Chapter 3 A Son, Not By Blood

Jordan's chest tightened.

He stared at Ezra, unsure if he had heard him well. The hospital room was silent, except for the steady beep of the heart monitor beside the bed.

The old man's words echoed again in his mind like a bell

Jordan swallowed hard, slowly lowering his gaze. His fingers clenched against his trousers as he remained kneeling by the bed. A storm of confusion and disbelief gathered inside him.

"Sir..." he said in a quiet, trembling voice. "Please, don't talk like that. I'm not the one. I... I just want you to get better. That's all I pray for every day. I just want you to regain your strength."

Ezra didn't smile. He didn't even blink.

Instead, his eyes, tired but full of knowing, rested steadily on the young man beside him.

"No, Jordan," he said, his voice now firmer. "You are the one."

Jordan looked up, startled.

Ezra adjusted himself on the bed, ignoring the nurse's earlier warning to rest. There was something urgent in the way he spoke now, something deep, almost like a man trying to pass on his final truth.

"You think I joined you and Zoe in marriage by coincidence? You think I didn't know what I was doing?" he asked, looking straight into Jordan's eyes. "From the very day I pulled you out of that wrecked car, I saw something in you... something rare."

Jordan remained quiet.

Ezra continued. "You had nothing, just your name. But you had a quiet strength. A calm presence. There was power in you, Jordan. Untapped. Untrained. But it was there. And I knew... I knew you were meant for more."

Tears gathered in Jordan's eyes. He had never been spoken to like this in his entire life.

"I've built Bennett Industries with my bare hands," Ezra went on. "But it is not blood alone that keeps a legacy. It is vision, Jordan. It is character. Heart. Grit. That's what this family needs now. And you... you carry those things inside you."

Jordan shook his head gently, eyes still wet.

"I'm not special, sir," he whispered. "I'm just a man who's trying to repay the only person that ever helped him. You gave me a life. And that's why I stayed."

Ezra reached out his hand and touched the side of Jordan's neck.

His fingers lingered there, on the curved mark that had always puzzled them both.

Jordan looked at him, a question sitting heavily on his tongue. "Sir, this mark... does it mean anything? Does it have to do with... with my real family?"

Ezra hesitated.

For the first time since they began talking, his eyes shifted away briefly. His fingers dropped from the mark and rested weakly on the sheet.

"You will know in due time," he said slowly. "When that time comes, son, remember this, you are my son. No matter what anyone tells you, or what you find. I love you."

That left Jordan speechless.

He didn't know what to feel. Gratitude? Fear? Hope?

Everything was tangled inside him like thread. Ezra said nothing more. He simply closed his eyes again, as if even that short conversation had drained his strength.

***************************

Back at the Bennett mansion, Esther and Zoe sat in the study with the doors firmly closed.

Their voices were low, but their faces carried tension.

"I don't like the way your father looked at him today," Esther muttered, her arms crossed tightly. "It's no longer just gratitude. There's something more than we may have imagined."

Zoe looked troubled. "Mum, do you really think he'll hand things over to Jordan?"

"I think he already has it in mind, if not on papers on yet," Esther said. "And if that happens, everything we've worked for... gone. Just like that. To a nobody."

Zoe got up and walked to the window, peeking through the curtain. The house was quiet, but something about the silence felt threatening.

"So what do we do now?" she asked.

Esther stood up too. "You'll stay at the company. Keep your position firm. I'll begin calling some of your father's relatives. The ones who still have a say. We'll gather support."

Zoe nodded slowly, but her eyes still looked unsure.

Esther paused, looked around the room carefully, as if to confirm no one was listening. Then she leaned close to her daughter's ear and whispered something too low for anyone else to hear.

Zoe's eyes widened in shock.

"Mum, are you sure?"

Esther didn't answer, but nodded in assurance.