"How come? How is this possible? How did you guys do it? Both of you are the owners of SOHO, how does that work? How is it even possible? You guys are not pulling my leg, right? How could it be? SOHO has been in existence for years, even before I was born, so how did you both do it? If what you are saying is true, then it means that you guys have been the CEOs of SOHO for years, so why did we have to live like we were poor? What happened? What exactly is going on?"Ivan questioned in confusion. A look of sheer disarray washed over his face. It was as if someone had pulled the rug away from under him, leaving him suspended in a condition of bewilderment.The truth of the matter was so far-fetched, so unfathomable, that it seemed like a riddle with unaccounted-for parts, and he struggled to connect the dots and come to an obvious conclusion.Questions tumbled through his brain, each one more baffling than the last. How is this possible?His confusion was palpable as he searched for answ
Ivan listened to his Dad's explanation silently, but he was already going through many turmoils inwardly. He had started to believe that his parents were really the owners of SOHO, but he never expected that they had gone through so much.The whole matter was like a fairytale to him; it seemed unreal, but all the evidence was placed right in front of him, and the fact remained that his parents would never lie to him.They could keep the truth a secret like they did, but the one thing that he was sure of was that they would never lie to him.Ivan realized that it had also been very hard on his parents to make a name for themselves and do well in life. Thankfully, they had each other.If only Lucy could also...Ivan quickly pushed aside that thought, berating himself for thinking about Lucy in such an important matter. He cast his thoughts aside and continued listening to Liam. He wanted to know what went wrong after all the precautions his parents took."Anything we do, we do it secret
"Thankfully, before I left, I made sure to increase the security around your mother. I just did it in case, but I never expected that those people would really attack her when we were so vulnerable. But at least, she was able to escape, although not without some wounds.""The security around her was very tight, and even though the assassins were martial artists, they were still outnumbered. The bodyguards were very skilled, but they could not take on any of the assassins head-on, so they just used their numbers to defeat them. Elena was only able to escape then purely due to luck.""When I got back from the business trip, we also started hiring martial artists for the first time. I was not really scared of those people, but I was anxious about Elena's safety, so I had to be cautious and less reckless because I knew that it would affect both mother and son. She also had some wounds, but they were superficial ones and did not affect the baby.""After this attack, we got tired of it all.
"The news did not reach people in order to avoid affecting his image, reputation, and the Company's image. He didn't want anyone to know what happened within the Company, and only a few managers and shareholders were aware of it," Liam continued as Ivan listened attentively.Liam's words seemed like a dream to Ivan. He couldn't believe that his carefree parents had gone through so much, with his father even getting shot in the process."So, what happened next? Did Mother give birth to me?" Ivan asked slowly, and Liam shook his head slightly."Not yet. Many things happened before Elena gave birth to you. Alex continued to send men to assassinate us, and we were constantly on the run. No one knew about all this, and we went into hiding. We did everything we could to escape from Alex, but he kept tracking us down. We lived in fear every day, with no peace of mind.""I knew we had to do something because of your mother's health. She needed rest and peace, not the chaos that was happening
"Our lives went on normally, and Robert, oh sorry! I forgot to tell you about him. Robert is your mother's younger brother, so he is also your uncle." Ivan was slightly surprised that his mother had a younger brother because he had always thought that his parents did not have any family members. Hearing that he had been mistaken and believed in another incorrect assumption was enough to make him feel numb.He also did not know that his dad had a foster brother at all. He had been kept in the dark for years, and he felt unsettled by this fact. However, he still continued to listen attentively to Liam's detailed explanation because he did not want to miss any important information."Because Alex froze our accounts, we could not use them or withdraw the money we had. Moreover, we did not even dare to because if we did, Alex would surely track us and find our location. It was something he could do without stress. We also lost contact with many of our friends and family, but Robert was dif
"We did not want to risk your safety, and we also could not sit and watch what Alex was going to do, so we made the most difficult choice." Liam confessed, and Ivan turned rigid. He knew that it was when his parents made the decision to leave him."We did not want Alex to know about your existence or get his hands on you to use you as a pawn for his malicious plans and also to get rid of us. We did not want to go back to the time when we were helpless and could not do anything about it.""If it was just me and your mother, we would have found something to do, but you were also involved, and you were just twelve years old then, too young to be involved in all this complicated matter. We did not even want you to know about it at all. Moreover, even if we wanted you to know, you wouldn't be able to understand anything. You were very young then.""Moreover, because of the attack that happened when your mother was pregnant with you, you had a weak physique, and we knew that if we involved
"It went on like this and another five years passed, but this year, we finally made a breakthrough. We changed our plans, and this time, we were able to get Alex and his friends. We got rid of him and took SOHO back. All this happened at the beginning of this year, so it took us months to get SOHO back and make it stronger.""When everything was settled, we contacted you. We could not endure it anymore, after all the years of hardship, we were too eager to wait, so the moment everything was settled, we wanted to see you instantly.""It's been so long, but you've not changed." Liam finished his explanation and swallowed while looking at Ivan, waiting for his reaction.Elena looked at Ivan worriedly. She was concerned when she saw the calm look on her son's face. She wanted him to say something, but he was just quiet, and that was exactly what she was scared of the most. She did not want to see the look of judgment or blame on his face towards them, and at the same time, she also did no
Ivan was so young and naive at that time. If his parents had really told him the truth, he would not have been able to keep his mouth shut and keep the secret to himself.As a kid, he would have wanted to brag about it to his friends. No one might believe him, but people would start talking because there was no way a child would lie about something like that unless he was explicitly told. And with that, everything would be ruined within the blink of an eye, and his parents wouldn't be able to hide anymore.His parents had no other choice but to keep the matter from him. Moreover, his life was in danger, and they had to be cautious about their moves.He was their only child then, and the only child they could have. Imagine the kind of distress they would have to go through with this thought in mind. He was even very weak from childhood; a small force was enough to injure him. So he would not be able to handle the stress that comes with running around with his parents to avoid any bad t