Five minutes after ending the call with Collins, Axel remained seated, utterly frozen.
The phone still rested in his hand, the screen dark, reflecting his own stunned expression back at him.
The office, once calm and familiar, suddenly felt too large, too quiet, too unreal.
'Aunty Martha's son. Noah Henry Davis is Ethan Wright...'
The words slammed into his mind like a thunderbolt, leaving sparks of disbelief behind.
Axel blinked slowly, as if waking from a dream.
But the truth did not vanish.
Instead, it settled more heavily with every breath.
He could not think straight. His mind refused to move forward, looping the same revelation again and again until it felt almost absurd.
Ethan. The boy he rescued. The man he trained. The brother he trusted.
Was the missing son of Aunty Martha whom Evelyn searched for?
Axel let out a soft, breathless laugh that carried no humor at all. It sounded more like disbelief surrendering to fate.
