Silence filled the room as the weight of that name settled.
Even someone who knew nothing about anything else would notice the weight behind that name.
The Mercer family.
A name spoken with respect in boardrooms, government halls, and financial empires. A family whose influence stretched far beyond a major region.
The man lying in the hospital bed stared at them blankly, his mind struggling to process the words.
'Mercer? As in that Mercer family? Me?'
He slowly looked up, staring deeper at the young lady,
"…You're saying…"
His voice was barely more than a whisper.
"…I belong to that family?"
Jada nodded in response. "Yes, you do."
Jul's mind skipped as he leaned back against the pillow, staring at the ceiling. His thoughts spun quietly.
The Mercer family. Wealth he never saw in his life, power to sway the government, and the influence to be celebrities anywhere they went.
All these things, things that meant nothing to him a moment ago, yet now, he was apparently everything.
'No. This is strange...' Rather than his mind spiraling out of control, he had more questions to ask: 'Could it be that they purposely targeted the kid since the beginning? But why would they target such a rich kid in there? They could have asked for a massive bounty, and they would have been paid.
'I heard that lion himself was the one who took me? There's no way he couldn't have known who this kid was, then why?'
Then, approaching from the side was the old woman. She spread her arms and hugged both mother and daughter.
Jada, who hadn't found anything to say, suddenly burst into tears in her arms.
"It's okay. It's okay." The old woman spoke in a soft, low voice. "Let me talk with him."
Jada nodded between sobs and picked up her mother as they left the room. Katelyn was unwilling; however, she yielded and left, leaving the room to just Jul and the old woman.
They stared at each other for a long time, each having their own thoughts.
'Now I remember where I saw her.' Recognition flickered within his gaze as he stared at her.
The head of the Mercer family and the interim chairman of the Mercer medical empire, Rose Mercer.
'I've seen her multiple times on the news and in the newspaper, even rejected an offer from her at one point, but I have never had the opportunity to meet with her one-on-one like this. All of this is still strange. For now, let's hear her out.'
Just as Jul thought, Rose was also thinking,
'When I heard code black, I knew it was about a family member, but I didn't expect this. Not him.' She proceeded and picked up a hospital diagnosis that hung beside his hospital bed.
"After numerous scans, we have concluded that you are indeed one of us. But before that, may I ask, where have you been all these years?"
Silence filled the room once again.
Her eyes stared deep into Jul's, probing, trying to discern a response.
"I asked you a question?" Her voice returned, more demanding this time. For some reason, the air became slightly heavy. It didn't seem like she was asking but giving an order.
Jul, on the other hand, returned the gaze without batting an eye. 'Is she testing me? Does she think I would actually answer her? By the way, does she even realize that she has grasped that? Interesting.'
"What do you want?" He asked.
Rose, seemingly taken aback by the question, thought,
'Alright! Now I know for certain. He didn't come back because he wanted to. All of this is just coincidence.'
The truth was that Rose had told Jada to tell him about his origins, and she watched carefully to see how he would react to those words. To her, he seemed genuinely shocked about the news. And even now, his response to where he had been was heavily avoided.
'If it had been a plot, he would have already come up with some story.' She nodded in silence after receiving the information she wanted, then stared down at the hospital diagnosis.
The report was filled with information about his ruptured muscles, damaged nerves, broken bones, torn skin, twisted joints, even punctured internal organs.
All of which, while dangerous, weren't life-threatening. That wasn't all. Those injuries didn't look like they could be faked.
'Fifteen years of searching. In the midst of that, countless resources had been spent, and we have had endless false leads.' She thought.
If this truly was Jul, the same kid from back then…then none of it had been wasted, but if this was deception…
Then it threatened everything the Mercer family had built.