The next day, while the girls were at school, Eric was over at his grandfather’s building clearing things out from the top floor. He was planning to renovate the place using items from his system inventory. Suddenly, ding, a notification popped up on his phone. He took one look at it and his heart nearly stopped. The message was from Miranda, Emma’s mom, and it read:

"Eric, can you come over to the house? I want to talk."

Eric narrowed his eyes, reading the text over and over again. The short message was completely real; he wasn’t dreaming. "Oh man... am I in trouble?" That was the very first thing that popped into his head. But regardless of what was waiting for him, he grabbed his keys off the kitchen table and headed straight out the door.

The entire way there, he couldn’t stop overthinking as he drove, racking his brain to figure out what was going on. But the moment he pulled up in front of Emma’s house, his stomach completely dropped. Parked along the curb outside her place were three other cars, a familiar setup he had seen before, and it definitely wasn’t a good sign.

Even though every instinct told him to pull a U-turn and get the hell out of there without looking back, he ultimately parked his car behind the other three at the curb. He took a deep breath in and let it out, bracing himself for whatever was waiting for him inside. Then he got out, walked up the driveway, and finally stood on the front porch.

"Alright... let’s just get through whatever this is," Eric thought to himself.

He knocked on the door and only had to wait a second before it swung open. Miranda was standing there, and sure enough, from a distance, he could see Layla, Anna, and Vicky sitting on the couch, though they were just dressed in casual, everyday long dresses.

"Oh... you’re here. Come on in," Miranda invited with a smile.

"Thanks, auntie," Eric replied politely.

Eric walked inside while Miranda shut the door and followed him. There was absolutely no running away at this point. A heavy silence filled the room, and for Eric, it felt incredibly suffocating, even though the three middle-aged women inside greeted him with smiles.

Eric naturally took a seat right in the middle, and once Miranda returned with drinks, he sat facing the four middle-aged women.

"Now that Eric is here, please, go ahead and speak," Miranda said.

But before anyone could say a word, Kevin came walking down from the second floor. He was dressed in army pants, a military green t-shirt, and was carrying a massive tactical backpack.

He was also wearing a cap and looked completely packed and ready to deploy. Spotting Eric, Kevin smiled and raised a hand, and Eric raised his hand in return. Kevin walked straight over to Miranda.

"Sorry to interrupt, Mom, aunts. I’m heading out now," Kevin said, saying his goodbyes.

"Alright, stay safe out there," Miranda said, standing up to give Kevin a tight hug.

The two hugged closely before Kevin let go of Miranda and walked over to Eric.

"I’m taking off... take care of Emma for me," Kevin said, extending his hand.

"Yeah, I’ve got you covered," Eric said, standing up to shake Kevin’s hand.

The two shared a quick hug, but as they pulled apart, Eric was caught off guard. He saw Sophie, the girl he had met at the festival, coming down from the second floor, fully decked out in military gear and ready for duty.

Her hair was tucked neatly into her cap, and she was carrying a large backpack. Sophie waved at Eric, and Eric naturally waved back. Kevin gave Sophie a nod before turning back to a bewildered Eric.

"I know you have a ton of questions, but that’ll have to wait. I gotta move," Kevin said, giving Eric a playful tap on the chest.

"Oh... alright," Eric said with a smile.

"You ladies can start talking without me, I’m just going to walk Kevin and Sophie out," Miranda said.

"Go ahead, Miranda. You stay safe out there, Kevin," Layla said.

"Will do, Aunt Layla," Kevin replied.

"Make sure to call your mother often, keep her updated, and don’t just go radio silent," Anna chimed in with some advice.

"For sure, Aunt Anna, don’t worry," Kevin replied, flashing a thumbs-up.

"Take care of your health, don’t go getting sick out there, and watch what you eat, understand?" Vicky added.

"Yes, ma’am. I’ll take my leave now, ladies," Kevin said.

With that, Miranda walked Kevin and Sophie out of the house. Eric sat back down to face the three middle-aged women. At the very least, the initial tension had dissolved, even if things weren’t completely comfortable yet.

"Eric, I want to ask you something," Layla began, adjusting the frame of her glasses as her wide eyes locked onto him from behind the lenses. "You showed up at the board meeting for Charles’s company yesterday representing E-R Holdings, didn’t you?"

Hearing Layla’s words, Eric was so completely blindsided that his heart practically shut down for a second before restarting. He sat there in silence for a moment, just staring back at Layla, who kept her eyes locked on him.

"Um... that’s true, ma’am. But who did you hear that from?" Eric asked.

"Hmm... there’s an outside board member representing foreign investment under a joint venture agreement. That’s my guy. Plus, my husband is friends with Bryan Vance," Layla replied with a smile.

"Oh... I see," Eric said, instantly realizing who she was talking about, the person who had sat through the entire meeting without uttering a single word, just taking everything in.

"Which means you’ve already processed all of Ethan’s assets, right? He holds shares in my company, Vicky’s hospital, and Anna’s law firm too," Layla noted.

Eric felt like he’d been struck by lightning. Everything he had been trying so hard to hide had finally come to light. He just sat there, stunned, his mouth opening and closing without a single word coming out. Seeing Eric look so completely shocked and bewildered, Layla, Anna, and Vicky all flashed wide smiles.

"We actually came here to thank you. You saved Charles’s company from the parasites that have been bleeding it dry and putting so much pressure on his only daughter," Layla said.

"Yes, Charles is a childhood friend of ours. He and Ethan were practically brothers," Anna added.

"That’s why we called you over, to double-check and to tell you a bit more about Ethan," Vicky explained.

Without missing a beat, the three women reached into their handbags and pulled out stacks of letters, probably around ten letters tied together in each bundle and set them down on the table. Eric stared at the three bundles of letters, which looked old but were perfectly preserved.

"Um... what are these?" Eric asked, looking at the three bundles.

"These are all letters that Ethan wrote to the three of us. Miranda has a bundle from him too," Layla answered with a smile.

"If you want to read them, go right ahead. They’re full of stories about you, from your preschool days all the way up to second grade," Anna added.

Eric picked up the stacks belonging to Layla and Vicky. He pulled out a single letter and started reading, and sure enough, Anna was right. The letter was filled with nothing but updates on his childhood milestones, like when he got into a playground scuffle, drawings he had made, songs he sang, and things like that.

It read exactly like a proud father who was utterly obsessed with his kid, documenting every tiny bit of his day-to-day growth just to share it with the world. Eric kept reading, trying to wrap his head around what his father was feeling and why he had done all of this.

But almost every single letter was just filled with stories about him growing up, up until he was about eight years old. Then Miranda walked back in, sat down next to Layla, and pulled out one final letter, handing it over to Eric.

"Before you read that, let us explain who Ethan really was so you can understand your father, and why he created E-R Holdings to support all of our companies. Your father left that letter in my care and I never opened it. He told me that once you officially carried the name Reed, I had to give it to you," Miranda said with a smile.

"We know you didn’t grow up with Ethan, and that he only watched over you at school because he worked as a teacher there," Layla noted.

"Since you’ve been recognized as E-R Holdings, it means you’ve taken over everything and are carrying the Reed name again. That’s why we wanted to meet with you," Vicky added.

"Ethan made us promise that when you came back, we would tell you everything. That was the last thing he asked of us before he passed away," Anna said.

Eric didn’t reply. He just sat there in silence, staring at the envelope Miranda had handed him. It was clearly meant for him; written right across the front was his name, Eric Reed.