Chapter 124 Identity File

Chapter 124 Identity File

Ethan left Arthur's base and flew straight back to company headquarters by helicopter.

He pushed open his office door to find Noah already standing at the desk, waiting.

"Boss." Noah gave a slight bow, a manila envelope in his hand.

Ethan glanced at the envelope but didn't sit down. "How's the intelligence gathering on the Valentine family going?"

"Still in progress." Noah answered without hesitation, but instead of stepping back, he held the envelope out to Ethan. "Before we get to that, though, boss — you need to see this first."

Ethan took the envelope and checked the seal. No markings on it at all, not even a return address.

"Who sent it?"

"About forty minutes ago, a man in a gray hoodie handed it to the front desk and said it was specifically for you."

Noah paused for half a second. "The security staff tried to stop him and get his ID, but he turned and disappeared around the corner. I pulled footage from every camera within three blocks — every single one had a signal blackout during that window. Nothing was captured."

Ethan's fingers stopped on the envelope's seal.

Taking out an entire block's worth of surveillance cameras at the same time — he knew exactly who had that kind of capability.

"Leo." Ethan said the name directly.

Noah nodded. "That's my read too. The person's build and gait were deliberately disguised, but the overall movement patterns match very closely with Leo's early behavioral habits."

"But you didn't see him in person."

"No. By the time I got to the front desk, he was already gone. I tried reaching Leo through every known contact channel afterward — no response from any of them."

Ethan stared at the envelope for two seconds, then tore it open.

A document slid out. The paper was slightly yellowed, the edges badly worn — clearly it had been stored for a very long time.

Ethan unfolded it. On the first page, his own photo stared back at him.

It was an old photo, taken at least ten years ago.

He looked young in it — barely sixteen, if that.

Below the photo were rows of densely packed personal information.

Name: Ethan.

Date of birth, social security number, school enrollment records, guardian change records — everything documented with an unsettling level of detail.

This was a complete identity file.

But it hadn't come from a school or a social services agency.

The numbering format and stamp style at the top of the document were specific to the federal government's internal systems.

Ethan quickly turned to the second page.

It covered his upbringing and family background — from the time David adopted him, through his years at MIT, all the way to his imprisonment. Every milestone was on record.

But when he reached the third page, he stopped.

The top half had been torn away.

The tear was clean and straight — clearly done on purpose.

The missing section came right after the last line on page two: "prior to adoption by David."

In other words, everything about his life before David took him in had been destroyed.

Ethan flipped through the remaining pages. No supplementary materials, nothing.

His birthplace, his biological parents, where he'd lived before he was adopted — all of it gone with that torn-out sheet.

"Boss?" Noah noticed the shift in Ethan's expression.

Ethan didn't respond. He flipped the document over to the last page.

On the back, someone had written a paragraph in black ink.

The handwriting was messy but firm — clearly written in a hurry.

Ethan recognized it. Leo's.

"Ethan, I can't show my face right now, and I can't explain why yet. But you need to know — your background is far more complicated than you think. Everything about before you were adopted: the answers are with Mike. He handled a batch of classified files back then, and yours was among them. Also — Burton has deep ties to the Valentine family. He's their man in the military. Don't make a move on the Valentine family until you understand the full picture. — Leo"

Ethan set the document on the desk and leaned back in his chair.

Leo was alive. That was good news.

But Leo was still hiding in the shadows, refusing to show himself — which meant whatever he was dealing with wasn't easy either.

"Noah."

"Yes."

"Put the Valentine family operation on hold for now." Noah's brow shifted almost imperceptibly. He didn't ask why — just acknowledged the order.

Ethan picked up the document and read Leo's note again.

Mike.

The man who had signed the order to throw him in prison — and now it turned out he was also connected to what happened before Ethan was ever adopted.

And Mike was the Valentine family's plant inside the military.

The threads were connecting.

If he moved against the Valentine family now, the files Mike held about his past would almost certainly be destroyed along with everything else.

The fact that Leo had specifically warned him not to rush meant there was something important buried in those files.

Ethan turned the document over and back again, about to slide it into the envelope — when his fingers brushed against something else at the bottom of the bag.

He tipped it upside down.

A card with gold-foil edging slipped out and landed on the desk.

Ethan picked it up and looked at it.

It was a banquet invitation.