The Homeless Boy Told the Mafia Boss He Was His Dead Son and One Secret Made the Powerful Man Drop to His Knees

Heavy caliber rounds tore through the hallway, shattering glass panels and ripping concrete pillars to dust.

Vincent threw himself over the blonde girl, using his body and reinforced armor to shield her from the storm of lead. Two rounds struck his back plate, the impact feeling like a mule kick to his spine that knocked the breath completely out of his lungs.

"Suppressing fire!" Vincent’s squad commander roared.

Three of Vincent’s men stepped into the hall, launching 40mm smoke grenades directly under the automated turret. The white smoke billowed instantly, blinding the turret’s optical sensors. The firing stopped as the computer lost its lock.

Vincent scrambled to his feet, picking up the girl and handing her to Harrison. "Get them out! ALL OF THEM!"

Vincent turned toward the end of the hall, where a set of heavy double doors stood cracked open. A faint blue light pulsed from within.

He reloaded his rifle, grabbed two flashbangs from his belt, and kicked the double doors wide open.

"MARCUS!" Vincent roared.

The room beyond was a massive, subterranean laboratory spanning two stories. In the center of the room sat a massive centrifuge system surrounded by glass vats filled with glowing synthetic fluid. Dozens of computer monitors displayed real-time bio-data feeds from subjects across the country.

Standing on the upper gantry, leaning against the railing with a cup of coffee in his hand, was a man who looked shockingly like Vincent.

Marcus Vance was fifty-two, his dark hair streaked with silver, wearing a crisp white lab coat over a tactical uniform. He looked at Vincent not with fear, but with the cold, detached curiosity of a scientist looking at a rat in a maze.

"You always had a flair for the dramatic, little brother," Marcus said, his voice smooth and unhurried over the intercom system. "Breaking into a military-grade facility with a bunch of aging mobsters? It's beneath your intelligence."

Vincent aimed his rifle straight at Marcus’s chest. "Step down here, Marcus. Step down so I can tear your heart out with my hands."

Marcus sighed, taking a slow sip of his coffee. "You don't understand what we're doing here, Vincent. You see a cage full of children. I see the key to human immortality. Do you know how many world leaders are alive today because of the serum we extracted from your son's marrow?"

"HE IS A CHILD!" Vincent screamed, his finger tightening on the trigger. "HE IS MY SON!"

"He is a biological miracle!" Marcus snapped back, his eyes flashing with sudden, manic intensity. "Sophia's lineage... her family had the rare CCR5-delta 32 homozygous mutation combined with elevated telomerase production. Ethan inherited all of it! His blood doesn't just heal himself, Vincent—it reverses cellular decay in anyone who receives it!"

Marcus laughed—a high, unnatural sound that echoed through the vast steel chamber.

"You buried a fake body, Vincent! But I built a new world on his back! The men who run this planet—the ones who control your banks, your courts, your armies—they stay young because your son bleeds for them every Tuesday!"

Vincent didn't argue. He didn't debate the ethics of a madman.

He pulled the trigger.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The three rounds slammed into the glass banister in front of Marcus. Marcus didn't even flinch. The glass was three-inch bulletproof polycarbonate.

"Did you really think I didn't prepare for you, brother?" Marcus sneered. He pressed a button on a remote control in his hand.

Red emergency lights began flashing across the ceiling. A synthetic female voice boomed over the speakers:

WARNING. SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE INITIATED. THREE MINUTES TO TOTAL FACILITY PURGE. ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.

"If I can't have the research, nobody can," Marcus said calmly, stepping backward into a private elevator behind the gantry. "The explosion will destroy everything within a two-mile radius. Including you, your men, and those precious little kids you're trying to save."