[DBJ] Chapter 4

“Go get that guy.”

Jack and Tony looked back at the same time after Felix muttered the command seemingly to himself. Both of them looked confused, not quite sure who exactly it was that their boss wanted to be brought to him.

“Which guy are you talking about out of nowhere?”

Jack asked tersely. Suddenly, there was a sparkle of madness in Felix’s blue eyes.

“Who was the florist writing to? Someone called Benjamin, right? I don’t care who he is. Go get that guy and bring him to me.”

Their faces hardened as Felix growled, giving out his order fiercely. They had no idea what on earth this man was up to.

“But boss, kidnapping someone is still a little—”

“Wait, if you want to harm that florist, why not ask us to get him instead of that person he was writing to?”

The two men spoke their arguments simultaneously, but Felix was resolute.

“Shut up and go get him.”

He repeated his order and then got out of the car without looking back. Felix’s footsteps, as he headed towards the mansion, were full of anger. The two people left inside the car both heaved out heavy sighs.

 

****

 

Four years ago, Felix was eagerly looking forward to his plans to build a huge armory and set up laboratories for weapons development on a remote island in South America.

He was a hot-blooded man at his peak years, he had yet to experience failure, and then add his background and his innate characteristics from being an extreme dominant alpha— it was a time when his arrogance was at its highest. He wasn’t much different at present, but Felix back then was a young mafioso and businessman boldly living his life however he wanted with nothing to fear.

Because of that, even if he sold weapons legally, Felix had a lot of dissatisfaction with the fact that, due to various restrictions including expensive taxes, his business couldn’t progress the way he wanted it to.

Eventually, he used his grandfather’s influence as a high-ranking member of a mafia group and started expanding his business of selling weapons. It was hilarious how vocal the government was against illegal distributions, but in reality, it was turning a blind eye while it exploited taxes and accepted bribes behind the scenes.

“Illegal distribution—we’ll let you guys off the hook, but you better pay us some money.” Felix, who was rather dissatisfied with that, started doing his business in third-world countries. He bought a small island in South America to serve as an armory, and he also built a research laboratory to develop weapons.

A mafia group was backing him, and Felix’s business had already grown to some extent, so there were no difficulties. The only problem was that the government was reluctant to let go of such a huge cash cow. On top of that, some people from the military also had personal conflicts with Felix.

They tried to shut down Felix’s base on the grounds of illegal weapons modification, sales, and distribution. However, as the saying goes, some run ahead of those who walk, and some fly above those who run. Felix, who had hidden cards as well as visible ones, was able to obtain information in advance. He bought another island, similar to his base, and started disguising it as a decoy.

Thanks to that, the special forces went on to the decoy island, and of course, they didn’t find anything illegal. This tarnished the names of those guys in the military and the government who detested Felix. However, Felix couldn’t say he came out of that unscathed. Because what happened wasn’t simply setting up a schedule to conduct a warehouse inspection like a tax inspection.

All the buildings and weapons used in creating a cover-up were either destroyed or confiscated, and the late-night raid also left a lot of casualties.

After that incident, Felix had difficulties continuing his business properly due to the interference of the military and the government. In the end, he could only raise both hands in surrender and enter some sort of compromise.

Everything about that was annoying, but there was one thing that annoyed him the most.

 

***

 

“So, did you find him or not?”

The bed shook when he raised his sweaty body. Felix asked irritably, pushing away someone’s leg that was still wrapped around his waist. The other man’s long leg, after being sprawled on top of him, fell weakly onto the bed.

The other man was quite a mess. His jet-black hair was soaked with sweat, sticking to his cheeks and forehead. His sturdy body was mottled with marks, and the place between his legs was soaked with both sweat and semen. He had lost consciousness for some time now.

Felix, who got off the bed leaving the unconscious man behind, roughly wiped his sweat with a towel and then glanced at Tony, who was standing upright in front of him. Tony looked troubled somehow.

Tony may not have the same expressionless face as that florist, but since he was still someone who doesn’t show emotions that easily, something definitely happened.

Felix carelessly threw the towel he used to wipe his sweat, then he opened a water bottle and tipped it into his mouth.

“Um, about that, I think you should come and see for yourself.”

Tony simply answered, averting his eyes.

As some of the water he poured into his mouth dripped down his chin, Felix used the back of his hand to wipe it away, and his eyes narrowed.

“It must be something fun, judging by that look on your face.”

“…”

“If it’s not, then you take care of it yourself.”

Felix replied coldly before heading straight to the bathroom. His body, without a single stitch on, looked like a polished sculpture made out of marble. However, Tony’s face as he stared at the solid muscles on the blond man’s back, was becoming increasingly troubled.

“I’m gonna take a shower, so go deal with that bastard on the bed before I come out. I’ve already lost interest.”

