**Chapter Six**
There's something cruel about peace when it's borrowed.
Jayden had learned to wear calm like a mask. For days now, he wandered through the halls of Eastview High blending in, smiling at jokes, answering questions like nothing inside him had changed. But everything had.
He wasn't the boy they thought he was. And he couldn't be again.
He walked past Sasha in the library, her eyes flicking up from her notebook to watch him. She didn't say anything, but she didn't have to. That look—part regret, part curiosity, part hunger for something lost—was loud enough. Jayden kept walking. He'd buried that chapter already.
But there were other eyes on him now. Hidden ones.
Rumors had begun to swirl. Whispers that Jayden had been seen stepping out of a black SUV near Karen. A cleaner said he overheard him speaking fluent French on the phone with someone from overseas. Another girl swore she saw him with a new pair of shoes—real leather, not the fake kind from downtown.
He ignored it. But silence had its price. It fed the shadows.
By Thursday, even Kevin had grown distant. Not openly. But Jayden could feel it in the way Kevin hesitated before speaking, how his laughs were less honest, how his words came coated in uncertainty.
Brian, on the other hand, was becoming strangely quiet. Not just reserved—watchful. Like someone trying to solve a puzzle without the full picture.
Jayden didn't blame them. They were trying to make sense of the impossible. He had become an illusion wrapped in flesh. The boy from the slums who could now buy the school without blinking. But they didn't know that. No one did.
And he would keep it that way. For their safety. And his.
That evening at the Lexington Estate, Jayden met with Leona, his father's most trusted advisor. They sat in a sleek glass room, the walls soundproofed, the tension thick.
"You've made enemies," Leona said, sliding a thick file across the table. "And they're getting louder."
He opened the file.
Inside were blueprints, investment documents, and photos—secret meetings, private dealings. All of them tied to the tech hub project his father had been working on. Only… Jayden hadn't known any of this was happening behind his back.
"They want to pin this leak on you," Leona continued. "Brandon's family is moving faster than we expected. If your father dies before the succession vote is secured, you'll be out. And this entire company will fall into their hands."
Jayden shut the folder and looked out the window, where the city pulsed like a living heart. "Let them try," he said.
"Jayden—"
"No," he interrupted. "I'm not afraid of them. I'm just done pretending."
At midnight, he received a note slipped between the pages of his economics textbook. It was handwritten, signed only with the letter "L."
**Meet me at the old train station. Come alone. Midnight.**
No hesitation. He left his phone behind, changed into his oldest hoodie, and took a private route into town. By the time he reached the abandoned station, the moon was hanging low like a blade in the sky.
Leo was waiting near a crumbling pillar. He looked thinner. Paler. But his eyes were alert.
"They're watching your estate," he said without preamble. "Not just from outside. Inside too. Half your security has been replaced."
Jayden tensed. "Who?"
"Brandon's people. The Serpents. They're not just sniffing around. They've already slithered in."
Leo handed him a flash drive. "Everything's on here. Surveillance reports. Account activity. They're tracking your mother."
The words stabbed deep.
"Where is she?" Jayden asked.
"Kiserian. That's the last location pinged before her phone went dead. She hasn't been seen since."
Jayden's hands tightened around the flash. "If they've touched her…"
Leo didn't respond.
Jayden left in silence, walking back through the cracked streets with thoughts louder than the wind. By the time he reached home, he wasn't afraid anymore.
He was furious.
The next day, school felt different.
Everything was brighter on the outside, but darker in the corners. Two new students sat by the lockers—clean, quiet, and out of place. They never took notes. Never opened a book.
A teacher, Ms. Omoke, suddenly carried a large handbag everywhere. From inside, Jayden noticed a small metallic reflection—like a hidden lens.
The school's security guard now greeted him by name. He never used to.
The Serpents were here.
He sat with Brian and Kevin at lunch. Their usual table under the jacaranda tree felt exposed. Too many ears. Too many eyes.
Kevin leaned in. "Something's going on."
Jayden nodded.
"I don't like the way people look at you," Brian added. "Like they know something we don't."
Jayden looked up, his voice low. "You two are my brothers. But from here, you need to decide if you walk with me… or away from me."
Brian looked confused. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying there's a storm coming. And standing next to me might mean getting hit."
Kevin's voice was steady. "Then we stand closer."
Jayden looked at both of them. He hadn't realized how much he needed that.
Later that evening, Jayden was summoned by Richard.
His father sat in the study, pale and tired. His health was clearly declining, but his mind was sharp.
"They want me dead," Richard said, sipping tea like it was a casual conversation. "And when I go, they'll come for you."
"They already are."
"Good. That means you matter."
Jayden sat down across from him. "Why didn't you warn me about the tech project?"
Richard stared at the fire. "Because you needed to learn what silence costs."
"And what does it cost?"
"Trust. Time. And sometimes, people you love."
Jayden didn't respond. He remembered his mother's laugh, her gentle hands, her soft voice telling him to pray even when there was no food. And now she was missing.
The silence was suffocating.
That night, Jayden called a meeting at an empty warehouse in Upper Hill. Four people arrived: Leo, Aida, Tariq, and Lorna.
The **Legacy Guard** was now real.
Jayden stood in front of them, no longer the scared kid from Kibera.
"We're not rich kids playing spy games," he told them. "We're heirs of empires that never wanted us. We were born in shadows. Raised in dust. But we're not weapons for them anymore."
Tariq asked, "What's our goal?"
Jayden answered without hesitation. "Expose The Serpents. Protect our families. Control the next move."
Lorna added, "And what happens when the world finds out who we are?"
Jayden met her gaze. "Then we decide if we want to fix it… or burn it."
After the meeting, Leo stayed behind.
"There's something else," he said. "They're targeting your name. Not your father's. Yours."
Jayden frowned. "What do you mean?"
Leo handed him a printed post from an anonymous blog—one that had suddenly gone viral.
**"The Billionaire's Bastard: Who Is Jayden Omari Really?"**
Photos. Surveillance. Edited conversations. All painting him as a fraud. A thief. A danger.
"They're preparing the public before they strike," Leo said. "They want to assassinate your character before they assassinate your body."
Jayden read the article silently.
Then he crushed the paper in his hand.
"They just made their biggest mistake."
At sunrise, Jayden walked into school with nothing but a pen and notebook. But something in his posture had changed. He wasn't walking to class.
He was walking to war.
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**End of Chapter Six**