Heir Dilemma

I love telling stories so I'll definite use a story to answer my question

You've lived an average life up until today, your 20th birthday. You just found out that your dad is the runaway son of a doting criminal warlord, and your mom is the daughter of an equally doting secret agent. Both family businesses are looking to make you the next heir. What do you do?

So stay with me.

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I always thought I had an ordinary life. I was that kid who kept to themselves, who never caused trouble, who quietly turned twenty today without expecting anything special. But this morning, everything changed.

I woke up to my parents sitting across from me at the breakfast table, eyes heavy and hands trembling. My dad handed me a black envelope no name, no stamp. Just light weight. When I opened it, I saw a photo of him as a young man, standing beside a man who looked like he had crawled out of a mafia film. My dad’s eyes the same eyes I inherited stared back at me, filled with fear and defiance.

Before I could ask, he started talking. His words tumbled over each other like a dam finally breaking.

He told me he was the runaway son of a powerful criminal warlord. He ran from that life because he couldn’t stand the violence, the betrayals, the blood on his hands. He had escaped and hidden in this quiet city, trying to build a normal family.

Then my mom took my hand, her face softer but no less serious. She told me her father had been a secret agent, a ghost in the shadows, working for governments that never acknowledged him. Her family had spent generations fighting men like my grandfather on Dad’s side.

And now, both families knew about me. They had been watching, waiting for the right moment. On my twentieth birthday, they both sent messages inviting or rather demanding that I take my place as the next heir.

At that moment, something inside me broke and rebuilt itself at the same time. I felt betrayed, terrified, and strangely powerful.

I went into my room and locked the door, shaking. My mind raced. I thought about all the nights Dad would check the windows twice, all the times Mom insisted I learn self defense "just in case." It all made sense now.

I didn’t sleep that night. I sat on my bed with my childhood stuffed bear beside me, scrolling through old family photos, trying to figure out where the lies ended and the truth began. I felt like I was looking at my life through frosted glass, everything distorted and foreign.

But then, I remembered a book I read once. It gave an instance of two siblings from a poor home,from that same home one became rich because he came from a poor home and knew he had to become rich, the other remained poor because he came from a poor home. It struck me deeply. The identity of your parents doesn't define you; your choices do.

When dawn cracked, I knew one thing: I couldn’t let them decide who I was. I wouldn’t be a pawn in an old family feud I never asked for.

I texted both families: “I will meet you on my terms. I am not your heir, and I am not your soldier. If you want me, you will come as you are. No games.”

I don’t know what’s waiting for me after this. I don’t know if I’ll even survive the next few days. But for the first time in my life, I feel like I am truly alive, scared out of my mind, but alive.

And today, on my twentieth birthday, I decided that I am not a legacy. I am my own story.

Hope you did enjoy.

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