Felix grumbled a bit before he disappeared into the bathroom. It was only then that Tony turned to look at the unconscious man sprawled on the bed.

Short black hair, a slim but muscular body, a small face, and dark eyes— there was nothing different this time as well. Felix would always see red whenever he saw guys that looked like this, but then he would also usually fuck them.

It was even worse for omegas with this kind of appearance. Felix wouldn’t let them go immediately and have them for a few days. He would ravage them without mercy as if he was holding a personal grudge against them. It was fortunate that omegas with that kind of physique were few and far between, or else there wouldn’t be any omegas left.

He’d never see them again as soon as he was done making a mess out of them. And as if he was completely disgusted, he wouldn’t even spare them a look. His urge to look for men with this particular appearance eventually lessened to some extent, but unfortunately, Felix’s wicked tastes remained unchanged. And this would be the fourth year since he started with this particular behavior.

Just what the hell is this all about?

Tony shook his head, looking over the messy bed. He then opened the door and called for the people waiting outside. The naked man, who seemed like a corpse, was immediately carried outside, and the maids quickly got to work. And as soon as the bedroom was cleaned up as if nothing had happened, the sound of water from the bathroom came to a stop.

This wasn’t the time to worry about Felix’s trashy inclinations because he was much more worried about how to safely get through what was about to come.

Tony let out a deep sigh. He thought about how he had been with Felix for a long time, but he couldn’t think of an instance that was more difficult than what was going on. Meanwhile, Felix cheerfully opened the bathroom door and came out looking quite refreshed. Tony’s steps were heavy as he approached him.

 

***

 

At the same time, Jack was in deep thought.

It was interesting that there was a person who was deep in slumber right in front of him. At a glance, the sleeping person’s face reminded him of someone, but the problem was that he reminded him of a person who was quite troublesome.

“What do you think?”

Jack, sitting with his chin propped on one of his hands, asked a subordinate crouched next to him.

“Madonna.”

The man replied without hesitation. Jack pursed his lips, and he raised one of his eyebrows.

“Madonna?”

“What? Didn’t Madonna look like this before? Dazzling blonde hair and fair skin— ah, maybe Marilyn Monroe?”

It really was the young ones who would think of old actors in this kind of situation, but then he couldn’t refute it. The person in front of them indeed looked like a classic actress with fair, jade-like skin and bright golden hair. Exactly just like that person…

While Jack was thinking of that person again, the door burst open, and a group of men in black entered. The man leading the group, striding in looking pissed off, was the ‘person’ Jack was thinking of just now.

Jack got up quickly and took a step back. The beautiful man, who resembled either Madonna or Marilyn Monroe at first glance, approached in no time at all and stopped next to Jack, towering over him. His deep blue eyes were fixed on the person Jack was previously staring at. He was looking at the child, who was breathing quietly, in the middle of a peaceful slumber.

“What’s this?”

Felix asked in a low voice, his forehead furrowing.

“The one you asked us to get and bring to you.”

“When did I ever ask you to bring me a kid…?”

“You asked us to get Benjamin, and we managed to do it with a lot! A lot of difficulties!”

“You’re telling me, this is Benjamin?”

Felix growled, putting a stop to Jack’s exaggerations. His deep blue eyes had darkened to almost black. This look in his eyes meant he was extremely furious. Sure enough, a vein stood out on his neck, and it looked like it was about to burst.

“Yes, that is Benjamin.”

Tony, behind Felix, answered with a sigh. However, Felix didn’t look away. His piercing gaze was only focused on the slumbering child.

Blond hair close to the color of silver, fair and smooth skin, lovely apple cheeks, and half-opened rosy lips. The beautiful and adorable child breathing softly looked like an angel fallen from heaven. He was so lovely that once you saw him, you couldn’t bear to look away.

“Shit, where did you even get this ugly brat from?!”

It was too bad, however, that he didn’t look like an angel in Felix’s eyes.

“Explain. How come this kid is that florist’s Benjamin that I asked you to bring me?”

Tony sighed again at the fierce voice spoken through gritted teeth, then hesitantly opened his mouth to reply. The explanation wasn’t really complicated. After stealing a number of cards from Isaac and then tracking the address he was sending them to, it could only be concluded that this child was Benjamin.

According to their investigation, Benjamin, who was turning three this year, had no parents and was living with his grandmother in La Jolla, a city north of San Diego. And for some unknown reasons, Isaac had been constantly sending cards and letters to this child.

Anyway, Jack was only exaggerating when he said they had a lot of difficulties secretly taking a child from preschool. Benjamin cried so much that Jack pretended he knew what he was doing and gave him Benadryl suitable for children to get him to sleep. Felix frowned when he heard this part.

Of course, what they did was a crime without question. Because someone else, instead of a family member, “took” the kid from the preschool he was going to. But then again, the order to get the man called “Benjamin” was already a crime in the first place anyway.

