Chapter 17: Charlie vs Darwin

  Early the next morning, after giving a long list of instructions to ALICE, D left for Charlie’s place.

  The previous night, he had asked his children to stay over at her house.

  The kitchen was already alive with movement.

  Coffee brewed, oil heated, and breakfast preparations were underway as D worked alongside the twins.

  Charlie shuffled in, half-awake, hair messy, eyes barely open.

  “Hi, D… can I get some coffee?” she asked, still rubbing sleep from her eyes.

  “Yeah. Just a sec,” D replied casually.

  A moment passed.

  Then—

  like a strike of lightning—it hit her.

  Charlie froze.

  “Wait… how the hell are you here?” she snapped, eyes widening.

  “And more importantly—how the hell did you get into my house?”

  “If you’re implying that I broke in,” D said calmly, not even turning around,

  “then no. I walked through the front door.”

  “Uncle D, is the garlic-onion paste ready? The oil’s at optimum temperature,” one of the twins asked.

  The narrator clears his throat.

  One very important detail I somehow forgot to mention earlier—

  the names of the twins.

  Jack and Jason.

  So similar that even those closest to them often struggled to tell them apart.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Charlie’s gaze snapped toward the child.

  “How the hell do you know this man, Jack?”

  A vein visibly pulsed on her forehead.

  “I—I’m Jason’s mom,” he corrected, hesitating.

  “And to answer your question… well—”

  “Well what?” Charlie barked. “Did you let this guy in?”

  “Ye… yeah,” he answered weakly.

  “Do you even know who he is?”

  “Why did you let him in?!” her voice rising with each word.

  “Mom, the thing is,” Jack said quickly,

  “We've known Uncle D for a long time. And not only that—you invited Val big sis and Vince big bro. They’re his kids.”

  Before Charlie could process that—

  Ashdon walked in, yawning.

  He looked up, saw D, and froze.

  “Brother… what the hell?”

  “When did you arrive?”

  The two moved toward each other and hugged.

  Charlie’s confusion shattered into disbelief.

  “Brother?” she demanded.

  “What brother? What is going on? Can someone explain this to me?!”

  Ashdon turned to her, still holding D.

  “Honey… I’ve tried to tell you so many times. You just never wanted to hear anything about him.

  D is my elder brother.”

  Silence.

  Then—

  “Wait… what?” Charlie laughed bitterly.

  “So you’re telling me the man who abandoned me—

  I mean us—is your big brother?”

  “Yeah,” Ashdon replied quietly.

  “Remember when we first met in that bar in Belgium? I tried to tell you everything.

  You made me promise we’d never talk about a man named D.”

  Charlie’s hands trembled.

  “I was living fine,” she said, voice cracking.

  “Almost a decade. I was finally happy with my life.”

  She looked at D.

  “And then you had to barge back in.”

  She screamed in frustration.

  “No one is saying anything.

  Nothing.

  D—get out of my house.”

  She pointed at the door.

  “I will,” D said.

  “But you need to listen to me for just one minute.”

  She grabbed him and started dragging him outside.

  He turned to face her—

  BAM.

  Her fist connected with his face.

  They were outside now.

  “I deserved that,” D said, wiping blood from his mouth.

  “But now you have to listen to me.”

  “I’m not in the mood to listen to anyone.”

  She dropped into a fighting stance.

  “Children,” D shouted,

  “I need a psychic barrier around us. Now.”

  He exhaled slowly.

  “This is about to get ugly.”

  The fight erupted.

  Punches and kicks flew with terrifying speed.

  No one dared interfere.

  “I took the first punch out of respect,” D said while blocking her strikes,

  “but that doesn’t mean I’ll let you beat me to death.”

  Charlie’s rage consumed her.

  Her movements became wild—unfocused.

  D noticed.

  And he exploited it.

  Within seconds, he had her locked in a submission maneuver.

  “Give up,” he said firmly.

  “You can’t beat me. Everything you know about fighting—I taught you.”

  That only made her angrier.

  Her eyes flared.

  Power exploded outward as she released her abilities—

  entering super mode.

  The backlash alone injured D severely.

  “Woah—woah—stop!” Ashdon shouted.

  “Charlie, you don’t want to do this!”

  “Are you trying to kill him?!”

  He rushed forward—

  She pushed him aside.

  He slammed into the house.

  Inside, the children felt it.

  The surge of power rattled the walls.

  Charlie struck again—using barely thirty percent of her actual strength.

  In her mind, D was still the immortal man she could never kill.

  She hadn’t used her powers in a long time.

  Her control was slipping.

  She raised her fist for a finishing blow—

  And then—

  The children intervened.

  They restrained Charlie, pulling her back.

  D collapsed, barely conscious—

  mortal. Broken. Bleeding.

  He had sent them a psychic message moments earlier.

  He couldn’t stop her.

  But he knew she might stop herself—

  if she saw who she was hurting.

  It worked.

  Just not before the damage was done.