The Mondiego Empire's exclusive celebration had set Southbay City ablaze with speculation, but no one could have predicted the media storm that followed. As the evening unfolded in the grand ballroom of the Mondiego Grand Hotel, reporters scrambled to uncover every detail about the man who had just been introduced as the face of the empire’s expansion.
Television networks interrupted regular programming with breaking news segments. Online news sites flooded social media with headlines: "The Return of Hunter Mondiego: The Man Who Defied Fate", "From Orphan to Heir: The Hidden Past of Hunter Mondiego", and "Mondiego Empire Expands—But Who Is Their New Leader?"
While the announcement of the Mondiego Empire’s plans to dominate Southbay City was enough to make headlines, it was the identity of the man at the center of it that sent shockwaves through the city. The media dug deep into Hunter’s past, eager to piece together the story of how an orphan with no known family suddenly became a member of one of the wealthiest dynasties in Central Island.
In the dimly lit newsroom of Southbay Daily, journalist Eleanor Vance stared at her screen, her fingers flying over the keyboard. She had covered corporate expansions before, but nothing like this. A few hours ago, Hunter Mondiego had been nothing more than a footnote in Southbay’s history—a forgotten orphan. Now, he was the heir to an empire.
“Get me everything on Hunter Reeves,” she instructed her team. “His orphanage records, his time at Southbay Private University—every article, every mention. We need to know who he was before he became a Mondiego.”
Within minutes, reports surfaced about Hunter’s early life. He had been found as a baby near a river, wrapped in nothing but a blanket and a letter with his name. The media unearthed old interviews with caretakers from the orphanage, who described him as a bright yet reserved child who had always seemed to carry a weight beyond his years. They recounted how he excelled academically, securing a full scholarship to study medicine at Southbay Private University.
But then… there was a gap. A missing chapter.
From a promising medical student, his name suddenly disappeared from university records. The years before his emergence as a Mondiego were blank. It was as if someone had erased that part of his life entirely.
Eleanor’s instincts flared. Someone was covering up something. She made a call. “I want a full investigation on what happened to him during those missing years. Someone must know.”
As the press scrambled for answers, inside the Mondiego Grand Hotel, Hunter continued making his rounds. The elite of Southbay approached him with calculated smiles, eager to secure alliances now that his status had changed. But he could feel the weight of their curiosity—the unspoken questions behind their polite conversations.
“Dr. Mondiego, what a remarkable journey you’ve had,” one executive said, swirling his wine. “Southbay must feel quite different now, doesn’t it?”
Hunter gave a tight smile. “It’s not Southbay that’s changed. It’s me.”
As he moved through the crowd, Celeste stepped beside him. “The media won’t stop digging,” she murmured. “They’re relentless.”
“I expected this,” Hunter said. “Let them dig. They won’t find what they’re looking for.”
And they wouldn’t. The records of his imprisonment had been completely erased. Kian had made sure of that. Officially, Hunter Mondiego had never been behind bars. The only story the world would know was the one he allowed them to see.
But just because records were sealed didn’t mean the truth couldn’t surface.
Meanwhile, at a dimly lit bar on the outskirts of the city, a man slammed his drink down, watching the news broadcast replay Hunter’s introduction. His eyes narrowed as memories flooded back—memories of a trial, of a conviction, of a name whispered in prison halls.
“Hunter Reeves,” he muttered.
His drinking companion, a former police officer turned private investigator, followed his gaze to the television screen.
“You know him?” the investigator asked.
The man chuckled darkly. “I knew him before he was a Mondiego. And I know the truth they buried.”
Back at the Southbay Daily newsroom, Eleanor’s phone buzzed. She answered swiftly.
“You’re looking for what happened to Hunter Reeves?” a gruff voice asked.
Eleanor sat up straight. “And who are you?”
“Someone who knows that the golden heir wasn’t always so golden.”
As the night stretched on, Southbay City was no longer simply fascinated with the Mondiego Empire’s expansion. The world wanted to know the real story of Hunter Mondiego.
And some people weren’t ready to let his past stay buried.