By this time, they must have already contacted the grandmother and Isaac. Since he really cared for this child that much, there was no way they didn’t reach out to him. Sooner or later, there would be an Amber Alert broadcasted all over town. He was at a loss. For heaven’s sake, who would’ve thought that Benjamin, the man Isaac was writing to all this time, would turn out to be a three-year-old kid?

“So, Isaac was this child’s father?”

“There was no confirmation. After looking at the child’s birth certificate, Isaac’s name wasn’t on it. I can only suspect that they are somehow related by blood.”

“Suspect?”

Felix raised an eyebrow. He nodded, a gesture asking him to go on, so Tony cleared his throat and continued speaking.

“Yes. The more you look into it, the stranger it gets. It appears they are not related at all, but Isaac had been consistently providing financial support for him.”

“He was even financially supporting him?”

“Yes.”

Though on an irregular basis, he was frequently sending living expenses and child support. But the strange thing was, both Benjamin and his grandmother seemed to have no connection with Isaac. Moreover, Isaac was also sending the money under an account with a completely different name. He did it in an effort to hide his identity.

This information was something most people wouldn’t be able to get their hands on. From this alone, it was obvious that Isaac paid a lot of attention to the secrecy of his relationship with Benjamin. Felix was only able to unearth such information because he had one of the world’s top hackers on his side, and he also had his own incredibly skilled intelligence team. However, it was certain that Isaac would be upset if he knew what Felix had done.

“There must be a story behind this. Maybe the florist got someone pregnant, and the child was born outside of marriage and was being raised by the mother’s relative. So now, he’s paying child support even though they’re not on the same family register. However, I think it’s too careless to say that’s the case.”

Tony was full of conviction when he spoke. Felix, who was rubbing his chin while staring at the child, let out an irritated sigh.

“Or, he could be just a sponsor. You said the child didn’t have both parents.”

“The child’s current situation at home is too good for him to need a sponsor.”

“Right. You mentioned he lives in La Jolla.”

La Jolla was known to be a wealthy town, even in San Diego. The small neighborhood along the seaside was quite charming in spite of its conspicuous wealth. Be it the streets or the houses, the entire community practically reeks of money.

Looking at how he was living in a wealthy town where the cost of a piece of land is exorbitant, there was no way he could be a penniless orphan. So why would Isaac, someone who was barely capable of running a flower shop, send money for this kid? Instead, wasn’t Isaac the one in need of a sponsor?

He couldn’t even properly make a bouquet, and he was taciturn despite being in the service industry, to the point that a person would wonder if he was able to pay his rent for the shop.

“Also, there would be no need for complicated security measures if it was only a simple sponsorship.”

“Hmm…”

“I think the florist could either be the child’s father or a direct family member. And I also think there’s a bigger story behind their relationship.”

Felix muttered to himself. He found the situation even more perplexing after listening to Tony’s account. Who would have thought that Isaac was hiding a child? To think all those letters he wrote with so much devotion were for a three-year-old child… Even if some unknown child smacked him in the back of the head while he was walking along the street, it still wouldn’t give him the same feeling he was going through right now.

“Shit, even if that’s the case, why the hell would he use ‘Dear Benjamin’ to address a child?!”

At that moment, he lashed out, unable to hold his temper back. The people around him widened their eyes, and as if they had choreographed it, everyone put their index fingers to their mouths and started shushing him.

“Shhh!”

“Are you guys crazy? What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Felix narrowed his eyes and gave them a fierce look.  But then, next to them, the peacefully sleeping child’s eyelids fluttered, and his eyes, full of drowsiness blinked open. “Eek!” At that sight, the men in black turned pale with fright, and they all quickly took a step back. Anyone who saw them would’ve thought that a terrifying villain or a ghost has appeared.

Beep, beep, beep—! Right then, their phones started ringing all at once. Everyone gathered in the room had their phones beeping non-stop at the same time, which caused a headache. It felt like their eardrums were about to burst. Felix took out his phone with a rough movement.

Sure enough, it was an Amber Alert. Once a report was made, it was an alert system that could send emergency text messages to all mobile phones in a targeted area. When the message was tapped, the license plate of the car that took the child was included. In the meantime, the men were making a fuss, trying to find a way to reduce the noise. However, the alarm couldn’t be turned off. The phones went on ringing for a while until the alarm quieted on its own.

“Tony, is this your license plate?”

“No.”

“It’s… mine.”

It wasn’t just Tony. Jack also replied hesitantly. Felix gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, getting ready to punch him, but…

“Waaah!”

A sound, louder than the alarms from their phones earlier, spread in all directions. It was no wonder Felix’s eyebrows contracted into a deep scowl at the ear-shattering cry.

Tony turned away as if saying he knew this would happen. The other men started running away sneakily, and then Jack swiftly stepped in front of the bawling child and tried to act cutely.

