Building The Strongest Family

The interior of the tactical van rumbled beneath Billy, but he barely noticed. His mind was a storm cloud swirling with pain and confusion.

The fluorescent lights above flickered dully as he leaned against the padded wall, his bandaged head still throbbing.

He couldn't move much, each bump on the road sent jolts through his shoulder. Across from him sat Kaia, her legs drawn up to her chest, her face pale beneath the gauze taped along her temple.

The air was thick with a mix of antiseptic, leather, and engine grease, yet Billy found himself hyperaware of Kaia's breathing, shallow and controlled. But she wasn't afraid anymore.

Then a soft voice broke through the silence. "You okay?" he asked, his voice strained.

Kaia didn't answer right away; her eyes were fixed blankly on the floor before she turned slowly to meet his gaze. "You really have a crazy family, you know that?"

Billy managed a dry chuckle that quickly turned into a cough. "Yeah… You don't even know half of it."

"Arthur… I mean your brother… he really came for us," she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "I thought we were goners."

Billy winced as he shifted slightly in his seat. "He doesn't let anyone mess with what's his."

A pause hung between them like an unspoken question until Kaia furrowed her brows and asked, "So does that mean… you're still part of the family?"

Billy looked away; he didn't have an answer.

Silence enveloped them again until Kaia raised her head and asked softly, "So... what do you think will happen to the guy who kidnapped us?"

Billy sighed deeply before replying slowly, "From what I understand about my brother? That guy is goners; he won't even have a complete corpse left."

Kaia swallowed hard as beads of sweat rolled down her forehead. "Is your brother really that crazy?"

Billy didn't answer but simply smiled at her, a silent acknowledgment of their shared predicament.

---

One thing Kaia despised more than anything was hospitals, the smell, the sterile chill, the endless white walls reminding her too much of her mother's illness.

Hospitals felt like graveyards to her, a place where people went not just to heal but sometimes never returned alive.

But this time? She had no choice but to force herself inside.

Minutes later, Astrae Medical Complex loomed ahead, an enormous glass-clad skyscraper shaped like a crystal blade cutting into the clouds.

A strange feeling washed over Kaia as she gazed at it; dread twisted in her stomach at its beauty.

To her eyes, it was less a sanctuary for healing and more a mausoleum where souls entered only to leave lifeless.

"Are you okay?" Billy noticed Kaia's expression shift and asked with concern etched across his face.

Kaia blinked, shaking off the haze that clung to her mind. "I'm okay," she murmured, though doubt lingered in her voice.

She turned to Billy, hesitating before asking, "Can we not go inside?"

Billy raised an eyebrow, confusion etched across his face. "What do you mean?"

"I hate hospitals," Kaia muttered under her breath, the words barely escaping her lips.

"Huh!" Billy was taken aback. He took a deep breath and replied, "But we have to go in and get treatment; otherwise, we'll risk infections."

Kaia nodded slowly. Uncomfortable as she felt, she knew there was no turning back now, she had to bite the bullet and go inside.

As their van approached the private underground entrance, a convoy of dark, bulletproof sedans flanked them like sentinels.

Kaia's heart raced from their narrow escape; memories of the warehouse flooded her mind, the echoes of gunfire and screams mingled with the warmth of Billy's blood on her hands.

Each recollection hit her in waves, but beneath that trauma lay something else, a pulse of power that ignited a spark within her.

She had witnessed true strength, real badass power, not the hollow bravado flaunted by elites on television.

Arthur had entered that compound like a phantom king from another realm and shattered it all with just a whisper.

Kaia recalled Malik's eyes filled with fear and Jax, who looked like he could tear a tank apart, subtly bowing his head as Arthur passed by.

nd then there was Billy, the boy she once thought was merely escaping a legacy now overshadowed by his brother.

When the van came to a halt, armed guards swung open the doors as hospital staff awaited them in midnight blue scrubs adorned with platinum Astrae insignias.

Kaia seemed lost in thought; various questions swirled through Billy's mind about why she disliked hospitals so much but he chose not to ask.

The team moved with precision, transferring both Billy and Kaia onto stretchers with utmost care.

"Vitals are stable," one doctor noted quietly. "Get the nanoscanners online! Move them to Isolation Chamber 12, nobody gets in without Osborn Security clearance."

As the magnetic doors slid open smoothly, Billy stole one last glance at the city skyline outside, a world rapidly changing around him and wondered if he would ever be able to keep up.

---

Inside a Luxurious Room.

In a lavish penthouse high above Neo-Luminara, the air felt thick with tension.

The silence was almost suffocating, wrapping around Edrin like a heavy cloak.

Dim lighting cast long shadows in the sleek, modern space, its minimalist design now exuding an unsettling chill rather than comfort.

Floor-to-ceiling windows offered a breathtaking view of the city's glittering skyline, yet not even its dazzling beauty could quell the tempest raging inside him.

Edrin, head of the Halvorth Conglomerate and one of Neo-Luminara's elite, was teetering on the brink of chaos.

He ran a hand through his slicked-back salt-and-pepper hair, biting at his already raw nails, a nervous habit that betrayed his inner turmoil.

"Dammit…" he muttered under his breath.

His gaze fell on the sleek black holo-pad lying ominously on his desk like a ticking time bomb.

The name Arthur Osborn echoed in his mind like a relentless drumbeat, rhythmic and unavoidable.

Clenching his fists tightly, he whispered to himself, "Everything was fine… until that bastard came out of nowhere."

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Hello everyone, just wanted to say thanks for reading and supporting the novel! I know there were concerns about the recent chapters. I hear you, and I'm working to make the story better and deeper moving forward. Stay tuned,you guys are awesome.