Chapter 5 The Blood Test

"No."

Ethan stepped back, dragging his muddy work boots through the cell's grime until his shoulders hit the cold iron bars. He stared at the crisp white envelope on the rusted bench between them as if it were a venomous snake coiled to strike. Neither man stayed quiet. The silence in the cell was suffocating, broken just by the distant, little sound of the television.

Victor kept his cool. He simply waited, He simply folded his hands over the silver head of his cane, waiting and watching Ethan with an expression that held no judgment. Only patience. The patience of a man who had waited twenty-eight years and could wait a few minutes more.

"I'm not opening it," Ethan said, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. He hugged his arms tightly around his aching chest, trying to suppress the tremors running through his body.

"Why?" Victor asked quietly.

"Because if I open it..." Ethan's voice snapped, making a rough sound. "Then one of us is lying. And if you're telling the truth... if this is real... then everything I’ve believed about my life is false. My dad, my mom, the street, none of it makes sense anymore. I can’t."

Victor looked at him, his aged eyes softening with a deep, silent understanding. He gave a single, slow nod. "Truth is a heavy burden, Ethan. I totally understand you. It crushes before it frees."

"No." Ethan shook his head violently, suddenly angry. "You don't understand. You can't understand. You show up in my life…" He gestured wildly at the cell around them. "In this place and you tell me my whole thing isn't a dream. That my father wasn't my father. That my name isn't my name." His voice rose, breaking down with emotion. "You want me to open that envelope and accept that everything I've ever known was false?"

Victor remained still. "I want you to know the truth."

"Why?" Ethan demanded. "Why now? Why after twenty-eight years? Why not let me live the rest of my life in ignorant peace?"

"Because your father…"

"My father is dead!" Ethan's voice echoed off hurtfully. "My father died six years ago, and he never said a word about any of this. He never mentioned the Sterling name. He just…" Ethan's voice broke entirely. He pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes, trying to block out the world.

Victor's voice came soft again. "He was protecting you."

Ethan's laugh was bitter, and hollow. "From what? From you?"

"From everything."

The silence stretched between them again. Ethan's hands slowly lowered from his face. His eyes were red-rimmed, but no tears had fallen. He had spent too many years being strong to cry now, not in front of a stranger, whose words had broken his fragile heart.

Then, instead of asking about money, or opening the envelope, instead of demanding to know what Victor wanted from him, Ethan suddenly heard himself blurt out. 

"My mother," Ethan blurted out suddenly. He took a frantic step forward, looking desperate. "My mother is in a coma, City General Hospital. She has a brain aneurysm that the doctors can't operate on. The hospital... they're cutting off her treatments because I couldn't pay. If what you're saying is true, if you actually have all this power..." His voice broke, and he pointed a trembling finger at the envelope. "Then none of this matters. The money, the name, the bloodline…I don't care about any of it. Can you save her?"

For the first time, Victor's expression became weak. He leaned forward slightly, his grip was still tight on his cane.

"Please, help me save her."

The question came out desperate. Ethan hated himself for asking it. Hated the neediness in his own voice. But he couldn't stop himself. She was all he had left. She had raised him, loved him and sacrificed everything for him. If there was any chance…

Victor reached into his pocket and pulled out a black phone.

Ethan watched, confused, as Victor tapped the screen and pressed it to his ear. The man's voice was calm, businesslike, and utterly commanding. 

"Call City General Hospital," he said into the phone, commanding. "Deploy our private critical care team immediately. I want the best neurosurgeons in the 

country flown in if necessary. Tell them no expense is to be spared, and the chief of medicine is to oversee her personally. Stabilize her."

He paused, listening.

"Correct. Mrs. Mary Cole. Room 317. I want updates every hour."

He hung up, slid the phone back into his pocket, and looked up at Ethan. "They are already on their way. She is safe."

Ethan sank back against the bars, his knees barely holding him up, staring at him. "Already on their way?"

Victor nodded. “The moment I confirmed your identity, I prepared for this day.” he paused and continued. “They're the best in the world, Ethan. If anyone can help your mother, they can."

Ethan's mouth opened, closed it and opened it again but no sound came out.

"I don't…" He stopped and swallowed. "Why?"

Victor's smile was sad. "Because she's your mother. And because you love her. That's reason enough."

Something changed in Ethan's heart. It felt like a break in the wall he'd built around himself. For the first time, he allowed himself to beve…just a little that maybe this stranger wasn't lying.

Maybe he really did want to help.

However, the envelope was still on the bench between them. Yet to be opened.

Ethan's eyes drifted to it again, and suddenly memories came flooding back. His father's voice and the conversation from years ago, when Ethan was young and full of questions.

"My dad..." Ethan whispered, as his mind flashed back, pulling up memories of the tired, quiet garbage collector who had raised him. "He once told me... 'Some truths don’t make life easier, Ethan. Sometimes they just make it much deeper.' I never understood what he meant. Did he know? Did my father know who I really was?"

Victor’s grip on his cane tightened slightly, his knuckles turning white. "He knew enough to spend his entire life protecting you. He chose a life of grinding poverty, of obscurity, just to keep you protected. He was a brave man, Ethan."

"But why?" Ethan pressed, his chest heaving rapidly now. "Why did it take twenty-eight years? If you're the richest man in the country, how did you lose me?"

“For twenty-eight years, we chased every lead anyone brought us. Most were s. Some were mistakes. A few cost innocent people their lives. But I refused to believe your body had disappeared into that river. Seven months ago… we finally found our first real lead.”

"What lead?"

"That is a story for when you are out of this cell," Victor replied gently, his eyes dropping back to the bench. "First, you must decide who you are."

Ethan's gaze trailed down to the envelope. His hand shook as he reached out, his fingers hanging millimeters above the paper. He pulled his hand back, letting out a bitter, breathless laugh.

"I'm scared," Ethan admitted, his eyes covered with unshed tears.