After berating with Jason one last time, Travis turned his attention toward the screen and wholly ignored Jason.

This was a clear indication that doesn't want Jason to remain in the office for a single minute longer.

Seeing this, Jason turned around and immediately left the room without turning back.

Under the mocking gazes of the soldiers and workers that were around the place, Jason hastily disappeared from there.

...

Returning to his room, Jason found himself looking at the mirror.

He was a splitting image of his mother.

It might be because of this that his father hated him way too deep in his heart.

He slowly moved his finger toward his mouth and cleaned the blood on the corner of his lips.

He watched as the crimson liquid slowly stained his white hand.

Raising his hand closer to his mouth, he licked the blood out of his fingers and closed his eyes to savor the metallic taste of his blood.

After finishing, he opened his eyes, and his lips slightly moved upwards, forming an alluring, yet dangerous, smile.

"Father, oh, father~" Jason said to himself in a playful tone, "I'll enjoy seeing you fall... I'm to enjoy it a lot."

Jason looked down and caught sight of a picture in a beautiful and detailed wood frame.

In the picture, there was a young boy, around 6 years old, and a beautiful young woman no older than 23 years old.

The woman was wearing something that looked like a maid outfit. She was lovely and angelic, with a gentle and happy smile on her face.

She had bright, long blonde hair, and blue eyes. Her body was very proportionate, neither her chest, nor here hip could be called big, but neither were small.

It was indeed a beautiful and charming young woman, a flower that looked untainted and perfect, but she far from that. The amount of stress and hardship that she endured was something that almost no young woman like her would have been able to go through.

Her name was Renna Nandor.

Jason took the picture and carefully caressed it like it was his most precious treasure.

In his face, there was a surprisingly small, gentle smile and a melancholy expression in his face.

His eyelids dropped, and his eyes glistened with tears on the corners.

"Worry not, mother, I'll avenge you." He said in a sweet tone. "Travis is going to pay for what he did to you."

Jason hugged the picture for a while before placing it back on the table he took it from.

His whole room was very simplistic. There was a bed, a wardrobe, a separated bathroom, and a study table with a computer on top.

There was nothing expensive insight.

Only his clothes were somewhat more expensive since Alfred gave it to him, the only person Jason somewhat trust, but not enough to show him his real personality and thoughts.

Jason learned since young to wear masks. He uses one when talking with his father, another in public, and a new one in front of Alfred.

He always kept his real face hidden from everyone else.

Without anyone to protect him ever since his mother died, he learned by himself how to manipulate other people and hide his true thoughts and emotions behind masks.

The reason why he treasured that picture so much was that it was the last one it was taken before his mother's death by Travis's hands.

One day, when he was 6 years old, his mother tried to kill Travis in his sleep. But right before she was able to stab him to death, his wife, that was just beside him at the bed, woke up and screamed.

Travis woke up by the scream and unconsciously dodged the deadly knife Jason's mother was wielding.

Yes, Jason's mother, Renna, wasn't Travis's wife.

Renna was nothing more than a maid of the Space Station, a beautiful and innocent one that was tainted by the beast known as Travis Silverhand.

Jason's mother always loved Travis, but Travis never acknowledged her existence besides the fact that he kind of admired her beauty, but that was it.

In a drunken stupor, Travis ended up taking Renna to his bed, which ended up with a barely 17 years old woman getting pregnant.

After waking up, Travis regretted what he did because he already had a wife. He covered up the incident and convinced Renna to keep secret, or else he would have no choice but to kill her.

The fact was, Travis's wife was the daughter of a high officer in the UEG, United Earth Government. He couldn't sleep with any other woman, and he had to keep the marriage stable, to hold his position inside the Syndicate stable.

When he found out that Renna was pregnant, he even thought of killing the baby, but Renna stopped him and promised to never tell anyone about the exact origin of him.

Unfortunately, the secret about a bastard son was still found out by Travis's wife when Jason was 5 years old.

And just like this, the abuses began. His mother was often beaten up and abused by everyone in the Station.

The soldiers and servants did it because Travis's wife allowed and even motivated them to do it. She hated Renna to the bones.

Sexually abuse was something that happened daily. Syndicate's soldiers weren't known to be gentle; they were brutes, cruel, and unfeeling.

Renna only had Travis, she tried to ask for help, but even if he wanted, he couldn't. He was in the wrong when committed adultery, so he could only obey his wife and keep quiet about all the abuses against her.

Renna never fought back because she was afraid that Travis's wife started to target Jason, but that never happened.

It was daily abuses against Renna continued, and she always endured and kept quiet, but one day, something happened that completely snapped Renna, and she tried to kill Travis.

It caused an uproar in the Syndicate.

In his rage, Travis furiously shot Renna to death.

Renna died just like that. The only regret she had was leaving her son, Jason, behind in a pit filled with snakes.

By the time Jason was 9 years old, Travis's legitimate son was 7 years old.

Travis's wife started to see Jason as a thorn in her eyes, so she decided to get rid of him.

Unfortunately for her, she died in an accident when her spacecraft exploded right after it got outside of a planet's atmosphere. Her son was there as well and died alongside his mother.

Seeing bad things happen one after another, Travis started to suspect someone had betrayed him and wanted him dead.

Assassination attempts started to happen more frequently after his wife was killed.

He swiftly became someone meticulous and cautious around everyone, always suspecting that they could be a traitor or even an assassin.

Travis's sanity slowly decayed as he suspected of everyone and everything around him. This lead to his situation right now, which he could even suspect his own son without even a single clue or evidence that claimed that Jason could be a traitor.

Jason looked up at the ceiling, and a small smile creeped out on his lips.

"Father, oh, father..." Jason reached for his PIPS and looked and dialed a number at it. "You can't blame me for being ruthless now. I'm not going to this because I'm altruistic, or someone good that wishes to see the Syndicate became something better for the universe. I'm doing this because I hate you because I want to kill you."

The smile on his face widened a bit as he finished whispering, "As for getting the Syndicate's leadership, I'll do only because Jevil and Husk asked me."

"Hello, Jason?" A feminine voice came from Jason's PIPS and reached his ears.

"Stina, it is time..." Jason said with a low and calm voice, "Begin the plan to get rid of that old fuck known as Opert and all his influence over the faction. We have one week to get full control over the Black Star Syndicate."

"..." There was a small period of silence before the other spoke again, "Did something happened?"

"Some issue on Jevil's side. Don't worry, just trust him. He always managed to pull himself out of trouble."

"Alright, it will be done."

"Okay, bye." Jason was about to finish the call when he heard the other side saying for him to wait.

"Jason..." Stina's voice quivered a little. She hesitated a bit but still spoke in a voice so low that was almost a whisper, "Be careful..."

"Sti-" Jason didn't have the chance the speak again as Stina's immediately turned off her communicator once she spoke those lines.

Jason bitterly smiled as he looked at his PIPS, "Strange girl..."