Levi landed in England under a sky the color of old steel, low clouds stretching endlessly as though the country itself was holding its breath.
The moment he stepped out of the terminal, he felt it—the shift.
The air was colder, heavier, carrying centuries of restraint and quiet authority.
Waiting just beyond customs was his grandfather.
William Hale stood tall despite the cane resting lightly in his hand, dressed in a tailored charcoal coat that looked less like clothing and more like a uniform of command.
His presence drew attention without demanding it.
Even here—across an ocean, far from America—the Hales were treated differently.
Like royalty.
The Maybach glided away from the airport in near silence, its tinted windows sealing Levi inside a moving world of wealth and control.
As the city opened before them, Levi leaned back, watching England unfold.
Oxford revealed itself gradually, not with noise or spectacle, but with restraint.
Ancient honey-colored stone buildings lined the streets, their Gothic spires and ivy-clad walls whispering stories of scholars, power, and quiet ambition.
Narrow roads curved gently between colleges that had stood for centuries, their iron gates framing courtyards where history had been shaped in silence.
Cyclists passed by with ease, students moved in hushed clusters, and the River Cherwell shimmered faintly through gaps in the trees.
Oxford was not loud wealth.
It was inherited power.
Nestled in the heart of North Oxford’s most prestigious enclave, the Hales’ secondary residence was a masterclass in understated dominance.
A sweeping circular driveway wrapped around an elegant stone fountain, its water murmuring softly against the backdrop of the mansion’s expansive façade.
The stonework bore the quiet dignity of age, each line carved with intention rather than excess.
Manicured emerald lawns stretched toward high boundary walls, shielding the estate from the outside world while preserving its connection to the elite residences nearby.
Unlike their more remote estates, this home stood among Oxford’s finest—grand villas and dignified townhouses alike—each hidden beneath a canopy of mature trees that spoke of old money and even older influence.
At the rear, the estate opened into a private sanctuary.
A vast, level lawn extended far beyond a sleek swimming pool, the greenery uninterrupted, protected by dense treelines that concealed neighboring rooftops.
It was a place designed for freedom within control—space to move, breathe, and grow, all without ever being seen.
The car stopped.
As servants moved efficiently to unload the luggage, Levi stood beside William, absorbing the quiet perfection of the street.
“Don’t worry, it’s not far from the university,” William said, leaning on his silver-topped cane.
Levi offered a small smile.
“I have to ask…
why exactly did you follow me all the way to England?”
William laughed, a deep, knowing sound.
“You don’t seriously think college is the only thing you’re here to learn, do you?” He gestured for Levi to follow him inside.
The house was vast.
His room was shown to him—vast, refined, and uncomfortably perfect.
He toured the house afterward, discovering a dungeon-like basement that was surprisingly spacious and immaculate, more training hall than cellar.
During dinner, over a perfectly cooked steak, William laid out the plan.
“A driver will take you to school for the first few weeks,” William proposed.
“Then, we’ll get your international license, and you can drive yourself.
How does that sound?”
“Sure,” Levi replied.
He set his fork down.
He hesitated, then asked, “So… what else am I learning here?”
William cut into his steak slowly.
“Our family wasn’t always wealthy.
Or feared.
Or respected.”
Levi listened.
“All we had was a small hotel in California.
It belonged to my grandfather.
He and his family poured everything into it—time, labor, hope—trying to make it succeed.
It never did.”
William paused.
“His brothers abandoned him.
Left him to struggle alone.
But when things became manageable, they returned—smiling, convincing, treacherous.
They took the money, sold the hotel, and disappeared.”
Levi’s jaw tightened.
“That still wasn’t enough,” William continued.
“They owed dangerous people.
And they put my grandfather’s name down as the one responsible.”
His voice lowered.
“I was six when those men came.
I remember my grandfather’s face—the devastation.
It broke him.
William sighed.
“My father was furious.
He went down a path he shouldn’t have.
He worked for dangerous men—feared men.
They helped him reclaim what was stolen, but they never planned to let him go.
They owned him”
Levi frowned.
“So… he stayed?”
“Yes.
He stayed.
And while working for them, he outshone them.
Deals began to pass through him alone.
Their partners wanted only my father.”
William stopped eating.
“So they tried to kill him.”
Levi stiffened.
“They rigged our car.
Locked the fuel tank.
We crashed.”
“We?” Levi echoed.
“Yes,” William replied.
“Me.
My father.
My older sister, Willow, Where in the car that night ”
His voice faltered—just slightly.
“She died that night.
I was hospitalized for months.
Broken neck.
Head injury.
My father broke his leg… and something else.”
