Part 16 – The Stranger in the Blood
The headlines were no longer speculative.
They were explosive.
"Second Wolfe Heir? Sources Confirm Founder's Secret Son"
– Financial Flash
"Illegitimate or Inevitable? Board Split on Leadership as Family Bombshell Surfaces"
– Market Eye News
"Is Ethan Wolfe Still CEO Material?"
– Power & Pulse Magazine
Within twenty-four hours, the story swept through every corner of the business world. Investors were rattled. Board members began to whisper. And inside Wolfe Enterprises, trust fractured like glass under pressure.
Wolfe Enterprises – Boardroom
Ethan sat at the head of the long obsidian table, shoulders rigid, eyes unreadable. Around him, the board members murmured like sharks circling blood in the water.
Gregory Slate sat opposite him, smug and composed.
"I simply believe transparency is in the best interest of this company," Slate said, lacing his fingers. "Your father's failure to disclose a rightful heir puts your succession… into question."
"And what exactly are you suggesting?" Ethan asked coldly.
Slate leaned back, voice calm. "We meet the young man. Determine his intentions. Consider what's best for the company."
"And hand over a billion-dollar empire to someone none of us know?" Ethan snapped.
"Or we investigate. Either way, we find the truth."
The board nodded in agreement. Some reluctant. Some too eager.
Ethan said nothing. But his jaw clenched like a man holding back a scream.
Lila – Digging in the Shadows
Back in her apartment, Lila sat at her kitchen table, files and notes spread around her like a storm. She hadn't waited for Ethan's permission.
She'd started digging the moment the story broke.
Old articles. Employee records. Payouts. Whispers.
Gregory Slate's name came up again and again quietly threaded through key takeovers and discreet settlements going back twenty-five years.
But what struck her wasn't what she found.
It was who she didn't.
There was no official record of the other Wolfe heir.
No photos. No confirmed address. No digital footprint.
It was like he'd been… waiting.
Suddenly, Maya Lila's intern rushed in with her tablet in hand.
"I found something."
Lila took the device.
A press release.
Scheduled for tomorrow morning.
"Introducing Julian Wolfe: Son of the Late Johnathan Wolfe. Prepared to Step Forward. Official Appearance Pending."
A single image accompanied it.
The man from the surveillance footage. Late twenties. Sharp jawline. Steely grey eyes.
And the same quiet intensity Ethan carried in moments of stillness.
"He's real," Lila whispered.
And very, very dangerous.
Later – Ethan's Penthouse
When Lila arrived, Ethan was standing at his bar, glass in hand, his back to her.
"I know," he said before she could speak.
She walked over, slipping the tablet onto the counter between them. "You saw the press release?"
"I helped stop three versions of it," he muttered. "Couldn't stop the fourth."
She paused, studying him. "You've known about him longer than you've admitted, haven't you?"
He finally turned to her, guilt dark in his eyes. "I found out a year ago. My father's lawyer hinted at it after the funeral. I ignored it. Told myself if I didn't look, he didn't exist."
"But now he's walking into your life. And he's not alone. He's Slate's pawn."
"Or worse," Ethan said, voice sharp. "His weapon."
Lila reached out, placing a hand on his chest. "Then we find out what he wants. And we figure out how deep this goes."
He shook his head. "No. I won't let you get dragged into this again."
She met his eyes with a quiet kind of fury. "You don't get to choose whether I fight beside you. I already have. You either trust me, or you fight alone."
Ethan's breath caught.
Then, slowly, he nodded.
"You deserve the truth," he said. "About Julian. About my mother. About everything."
Lila didn't move. "Then tell me."
Flashback – 1998
Ethan was eight when his mother disappeared from public view.
No funeral. No goodbye.
Just gone.
The official story was illness. But Ethan remembered hushed arguments, midnight threats, and a woman dark-haired, furious, crying on their front lawn.
The same woman listed in the file.
Julian's mother.
She hadn't been a fling.
She'd been in love with Johnathan Wolfe.
And she'd been betrayed.
Lila listened in silence as Ethan finally spoke the words he'd kept buried for years.
"My father destroyed her. Paid her to disappear. And now… her son is coming back to collect what was stolen."
Elsewhere – Julian Wolfe
Julian stared at himself in the mirror of the hotel suite Slate had arranged.
His grey eyes reflected something more than ambition.
They burned with purpose.
He slipped on a tailored black suit, adjusted his tie, and walked toward the reporters gathering downstairs.
He wasn't here to reunite with his brother.
He was here to take everything.