“Good boy! You’re a good boy, right? Why’s the cute baby crying? Peek-a-boo! Peek-a-boo! Do you want this uncle to give you a cookie? How about milk?”

Has he finally gone mad? Felix was speechless as he stared at what looked like a huge brown bear trying to do some circus tricks. But no matter how much Jack, the huge brown bear, shook his body in order to coax a crying child that was smaller than his leg, the bawling was still relentless. With his eyes shut and his fists tightly clenched, he cried as if his throat was about to burst. Felix’s head was throbbing. He also felt like he was about to go crazy.

“This is why you should never rouse a sleeping child.”

Tony sighed and spoke in a low voice. Felix, who was covering his ears, finally couldn’t stand it anymore and approached the bawling child.

His flaming temper created the illusion that he was giving off a black aura that spread and darkened his surroundings. At that moment, Tony and Jack rushed to block him at the same time, fearing that Felix would mercilessly hit the child with his lethal fists.

“Shut it.”

Felix, standing tall in front of the child, ordered coldly. His icy voice could make anyone who hears it tremble. As if he noticed that there was something unusual in the man’s voice, the child, who was bawling so much, raised his head.

His face was drenched with tears and snot, and when he looked up to stare at Felix with his wet, large, round eyes, all the brawny men around them gasped in unison. The reason was, the child who was forced to stop crying resembled Felix, who was standing in front of him.

With his bright blond hair, distinct facial features, and Prussian blue eyes on top of those, it was almost frightening how the child looked so much like Felix. They thought, “Doesn’t he look like Felix?” while they were kidnapping the child, but now that they were facing each other, they couldn’t help but think, “He’s a dead ringer for him!”.

No one knew what was going on. Felix’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the child for quite a while.

“No matter what, he doesn’t look like Isaac even a bit, don’t you think?”

However, only those ridiculous words came out of his mouth.

He’s joking, right…? Tony looked at Felix with eyes full of dissatisfaction. It was indeed true that Isaac was someone who matched Felix’s sadistic tendencies perfectly. He was tall and slim, but his body was covered with solid muscles. He also had black hair and dark eyes.

At a glance, of course, it was easy to conclude that the child didn’t resemble him in any way. It could only be noticed when you keenly took a look at the child. Tony clicked his tongue secretly and thought that aside from being beautiful, he didn’t know what else the other man’s eyes were for.

“Tony, who do you think this ugly brat resembles?”

Felix asked without taking his eyes off the tearful child. Tony looked troubled, but he still hesitantly opened his mouth anyway.

“About that…”

“He looks like Marilyn Monroe a little bit, right? Or maybe, Madonna?”

“…”

“Hmm, could it be that the child’s mother looks like Madonna or Marilyn Monroe?”

Tony’s face looked gloomy when he saw how serious Felix was thinking while he stared at the child. The men around them also had a similar look on their faces.

A man known for being unobservant and tactless was bound to go nowhere. It was more than obvious he had no inkling that the child resembled him. But on the other hand, he thought it was also for the best. If he knew, there was no telling what kind of outburst would be released.

On the other hand, suspicions about Isaac started to sprout. He even went as far as thinking that Isaac was looking after Felix’s illegitimate child, whom he had no knowledge of. What was the true relationship between Isaac and this child? And he also couldn’t figure out how Felix and that child were related. As they say, blood will tell, so a child will resemble his parents in one way or another. That was the power of genes. And now, the boy in front of them was showing that Felix might be his sire. Moreover, the child was already giving off the distinct aura of an alpha. An extreme dominant one at that, just like Felix.

Though the chances were slim, two beta parents could give birth to an alpha, but dominant alphas could only be sired by alphas. If the father was a dominant alpha, then the probability of having a dominant alpha offspring was also higher. And if the dominant alpha’s partner was an omega, this probability gets even higher compared to having a female beta partner.

So, an extreme dominant alpha could only come out of a union between an alpha and an omega. The probability of having such a child was at its highest between an extreme dominant alpha and an extreme dominant omega. This was the reason for everyone’s confusion, with Felix being an exception.

To put it in other words, it meant that Isaac, who was a beta, couldn’t be Benjamin’s parent because the child was giving off an aura of an extreme dominant alpha. But if it was the extreme dominant alpha, Felix, then it was indeed possible. If that was the case, then who was the “mother”? Which omega conceived this child?

Tony tried to recall the omegas Felix slept with. There weren’t many since Felix hated omegas, but he couldn’t remember all of them. Could it really be that Benjamin was Felix’s child? Or was he simply a child who happened to look exactly like him?

While Tony was agonizing over those thoughts, Felix, who looked like he didn’t give a damn about Benjamin’s tantrums, unlike Tony, scowled and stepped toward the child.

“Hey, ugly. Is your name really Benjamin?”

 

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