Chapter 198: Chapter 198: Strengthening Family Ties (Part 5)

As beneficial as the new reward was going to be for Don, he recognized that, given the power it was going to grant him, it would be almost impossible to keep a low profile like he had initially planned when he first came to the city.In his defense, though, he had never expected to get something like the Predator suit or a reward that would grant him abilities putting him on par with some of the city's most well-known superheroes.

Initially, the plan was to grow slowly and make the most of his combat-oriented abilities, but now he had another route open to him—a route that involved becoming something akin to a young celebrity. As he paced around his room, he debated the advantages and disadvantages this would bring.

The advantages of being a talented young superhero were many, the best being the access he would gain to the upper echelons of the city, which would otherwise be impossible for him under normal circumstances.

To fully take over the city, he also needed to handle the elite in one way or another, whether through building alliances or discreetly taking care of them as Predator. He was already making moves to gain a position in the city's underbelly, so this seemed like the most ideal move to make.

But it wasn't without its disadvantages, such as fame, responsibilities, and expectations. If he wanted to maintain his position, he would have to meet those expectations. The bigger he became, the greater the fall would be if he failed or was found out. It was an incredibly high-risk, high-reward situation.

No matter how much Don thought about it, it was the way to go.

He soon stopped pacing around his room and stood near the edge of the bed, placing a hand under his chin as he stared at the door in contemplation. 'The tricky part is, how do I tell this to Samantha? If she finds out I have powers like this from the agency or the University, it's like me saying I didn't trust her enough to tell her. But I guess can actually use this...'

Don showed a smile as he arrived at a solution he was fairly confident would work.

Without delay, he walked over toward the door and exited his room. Once out, he looked down both ends of the hallway, keeping his superhuman senses alert.

He could hear shuffling from Summer's room and murmuring, like she was on a phone call. From Amanda's room, he could only hear silent breathing and assumed she was in a state of light sleep.

Finally, from Samantha's room, he heard the shuffling of pages, which he could only imagine were book pages.

'I guess she's doing a little bit of reading before going to sleep,' Don thought as he quietly walked toward her door. Arriving in front of it, he knocked lightly twice—*knock knock.*

Using his super hearing, he could hear Samantha's surprise at the unexpected knock. She hummed in confusion before the sound of shuffling could be heard as she made her way toward the door.

With a light click, the door was opened ajar, and Samantha peeked out to see who had been knocking.

"Oh, Donnie," she muttered softly, but still looked a bit puzzled as to why he was there.

Looking at Samantha through the small opening, Don could see that she had clearly prepared for bed.

She was wearing a loose dark green nightgown that stopped just above her knees and revealed quite a lot of cleavage inside the fabric, which Don fully took in through the small space.

He didn't dare let his gaze linger and quickly decided to speak up.

"Hey, Mom. Sorry if I'm interrupting, but I really wanted to speak to you about something before tomorrow," Don said, his tone light, though his expression showed he had a lot on his mind.

Samantha's motherly concern was immediately piqued, and she didn't hesitate to open the door wider as she stepped out slightly and asked, "Is everything okay?"

Just the simple action of her walking was enough to make her bountiful breasts jiggle almost uncontrollably. Don resisted the urge to look down as he responded, "Yeah, sort of. Can we maybe talk inside?"

"Sure thing, honey. Come in," Samantha gestured for him to enter, looking incredibly worried. A part of her, though, felt some relief that he had come to her to share whatever troubles he had.

Once Don entered, she quickly closed the door behind them.

Being the master bedroom, the room was modestly large. It had a huge queen-sized bed at the center with luxurious-looking blankets and pillows.

The bed frame had a dark and velvety texture that matched the two wooden dressers on either side of the bed.

Opposite the bed was a wall-mounted TV with a set of wall shelves around it, holding various accolades.

The floor had a soft carpet with dark red patterns, and the walls were lined with various portrait and landscape paintings, with candle-like bulbs mounted in between, giving the room a warm, orange ambient lighting.

Don took the initiative to walk over to the bed, sitting on it, and Samantha followed suit, sitting right beside him. She then extended her hand to hold his in a comforting manner as she asked, "What's wrong? Is something bothering you?"

Don kept his gaze on the floor and looked like he was struggling to speak, as if what he wanted to say was very hard for him to.

Samantha didn't rush him and just gently rubbed his hands in a comforting way as she waited for him to speak. He first heaved a sigh then turned to look at her as he said, "I lied."

Samantha met his gaze while looking a bit confused at his words. "Lied? About what?" she asked softly, feeling more worry and holding his hands a bit more tightly.

"About going to the mall with Donald. We actually went to the church," Don revealed in a low tone, trying to sound regretful.

Samantha's eyes widened sightly. "Why would lie about that Donnie? Were you there when…" she trailed off, hoping Don would say no but he nodded slowly instead. S~eaʀᴄh the NôᴠelFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Her expression changed and she looked at Don with visible worry in her eyes. But before she could say anything, Don explained further. "I thought something was off with sister Rose when we went to church earlier today and I wanted to investigate. I was worried it might be dangerous so I had to convince Summer to make sure you don't leave in the evening."

As Don said this, Samantha finally connected the dots. Her heart tightened at the thought of Don being in that place when the massacre occurred. "Why would you lie about something so serious Donnie? If you just told me I would have stayed…" she muttered weakly, her voice becoming a little cracked.

Samantha was a very emotional person so this was difficult for her to process. A big part of her felt guilt because it sounded like Don only took the risk for her sake.

This wasn't Don's intended reaction but as long as she wasn't angry, it was fine, so he continued explaining.

"I wanted to but I genuinely thought that it was nothing major and just me being paranoid with everything happening around the city. I never expected it to be so… horrific." Don feigned steeling his expression as he shook his head slightly while talking.

Samantha moved closer to him, her breast now pressing hard against his arm as she asked gently, "what happened Donnie? Please tell me."

"Well, Me and Donald…" Don proceeded to tell another version of what had actually happened at the church. This version though was actually closer to the truth, saying how the plan was just for Donald to peek around and everything went wrong.

From that point, the story was the same as what they told the police, with him fighting his way in and finding Donald in panic as the people in the church walked into fire.

"As for what Donald saw…" Don also detailed the story Donald had told the police, even mentioning how they had called Benjamin and already gave a statement at the police station.

By the time Don was done recounting the events, Samantha looked shaken. Her hands were now trembling slightly and Don took the initiative to hold them gently as he said, "I'm sorry I didn't say something from the start, I was just so confident in the powers I awakened that I thought I could manage it."

"Awakened? You awakened more powers?" Samantha asked in a shaky voice, the details of what had occurred in the church still weighing heavily on her mind.

This was the point he wanted to get her at. Telling her what occurred at the church was simply necessary as there was no telling if the police would come again to ask questions or if Benjamin himself would inform her.

Don gives a weak smile as he turns to look her directly in the eyes and nod. "Yea, I awakened them when was training the other day. I was planning on surprising you with the news after getting another evaluation. I figured you'd be happy knowing I'm able to protect you and the family if my investigation brought results but instead it was just… something else. Sorry."

Don's tone seemed genuinely regretful and this was mostly due to the fact that he didn't like lying to Samantha. But for now, it was necessary.

"Oh Donnie," Samantha expression softened and she embraced Don in a tight hug, her breasts firmly pressing against his chest and her hand running through his hair gently.

"You have nothing to be sorry for Donnie. I'm just glad you're safe," Samantha whispered softly.