chapter537

His grandfather was practically beside himself. "Chris said he almost lost his life! It's serious, and not one of you thought to tell me?"

Lydia stepped in, her voice gentle. "Grandpa Samuel, everyone just didn't want to worry you. Things did get a little dangerous, but the good news is, he's about seventy percent healed now."

As soon as Lydia spoke, the old man's face changed. He broke into a warm smile. "Lydia, with you looking after Connor, I can finally relax. After everything you've done for the Jefferson family, he should spend a lifetime making it up to you. And if he ever treats you badly, I swear, I'll climb out of my coffin just to give him a good scolding."

Lydia laughed helplessly. Grandpa, you're strong as ever. You'll live to a hundred, easy."

Chris watched as Lydia coaxed a smile out of his grandfather and tried to quietly scoot over to Mikey, hoping to get some answers about what was going on tonight.

He barely made a move before his grandfather barked, "You! Get over here and kneel!"

Chris shuffled over, looking pitiful, and dropped to his knees in front of grandfather. His grandfather glared. So what, am I dead and you're kneeling for me now?" Chris spun around, turning his back to his grandfather and facing the door instead. Mr. Jefferson just stared at him, clearly tempted to boot him out of the room.

"Do you even know what you did wrong?" his grandfather demanded, voice low and serious.

The whole scene felt like some serious trial.

Chris racked his brain. No matter how hard he tried, he honestly had no idea what he'd done wrong. He gave a little shake of his head.

His grandfather didn't hesitate. He kicked Chris right in the backside, and Chris ended up face down on the floor.

"You little troublemaker! Where were you today? What have you been up to?"

Chris's heart skipped a beat. His family had no idea he was a hacker. Did Grandpa somehow find out about the mission today?

"I... I..." Chris stammered, totally at a loss for how to explain himself.

His grandfather cut him off. "You what? Come on, you weren't off doing anything shady. Why can't you just say where you've been? Or does your organization forbld you you talking?"

That was when Chris finally put the pieces together.

"Grandpa... you... you all know what I was doing today?" He was really asking if they knew his real identity.

Mikey spoke up. "Chris, you're serving the country. That's something to be proud of. We were surprised, but honestly, we're really proud too."

Chris coughed awkwardly. "Mikey, I didn't mean to keep it from you. I kind of ended up in this by accident. I just wanted to achieve something first before telling you all."

His grandfather snorted. "Tell us? Does your organization even allow that?"

Chris turned so he was kneeling

sideways and tried to explain. "Grandpa, it's not as serious as you think. The organization has strict rules about not sharing work details, but we're allowed to talk about our general job and where we are. C ntent

His grandfather raised his eyebrows. "So you're not allowed to talk about the actual work?"

Chris nodded, expression serious. "Right."

Most of the missions were top secret. There was absolutely no way he could talk about them.

"Alright. Mikey, tell him what Connor was dealing with today."

Chris was thrown off all over again. What did his job have to do with Connor?

Mikey had gotten some inside news earlier. Apparently, Connor had been called in by a high-level investigation team. The situation sounded pretty dire. Mikey had been worried sick, but in the end, nothing too terrible happened.

"Connor was summoned to the State Council today. Someone reported seeing him

in the Triangle, supposedly leaking national military secrets."