.
A man who had no idea that his future victim was about to walk through his front door as his nephew.
Adrian picked up the suit.
He wasn't going there to confront Victor.
He wasn't going there to threaten him.
And he definitely wasn't going there for revenge.
Not yet.
Revenge without power was just anger.
Tonight, Adrian had a much simpler goal.
He needed Richard Vale to remember his name.
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