The silver-haired woman didn't look away from Jonathan, even as the operatives raised their weapons toward the approaching footsteps behind him. Her voice cut through the tension like a fragile melody.
"I am Lydia Collin ," she said. "Head of the Collin Conglomerate… and your mother."
Johnathan stood frozen, his palms cold against the alley wall, breath stuck in his throat. Something inside him wanted to laugh, another part wanted to collapse. Mother? Head of a conglomerate? Hidden family? It didn't make sense. Nothing tonight made sense.
"You've got the wrong person," Johnathan muttered, stepping back. "I don't belong to any…conglomerate. My mother… left me."
Lydia's expression twisted, not with anger, but with pain so raw it felt contagious. "I never abandoned you, Jonathan. You were taken from me."
The words were heavy. Too heavy. Johnathan didn't know how to hold them.
Before he could respond, something happened…. something beyond logic. His chest burned. A faint pulse throbbed beneath his skin, right where the Destral Core Seal was embedded. A glow seeped through his shirt like starlight trying to escape.
Johnathan froze. Lydia gasped, a hand flying to her mouth, trembling. "The Destral Core… it recognizes me."
"What's happening to me?" Johnathan whispered, terrified.
Lydia stepped closer, not touching him, only standing near enough that he could feel her warmth. "That heirloom wasn't meant to awaken yet. You should've grown into it… slowly… safely."
"Safely?" Johnathan barked out a humorless laugh. "I was murdered. My wife killed me. My boss killed me."
The alley seemed too quiet after those words, as if even the night held its breath.
Lydia shut her eyes briefly, pain ravaging her features. "I know you want revenge. And you will have it. But if you run toward it now, you will be slaughtered before you ever reach them."
Johnathan shook his head. His vision blurred from fury twisting inside him. "I don't care if I die."
"You already have," Lydia snapped, louder than she meant to. Her voice trembled afterward, softer. "You already died once, Jonathan. And it broke me. I won't lose you again."
Johnathan swallowed hard. His mind spun—Marie lying in bed with Lex, their hands choking him, the water filling his lungs, the glowing seal, strangers chasing him, and now a mother who claimed she had searched thirty years for him.
"I don't believe you," he whispered.
"You don't need to," Lydia replied, eyes wet but steady. "Your seal believes me. That is proof."
Jonathan's chest continued pulsing, syncing with her presence. The glow faded only when she stepped back, as if the heirloom reached for her like a child recognizing its parent.
Lydia composed herself, regaining her regal posture. "Johnathan Collin is the rightful heir to the Collin Conglomerate. Our lineage… is not just wealth. Our bloodline is awakened. Enhanced. Born with Destral affinity. You are the last direct successor. The seal protects the heir."
He stared at her blankly. "What does that even mean?"
"It means you were hidden," she said. "Taken as an infant to protect you from those who wanted the Collin line erased forever. The seal was meant to unlock when you were ready, when you trained for it. Instead… your murder forced it open."
Jonathan's skin crawled. His rebirth wasn't a miracle, it was a malfunction.
His wife's betrayal burned through him again. Marie's voice… her hands holding him down… her fear that he would live. Then Lex's smirk. His confidence. That smirk that said Johnathan was disposable.
Lydia watched Johnathan closely. "You want revenge."
Johnathan met her eyes. "More than anything."
"Then you must live long enough to achieve it," she said coldly. "If you seek vengeance now, you'll die again. This time permanently. Without training, without control, you'll destroy yourself before you can destroy them."
Her words hit him like a blade. Not threatening him but warning him.
"Come with me," Lydia said softly. "To the Collin Estate. Learn who you are. Gain control. Gain power. Then destroy those who wronged you. You can tear their world apart… piece by piece."
Jonathan's fists clenched. His heartbeat drummed against the glowing seal.
He looked away, jaw tight. "I don't need training."
"You cannot even control your pulse," Lydia whispered. "And yet you think you can control revenge?"
He flinched. Because she was right. He didn't understand anything about his power. It terrified him more than death.
Before he could answer, one of the operatives turned sharply toward the rooftop. His voice dropped to a tense whisper.
"Madam Collin … we're not alone."
Johnathan followed their gaze. Across a building's edge, a glint caught the moonlight, a scope.
A sniper.
Jonathan's breath caught. Lydia's eyes widened. "Move!"
A crack echoed. The bullet tore through the air. Johnathan didn't think, his body reacted. The Destral Core blazed against his chest so violently he screamed, energy flooding his veins.
Time slowed.
Rain droplets hung in midair. The bullet glided forward like a drifting star. Johnathan could see it spinning, every rotation stretched into seconds. His heart didn't beat normally, it roared, pulsing brighter beneath his skin.
The seal wasn't just a power.
It was awakening again.
Johnathan reached out without understanding why. His hand moved through thick, slowed air, drawn toward the bullet like magnets fatefully colliding.
Lydia shouted his name in distorted slow motion.
The bullet's tip brushed his fingertips.