Chapter 2. House Lancaster and Lancaster Holdings

In a normal middle-class home, which was anything but that if one looks at the interior, cries of a baby could be heard. The cries came from a room at the left corner of the building. The building was a wide bungalow of an area of about 40x70m. It had six rooms excluding the master bedroom, each with fully functioning bathroom and toilet, a kitchen, a wide living-room, a study room and a bar. The pillars in the building were decorated with gold and silver plating as well as several other gems which overly-compensated for the ordinary exterior.

Inside one of the rooms lay an infant with light blue hair and light-brown eyes in a crib of about one and half meters in height. He seems quite healthy with the usual and appropriate amount of baby fat on his cheeks and limbs. This infant is our main character Avol Geoffrey Lancaster.

It's been two months since Avol was born to the Lancaster Family. The Lancaster Family is the owner of a large conglomerate worth billions of dollars in assets and are also connected to the Underworld of business who engage in illegal arms dealing, blackmail and assassinations.

Hearing the cries, the current head of Lancaster Holdings is Adrian Godfrey Lancaster, a stern family man who will do everything to keep his wife and child out of the dark and shady dealings of the Lancaster Family, walks into the room and picks up Avol. Although he knows it is inevitable for his son, Avol, he can only do his best and hope that Avol would be able to understand that some things done in the dark were necessary for the light to continue unhindered as black and white are both side of the same coin.

His mother, Ariana Risley Lancaster, was the daughter and only child of a shareholder of Lancaster Holdings and was given to Adrian as an arranged marriage to 'keep the business in the family'.

Although their relationship started out rough, after some months of dates and working together, their love bloomed and they got married after two years into their official engagement.

As he picks the baby up from his crib, Avol immediately stops crying, as if he instinctually knows to differentiate family and strangers. This brought a smile to his Fathers' face as it seemed to mean that Avol recognized him instantly, thus making him a natural genius at observation. At first, when Avol was born this posed a problem as he wouldn't stop crying when the maid picked him up to change his diapers any time he soiled himself or to feed him when he was hungry as both of his parents were both busy with business dealings every day. It was really a sight to see when the maids struggled to calm him down for several hours only to get frustrated and call his mother to handle the situation.

As he begins to rock the baby gently to get him back to sleep, he can't help but want to hide his son away from the claws of the elders of the Lancaster Family who would want to 'train' and bend his son to their whims from and early age to be used as a tool against him as Adrian was too stubborn to listen to them.

The former head of House Lancaster, Allen Frobb Lancaster, was a stoic man who followed traditions of the family after inheriting both the legitimate and illegal businesses own by the family. He also trained his son Adrian on the rules of the family while also exposing him to the real business life of the people at the top of the food chain, but it seemed that Adrian was too stubborn even from a young age and formed his own ideals from young. Much to his dismay as well as that of the Elders though, even after trying hard with both his wife and several other women at the behest of the Elders, he couldn't seem to bear another male child, so he and the Elders had no choice but to leave Adrian as heir and on no occasion would they allow an outsider to inherit all their hard work. After his retirement and hand-over he seemingly became neutral, as if tired of the rants of the Elders as well as his son's stubbornness.

The thing about the Lancaster's was that they continued to be strong and active even after crossing the age 70 with some of them having children with younger women in their late 70s'. this was the reason why Lancaster Holdings was still at the top even with other 'old monsters' out there having been in business longer than them.

Lancaster Holdings' legitimate business dealt in real estate and housing, construction, mining and refineries, the latest AI(Artificial Intelligence) development biological and genetic research, etc. In short, they dealt in anything that could bring in profit in this day and age.

Lancaster Holdings dated back to the late 90s when Allen, thew then patriarch of the family used their heavy connections to the criminal underworld to take out a lot of competitors through assassinations and blackmail, after which he began to absorb their various businesses therefore growing to their current level while also creating a stable foundation for their family to live on; while the so called Elders were basically his relatives who contributed, although very minimally, to the already growing empire.

Lancaster Holdings had several branches all over the planet with their headquarters being in Massachusetts, USA, while also having major branches in Russia, England, Germany, Japan, South Korea, China, Brazil and Argentina, while having minor branches in several parts of Africa, due to their natural resources and Australia.

While attending to Avol, Adrian went to the kitchen and took the already prepared baby formula. He first checked the temperature to be sure it was alright for Avol to consume before gently placing it between the baby's lips which Avol immediately began to suckle on.

As he continued to feed the baby, Adrian began to plan on how he would raise his child away from the claws of the Elders and help his son by paving a way for him to inherit all of his family assets.

As he continued to think, he couldn't come up with any methods other than going directly against the Elders or raising his son while showing him the dirty dealings of the Lancaster Family so as to give him leverage in case they tried to blackmail and use him.

After Avol finished his formula, Adrian burped him before taking him back to his room in order to allow him sleep again.

As Avol fell asleep, Adrian seeing his peaceful sleeping face, a glint of determination flash in his eyes as he affirmed himself once again to protect his wife and child from both his competitors and family elders alike.

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. Just wanted to give a brief history and introduction on the structure and business of the MCs family