Lord Of Beasts

One of the men from Crowe Incorporated immediately nodded when Ethan finally agreed to go with them.

"Thank you, sir."

Ethan glanced over his shoulder at the others.

They had been following the exchange and were clearly ready to come with him if he asked. In fact, judging by their expressions, they had probably already decided that they were going whether Ethan wanted them to or not.

Ethan rarely did things alone.

Kaela, Elara, and Mark had become his usual companions, and each of them provided a different kind of emotional support and protection. Kaela could lighten the mood whenever things became too serious, Elara had a way of calming him down without even trying, and Mark understood Ethan better than most people ever could.

They were also all powerful enough that having them around made most situations significantly safer, Mark obviously not as much as the two A Rank women.

Still, Ethan shook his head.

"No, thanks."

He didn’t elaborate, nor was there a need to.

Ethan simply turned toward the waiting vehicles, his decision already made.

The others didn’t push him.

They knew Ethan well enough to understand when he had already made up his mind, and whatever reason he had for wanting to do this alone, they would respect it.

Ethan climbed into one of the cars waiting for him outside the gates.

The vehicle was sleek, expensive, and heavily reinforced, which was exactly what he expected from a company wealthy enough to have people constantly following him around.

But he had long since gotten accustomed to such comfort and wasn’t exactly impressed.

If anything, Ethan was uncharacteristically on edge.

The door closed behind him, and the vehicle pulled away from the Enforcement Unit’s base. For the first few minutes, he simply sat back and watched the city pass by through the window.

Eventually, curiosity got the better of him.

Ethan raised a hand and tapped a finger against his ear.

"What you got for me?"

Back at the Enforcement Unit’s base, the nasal-voiced nerd sat in the middle of the technological command room.

Several screens surrounded him, displaying databases, maps, security feeds, and various other pieces of information. His fingers moved rapidly across the keyboard as he jumped between different systems, pulling up whatever information he could find on the man Ethan was about to meet.

His voice came through Ethan’s earpiece.

"Victor Crowe. Fifty-seven years old. Untitled, according to the Association database."

Ethan’s brow lifted slightly.

"But he could still be a rogue Titled?"

"Yes."

The nerd paused as another collection of files appeared across one of his screens.

"Not much exists on him other than his old criminal activity and records stretching back decades. Most of it is pretty ordinary as far as criminals go, but two things are for sure."

Ethan leaned back in his seat.

"What?"

"The man is very likely to be your father."

Ethan’s expression changed slightly, not sure how to respond.

The nerd continued before Ethan could say anything.

"His activity was centred around the same general area where you were born and raised. The timing also lines up, and there are enough similarities in the records to make the connection more than a coincidence."

Ethan stared through the window, now unsure how to feel.

For most of his life, his father had simply been a question without an answer. There had never been a name, an explanation, or even a clear indication of whether the man was still alive.

Now, suddenly, Ethan was on his way to meet the man who supposedly conceived him.

There was too much to process.

"And the second?"

There was a brief pause on the other end.

"Well, there’s something off about him."

Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"Hard to say."

The nerd’s fingers continued moving across the keyboard as he dug deeper into the man’s history.

"Around the time you were arrested, the man disappeared off the face of the planet."

Ethan’s expression hardened.

"And?"

"He eventually returned three years later."

There was another pause.

"Except when he came back, he wasn’t the same person on paper anymore. He had somehow gone from being involved in criminal activity to becoming a legitimate business mogul."

Ethan raised an eyebrow.

"That’s convenient."

"Very."

The nerd sounded almost annoyed by the lack of information.

"Even I can’t find much else on him. His current records are extremely clean, almost suspiciously so. There’s nothing obvious connecting his current identity to his old activities. I’m also still unsure how they found out about our base."

Ethan leaned back in his seat.

’He’s definitely some sort of rogue Titled, but I guess I’m about to find out.’

He had more questions than answers, but he was about to meet the man who might just be able to give him some closure.

"Anyway, thanks, nerd."

"You’re welcome, sir."

Ethan tapped his ear and ended the call.

For the rest of the journey, he simply chilled out.

He leaned back into the comfortable seat and watched the city outside the window, allowing his thoughts to wander without dwelling too deeply on what was waiting for him.

Whatever Victor Crowe wanted, Ethan would find out soon enough.

Eventually, the vehicle began slowing down.

Ethan glanced out the window.

They had arrived.

And when he finally saw where they were going, he couldn’t help but stare in shock. Ethan stood outside a giant building not far from the Association’s Headquarters.

He stared up at the enormous structure with a cigarette hanging between his fingers. The building towered over the surrounding area, its modern exterior covered in glass and steel, with a massive sign displaying the name Crowe Inc.

Ethan let out a quiet laugh.

’How did I miss this? And what do these fuckers even do?’

He must have come across it before, but just hadn’t paid enough attention to it.

’It’s like there being a company called Smith; anyone with the surname Smith isn’t going to assume their long-lost dad owns it.’

But to have a building this large sitting so close to the Association’s Headquarters, they weren’t talking about a company worth a few million dollars.

Ethan slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke.

’Is my dad a billionaire?’

The thought immediately made him more irritated.

His mother’s living arrangements and "job" weren’t exactly ideal for a single mother.

’Maybe if he had-’

If Victor Crowe really was his father, then the man might have been able to change how Ethan’s life had gone and how his mother’s had ended. That might have meant he hadn’t grown as close to Mark and his family, but he would have had his mother.

Ethan took another drag from his cigarette.

’Can’t change the past.’

He wasn’t one to dwell on things that had already happened either, but he couldn’t help it when it came to the woman he watched destroy herself.

Ethan looked up at the massive Crowe Inc. sign again.

’So this fucker has spent most of the last decade building himself into this big boss and only now wants to talk.’

He wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or angry.

Settling on amused, he recalled that even during his first visit to the Association, his surname had seemed to raise alarm bells.

’It’s funny how the world works.’

Ethan was still filled with more emotions than he knew what to do with, but a faint grin appeared on his face.

’Let’s go meet my old man.’