"Some names aren't given. They're earned in silence, carved in legacy, and feared by history."
--
Jayden Ochieng stared at the ring Selene had left behind. It wasn't the one chosen for the wedding—it was older, heavier, engraved with something faint.
He tilted it under the moonlight.
Etched on the inner band was a name: "Ochieng III".
Maggy leaned over. "That doesn't look like hers."
"It's not," Jayden said, cold. "It's mine."
Maggy's brow furrowed. "But you've never gone by—"
Jayden cut her off. "That name was buried… until now."
---
Deep within the underground archives of Emerald Trust Bank, Tielen hacked into a forgotten family server.
A file popped open.
Subject: Project Legacy | Identity: Jayden Ochieng III | Status: Shadow Lineage
Directive: Suppress real surname until succession secured.
Jeff read over Tielen's shoulder. "He was never just 'Jayden.' The Ochieng bloodline didn't vanish. It hid him."
Linet added, "And now he's reclaiming it."
---
Meanwhile, in an isolated compound north of Aranthia, a frail man stared at the same name on a war plaque.
"Bernard Ochieng I"—Jayden's grandfather.
The man turned to a silent girl seated nearby.
"History is about to repeat. But this time, our enemy isn't politics. It's inheritance."
---
Jayden gathered his core subordinates in the Grand Library. A projection of names appeared—his aliases, his past, and now, his true lineage.
"I am Jayden Ochieng III," he announced.
"Jayden was for the mask I wore. Ochieng is for the war I'll finish."
The room fell quiet.
Wendy smiled softly. "Then let's give them a name to remember."
---
But while his team rallied, someone else watched from the rooftop of a nearby building—a scarred man with burning eyes and a whispering crow on his shoulder.
He placed an old photograph back into his coat.
On it, two boys stood beside a lake—one of them clearly Jayden… the other, missing from all known records.
The man whispered, "So... you finally chose your name. Now let me show you what it cost."
---