One year later.
The plaque on the wall outside the new downtown office read:
CodeCore – Learn. Build. Break Limits.
Founder: Ethan Blake
Inside, the hum of young developers, the buzz of idea boards, and the laughter of kids solving their first lines of Python echoed through the air. It wasn't just a company. It was a movement.
Ethan stood at the window, watching the city breathe below him.
He felt whole.
Not perfect. Not healed completely.
But whole.
His relationships with both families had found rhythm. He visited Diana and Russell every two weeks. They still had moments of silence—but now, it was peaceful silence, not guilt-filled.
The Neals had invited him to speak at a tech conference. Jonah introduced him as "my son"—nothing more, nothing less. No pressure. No script.
Ethan had smiled and simply said, "Thanks, Jonah."
---
And then there was Ivy.
They met at a youth hackathon CodeCore hosted.
She was fiery, sarcastic, brilliant—and unimpressed by his name.
"What's it like being the headline of a national family drama?" she'd teased during their first lunch.
He'd laughed. Harder than he had in months.
She wasn't interested in the Blakes or the Neals. She liked him—the weird blend of logic and wounds, clarity and chaos. And she wasn't afraid to call him out when he hid behind his past.
"You're not a broken codebase," she told him once. "You're just refactoring your life."
That night, he kissed her for the first time.
---
Now, she stood beside him in the office, handing out laptop kits to a new group of students. Her laughter filled the room.
Ethan watched her, a smile tugging at his lips.
He turned back to the window.
So much had changed.
But some things were just beginning.
He wasn't just Ethan Blake. Or Ethan Neal.
He was Ethan—a name rebuilt from pain, from love, from choice.
And the story was far from over.
---
End of Chapter 10 – Epilogue