The Orange Family

Although Gina Orange was of mixed Sokovian and American heritage, she had grown up in Sokovia.

In fact, the Orange Family had once been a venerable, long-established power in Sokovia.

The family itself held a hereditary barony, and if you traced their lineage further back, they even had royal blood.

However, the days of tsars and monarchies had long since fallen out of favor in modern Sokovia. Its official name on the international stage was the Republic of Sokovia.

Besides, Sokovia had been mired in a state of warlord conflict for years.

The meddling and support of various outside powers meant that this small Eastern European country rarely enjoyed a peaceful day.

The leader who held power in name was little more than the head of an even larger warlord faction.

The family's centuries of accumulated wealth and influence had earned it a higher standing and greater resources in the country.

But compared to those foreign hawks and wolves, it still couldn't hold its own.

In the generation of Gina's father—Luca's maternal grandfather—after enduring exclusion and oppression from various factions within Sokovia, the family finally took stock and decided to seek opportunities in America.

Along with transferring a large sum of money overseas, they also established what was now Orange Industries in America.

Gina had even spent her college years in America.

Gina and Herman had met and fallen in love while studying at MIT.

Still, the arrival of outsiders hadn't been as easy as they'd imagined.

After its initial phase of making headway by throwing money around, Orange Industries' business growth had all but ground to a halt, and had even begun to decline.

But by then, it was too late to return to Sokovia and manage the family's ancestral holdings. There was no place for them anymore.

Then Gina's maternal grandparents both died in an accident.

Gina, who had only recently married Herman, resolutely took over the company and decided to go all in, abandoning everything the family had built in Sokovia over hundreds of years and plunging headfirst into America's capitalist quagmire.

Fortunately, with Gina's outstanding business acumen and Herman's exceptional research skills, Orange Industries finally found its footing and gradually got on track.

A few years ago, in particular, the company secured a contract to manufacture weapon components for Stark Industries thanks to a patent for an analytical chip developed by Herman. From then on, the company entered a period of rapid growth.

The whole family moved to New York along with the company's headquarters.

Of course, the story of how some playboy later came to his senses and shut down the weapons division entirely—putting a large number of his own employees out of work and devastating an entire downstream supply chain in the process, nearly bankrupting Orange Industries after it had already begun to transform and converted 70% of its factories to produce custom equipment—that was all for later.

In fact, after Stark Industries canceled its orders four years ago, Gina had once again worked her connections and struck a deal with Hammer Industries, which was then rapidly expanding after taking over a great deal of available resources.

Well, everyone knew how things turned out for Hammer Industries.

Two years ago, at the Stark Expo, its "self-developed" army of combat robots went on a rampage, sending Hammer Industries founder Justin Hammer straight to prison.

Most of the company's assets were promptly carved up by the military and its competitors, who seized the opportunity. In the end, all that remained was the company's name and shell, limping along.

A small fry like Orange Industries was naturally caught in the fallout once again.

Anyway, after Shamira had helped him learn a little more about the family business these past few days, Luca could only say one thing.

The fact that the company hadn't gone under yet was proof that his mother, Gina, was truly incredible!

But that was getting a bit off topic.

Though the family had spent all these years building its business in America and had almost no influence left in Sokovia itself, centuries of accumulated wealth and connections couldn't simply be erased.

What's more, before graduating from college and taking over the company, Gina—who had grown up in Sokovia—had served in the Sokovian military herself.

Whether it was her old comrades or the loyal forces the family had cultivated in secret, having a few trusted followers wasn't at all unusual.

Shamira was a good example. Her family had followed the Orange Family for generations, and she herself had served alongside Gina in the military.

Over the past few days, aside from the information and records his parents had left behind, Luca had learned a great deal with help from Aunt Shamira.

Of course, this might also have been the only team Shamira knew about.

Luca suspected there could be other, even more deeply hidden contingencies. They might simply have lost contact for the time being because Gina was unconscious.

Now that he knew these people could be trusted, he didn't hesitate.

Luca had always believed that once trust had a solid foundation, the rest could be reinforced over time and through shared interests.

He simply asked Shamira, "How soon can the people you mentioned get here? Do we need to prepare identities and equipment for them?"

After all, Shamira had said that the team spent most of their time overseas.

If they couldn't get back anytime soon, Luca couldn't leave the bodyguard team idle just to wait for them.

This time, though, Shamira answered promptly.

"Two days at the most. Those guys have been operating along the Mexican border recently. They can all get here within a day or two."

"Actually, they've been following the news out of New York. When they couldn't reach Madam, they contacted me themselves."

"But Madam's condition... we still don't know what it is, so I told them to stay on standby."

As if worried Luca might misunderstand, Shamira added, "I don't have direct authority to command them. I've occasionally contacted them on Madam's behalf and carried out missions with them, which is why they reached out to me when they lost contact with her."

Luca nodded.

He understood that Shamira probably hadn't been sure of his mother's condition either. She'd wanted to put less important matters on hold until Gina woke up and could decide what to do.

That was why she hadn't told him right away.

But when he heard Shamira mention "carrying out missions together," the corner of Luca's mouth twitched again.

"First, have someone look into the people protecting my uncle. Find out where they came from."

"I'll try to go out as little as possible over the next few days. Also, make sure two people are assigned to protect my mother."

"On top of that, postpone the meetings with the trust fund and the lawyers who came by earlier for a few days. Have them contact me again once this is over."

As Luca calmly laid out the arrangements, he took out his phone to check his messages.

But the next moment, the car, which had been cruising along smoothly, slammed on the brakes.

The sharp, grating squeal of tires filled his ears.

At the same time, he heard Shamira's urgent cry.

"Watch out, Young Master!"