Chapter 1: The Fracture of a Lie
“What are you supposed to be?” he sneered.
The boy said nothing. His eyes, devoid of any childlike warmth, remained locked on the thick, pristine plaster encasing his grandfather’s leg.
Then, he swung the heavy river stone straight into the cast.
CRACK.
Plaster exploded across the luxury marble floor of the VIP suite. The doctors jumped back in shock, scalpels and charts nearly flying from their hands. The old man—Arthur Vance, the billionaire patriarch of Vance Industries—grabbed both bedrails, his face flushing crimson, and screamed:
“What did you do?!”
The boy, twelve-year-old Leo, stood still, calm as ever. The heavy stone caught the sterile fluorescent light. “It wasn’t healing,” he said coldly.
The room fell dead silent. A jagged fracture line spread across the heavy cast.
The boy lifted the stone again.
“Stop!” Arthur shouted, panic finally replacing his usual arrogance.
Too late. Another strike. Another deafening crack. A large chunk of plaster fell away, thudding heavily against the floorboards.
The doctors stared, frozen. Inside the broken cast… the skin was pristine. The toes were clean. Healthy. Pink. Not swollen. Not injured. Not necrotic like the medical reports had claimed for the past eight months.
The female doctor covered her mouth, a soft gasp escaping her lips.
Leo pointed the sharp edge of the stone at the exposed foot. “Move them.”
No one breathed. The tension in the room was suffocating. Then, slowly, one toe twitched. Then another.
Gasps filled the room. Sweat poured down Arthur’s face, washing away his commanding facade. The boy stepped closer, his shadow looming over the bed. “So why were you pretending, Grandfather?”
The male doctor, trembling, reached into the hollow lining of the remaining broken cast. His fingers brushed against something artificial. He pulled out a hidden, heavy-duty plastic packet. Inside was a folded, sealed document bearing a dark red wax stamp.
May you like
The doctor’s voice dropped to a terrified whisper. “…What is this?”
Arthur’s face completely collapsed in fear. Because he knew exactly what was written inside—and he knew his empire was about to burn.
