Rise of the Commoner: Johnny Burns's The Lost Heir

Chapter 10: Secret Behind His Birth

When the Burns family had been mentioned earlier, Johnny never thought that he would be wrong and that the two women would have been right. Seriously, he never thought he was actually part of the Burns family. Well, that wasn't entirely correct. He had considered it long ago when he was young and wishing for a family, but he had gotten over it.

Now he wasn't sure how he felt about this sudden revelation. The reasons he gave Rachel and Dorothy before crossed his mind. It made no sense for them to want to contact him now unless it was because he had developed his power. He frowned at the implication. They had thrown him out because they thought he wasn't deserving to be part of the family and were now doing a one eighty.

At the sight of Johnny's frown, the scarred man quickly said, "You must be wondering why we're contacting you now of all times. The reason is simple. We were unable to track you until now."

Johnny found that hard to believe, and it showed on his face. The Burns family was one of the seven great families. Their influence was immeasurable, and the man in front of him was saying they didn't know where he was. The man could have at least come up with a more believable lie than that. Seeing that Johnny didn't believe him, the man sighed and rubbed his face with one hand.

"I understand that this may be hard for you to understand, but it's the truth. You mysteriously vanished right after you were born, and your parents turned the city inside out looking for you," the scarred man said with a pained expression.

This still wasn't enough to convince him. There had been no news that the Burns family had lost a family member or that they had been searching for him desperately. That kind of information would have spread like wildfire. Everyone's eyes would have been on the Burns family, and the news would last for decades after the fact. However, Johnny hadn't heard a single peep.

"If the Burns family had been looking for me, wouldn't everyone have known about it?" Johnny asked.

The scarred man gave him a strange look. "Do you really think the Burns family would dare show weakness? If it were revealed that you had been taken away right from the heart of the family, can you imagine how they would be perceived? It would mean they had a traitor or their defenses weren't as great as everyone thought."

When the man put it that way, Johnny could now see why it was an issue. The seven great families were rivals. If they thought the Burns family was weak, they might have worked together to make it only six great families. It wasn't really his fault for not thinking of it sooner. He wasn't exactly well versed in how politics worked since it didn't affect him. Well, now it did.

"I still don't see how you couldn't find me. I literally have the same last name. If someone really wanted to hide me away from the family, they should have changed my name," Johnny pointed out.

The man grimaced. "That's the thing. Even though your ID states Johnny Burns, that's not what it says in the database. You're listed as Johnny Burn."

"Does one letter really make that much of a difference?" Johnny asked as his eyes widened in disbelief.

"It does. Have you ever had any issues with getting any official documents in your name?" the scarred man asked.

"Kind of? I mean, everyone kept getting confused about my last name and how it should be spelled when I was younger, but I thought that got fixed," Johnny admitted.

That had been a confusing time. All the adults around him had kept getting his last name wrong since they were worried they would offend the Burns family. Eventually, Burns just stuck. Of course, people would always be shocked when they heard his last name, but they were quickly disappointed when he told them that he wasn't related to the Burns family.

"Well, it looks like your name never got amended in the system, which is why we never put together that you were the missing child," the scarred man said.

Staring at the man, Johnny still found it hard to swallow that he could have been reunited with his family if it weren't for the darn paperwork. Seriously, if the people had just done their job, he wouldn't have lived his life as an orphan and been treated as garbage. Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind, and he frowned as he mulled over it.

"You said that the information was never fixed in the system, but I always got my important documents in my name. How is that possible?" he asked.

"There is a way," the scarred man said solemnly. "If someone used a power, it's possible to do something like this."

"Seriously?" Johnny blurted out.

[Of course.]

[Not all powers are physical. Sometimes they are mental or emotional.]

Startled by the sudden messages from the system, he jerked back in his seat. The scarred man raised an eyebrow, but Johnny pretended that he hadn't done anything strange. If he told them about actively interacting with the system, it wasn't going to end well. It was best to keep quiet about it so no one would find out, and it could act as his trump card as long as he stayed in the system's good graces.

"Is that really possible?" Johnny asked, ignoring how the system insisted that it was.

The scarred man nodded. "It is, but don't worry. We will ensure no one will threaten you again."

That was doubtful since they had already failed the first time, but Johnny silently nodded his head instead. "Then how did you find out about me?"

"There was news that a Wright and a Martin had encountered a man with fire powers. We were sent to investigate and determined that you are really the missing Burns," the scarred man said.

Honestly, Johnny was both impressed and scared that they found out so quickly. Sure, it took him like an hour to get there, but it was still pretty fast. He was lucky that it seemed that they didn't want to hurt him or anything. Now there was only one question he had left that he wanted to know before they ended the conversation, and he got registered.

"You never did say who my parents were. Are they low ranking or somewhere in the middle?" he asked as he motioned with his hands.

Looking him straight in the eye, the scarred man said, "Your parents are Madison Burns and Gabriel Burns, the heads of the Burns family, which makes you the heir to the Burns family."