Free Web NovelChapter 313: If you die... she’ll get remarried.
Another hour later...
"What did you say?" Nolan breathed out as he felt his knees buckle.
He slowly sank onto the steel bench, sitting as though he might collapse at any moment.
In the hallway with him were Rum, Gin, Khan, Nelek, Warriyo, and Rus.
After arriving and meeting up with Khan’s team, Nolan had finally learned what was happening. Since he hadn’t known before, Gin had explained Lucian’s condition to him.
"Impossible," Nolan whispered. "How... how could this happen?"
His breath hitched in utter disbelief. He lightly clutched his chest, his face crumpling as thoughts of Lucian, Primo, and Ashley flooded his mind.
Nolan knew Lucian’s situation was serious. But he never imagined it was this hopeless.
"How could a healthy man in his prime suddenly..." He trailed off, looking up at the men gathered around him.
Every one of them lowered their heads. Gin and Rum couldn’t even meet his gaze.
For a second, Nolan’s mind went blank.
He was reminded of how Betty had snapped at them earlier that day. She hadn’t told him anything, and he couldn’t blame her — if Ashley chose to stay quiet, Betty wasn’t the type to overstep.
But now he understood.
He understood why everyone had been acting so strangely. And finally, he understood the bold move the High Chamber had pulled right inside Lucian’s own residence.
"Master..." Nolan whispered, his eyes settling on the ward door.
Deep down, he hoped this was all just a terrible dream. That at any moment he’d wake up and find none of it had happened.
But he never woke up.
Khan glanced at Nolan and gave the man time to process. His own thoughts, though, kept circling back to what Rum and Gin had told him. Not only had Interpol gotten involved — parts of Dominion were already behaving as if the Black Dragon were dead.
His gaze drifted back to the ward door.
"It would take a miracle for him to wake up right now." ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
... or maybe not.
*****
At the same time, Primo sat beside his father’s bed.
He stared at Lucian in silence, the steady mechanical beeping of the monitors filling the room.
There was no visible sadness in the boy’s eyes.
Not because Primo didn’t care.
He already knew. freёwebnovel.com
He had known about Lucian’s condition for a long time. He hadn’t meant to find out.
But he had.
*****
[Flashback]
Primo lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.
Sleep wouldn’t come. No matter how still he kept, something felt off — a restlessness he couldn’t name, as though something terrible was hovering just out of sight.
Then, after a long stretch of silence, he heard the door creak open.
Instinctively, Primo shut his eyes and went still. He listened to the quiet scrape of a chair being lifted and set beside his bed.
Then silence.
He didn’t move. Didn’t open his eyes. But he could feel someone watching him.
The faint scent of tobacco and expensive cologne told him everything.
Lucian.
Lucian sat beside his bed, saying nothing.
Primo wasn’t sure how long the silence lasted before Lucian finally spoke.
"Primo." His voice was as cold as always. Though somewhere beneath it was something softer. "Will you be fine without me?"
Another silence followed his question.
"Doctor Wesley told me today that I have less than five years to live." His voice was quiet. Almost emotionless.
"Five years... that’s not so bad." Lucian shifted his gaze lazily toward his sleeping son. "It’s plenty of time to get you settled."
By then, he was certain Dominion’s transition into legitimacy would be complete. He never intended for Primo to inherit the burdens he carried, and even if it wouldn’t solve everything, it was a major step forward.
"You’ll leave Dominion by then," he added, resting his forearms on his thighs.
He tilted his head back, exhaled softly, and smiled. Slowly, he reached toward Primo and stopped halfway. His fingers curled before he reluctantly withdrew his hand.
"You’ll be fine," he said quietly. "I’ll make sure of it."
That was all Primo heard. Lucian stayed in the room a while longer, but said nothing else.
Classic Lucian.
Only after the door opened and closed again did Primo open his eyes. He sat up and stared at the closed door.
His lips pressed together.
Five years?
*****
[Present]
That conversation never left Primo.
He thought about it the next day. And the day after that.
So whenever Doctor Wesley visited, Primo would quietly drift toward wherever Lucian was and listen in. Learning that his father didn’t have much time left made him uncertain about what he was supposed to feel.
It wasn’t that he felt detached.
He was simply confused.
After all, Primo and Lucian had always had a complicated relationship. And Lucian never looked sick; he acted exactly the same as always. Because of that, Primo often forgot.
If Lucian had collapsed months ago, Primo probably would have accepted it. Accepted that it was simply his father’s time.
But recently, Ashley had filled the distance that had always existed between them.
And for a little while, they had experienced what a family was supposed to feel like.
Primo got to smile. Got to go to school with his dad. They spent time together without the weight of everything else pressing in. They got to enjoy simple things.
He saw Lucian act more like a person than a boss. Saw something warm move through his eyes instead of the usual distance. And for the first time, Primo saw his father openly show him affection.
Primo’s mouth opened as though he wanted to say something, but he closed it again.
He stared at Lucian, swallowed, and drew a slow breath.
He opened his mouth once more.
This time, a small voice came out — quiet and unmistakably his.
"If you die... she’ll get remarried."
For the first time in years, Primo spoke aloud. His brows twitched as he caught it — Lucian’s pinky finger, moving.
At the same time, the heart monitor began to climb.
If the doctors couldn’t wake him, maybe jealousy could.
Primo doubled down, even if it meant giving his father a heart attack.
"And she’ll have a baby with her new husband."