“What?” Levi asked.
“His spirit.”
“Then, my father sat in his chair in our living room and made a few phone calls.
The bosses thought he was dead, he went back to them—and they ordered his death there and then.
But he had spent years building his own network behind their backs.
He ordered their men to eliminate the bosses—not with fear, but with the respect he had earned from their own soldiers.
That is our origin, Levi.
A rise from ashes… to empire.”
“But…” Levi struggled to process it.
“You’re saying we’re…
criminals?
What if the government finds out?”
William burst into a loud, mocking laugh.
“The government!
Levi, they are the last of our worries.
The power of the FAMILY ensures that even presidents come to us to win elections.
They know better than to trouble the Hales.”
“You say ‘FAMILY’,” Levi noted.
“Is that us?”
“No,” William whispered.
“It is the network.
The organization.
Every state, every street, and many countries have a branch of the FAMILY.
We take in the people the world has failed—the betrayed, the hurt, the abandoned.
We protect them, heal them and turn them into weapons the world needs, and in return, they protect us too.”
“And if they betray us?” Levi asked.
“Then we use the Guillotine,” William said coldly.
“We have information on everyone, and I mean everyone under the FAMILY.
If we fall, everyone falls with us.
It’s a rule of mutual destruction.
No one is brave enough to be ruined like that.”
William sat up straight, looking Levi in the eye.
“Leo is too unwell to teach you this.
So I will.
The question is…
Both the legal business and the underground network are yours to run.
It is a hard, dangerous path.
It might be a challenge, you might sometimes question yourself.
I won’t force you.
Do you accept?”
Levi looked at his plate, then back at his grandfather.
He thought about the “hell hole” of Northwood, the betrayal of his friends, and the hunger he had lived with.
“It’s funny,” Levi said, his voice steady.
“You say it might be a challenge.
But my whole life has been a challenge.
I’ve been walked on, used, and looked down upon.
I’ve questioned myself a thousand times just trying to survive.
People thought I was dreaming too big, that I’d never make it.”
William remained speechless as Levi continued.
“I won’t be the son who was too scared to take the legacy.
I promised my dad I would succeed him, and I meant it.
I’ve already lived through the worst the world has to offer.
I can handle this.”
William froze, a look of pure amusement and pride crossing his face.
In that moment, he didn’t see a grandson—he saw the aura of a powerful Hale.
Levi’s life became a split reality.
By day, he was a star student at Oxford, sharp-minded and popular.
By night, he studied the “FAMILY” documents—learning names, allies, rivals, and the mechanics of a global shadow network.
One afternoon, Levi returned home to find a new guest in the living room.
He was an older Asian man with a calm, piercing gaze.
“Levi, this is Li Wei,” William introduced.
“He teaches martial arts.
He taught me, and he taught your father.”
“Hi, I’m Levi,” he said, confused.
“I always thought the Hales would end with Leo,” Li Wei said, his voice like gravel.
“But fate has shone on you.”
“Is he here to teach me Kung-fu?” Levi asked.
“Not just Kung-fu,” William corrected.
“Tai Chi, Taekwondo, Judo, Aikido, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, and Western Boxing.
All of them.”
Levi stepped back.
“All of them?
For self-defense?”
“I like your innocence,” Li Wei said with a small smirk.
“You will learn them, and when the time is right, you will know when to use them.”
The training was brutal.
You know what they say about Asians “Hard to Kill” Li Wei was—strong, fast, patient, and seemingly never tired.
Every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 5:00 AM, they would jog from the house to the Oxford University gates and back—a grueling three-hour run.
In the evenings, they practiced meditation or combat.
William and Li Wei often conspired to make the training harder, waiting for Levi to break or quit.
But Levi’s endurance was at 100%.
He didn’t complain.
He didn’t back out.
He was like a machine fueled by his past.
“I think our training will end sooner than expected,” Li Wei remarked one evening, watching Levi strike a training dummy in the backyard.
“He keeps surprising me,” William agreed.
Li Wei chuckled.
“Don’t be surprised.
The secret is his pain.
He is using his past to build his future.
He isn’t looking for revenge; he is using the hurt as a foundation.”
“Is that a bad thing?” William asked.
“No,” Li Wei said, tapping William on the shoulder.
“Others use pain to become brutal and hurt everyone.
But your grandson is building a new version of himself on that foundation.
If he completes this…
I don’t think you, or the world, are ready for who he will become.”
William watched Levi in the twilight, a smirk playing on his lips.
“So be it,” he whispered.
The world would just have to catch-up.
The Hale’s Heir was rising, and he was becoming something legendary.