Chapter 237: Family reunion

Two new guests had just arrived at John Hammond's estate. As they entered the house and the butler announced their arrival, a raven-haired figure darted down the stairs and clung to them. "Mom! Dad!" Jocelyne greeted them with a warm hug. Markus Jersey and her wife reciprocated her daughter's gesture and hugged her lovingly to them. It had been too long since they had last seen each other in person. If they could have chosen they would have come to see her much earlier, but Jocelyne had stopped them because the situation was too rough at the time: it was better for her parents to remain worrying about the family fortune, since with the sudden world market delirium caused by the peace treaties with the dinosaurs it was appropriate for them to not stop working. Although it hurts them, Markus and Bethany had accepted her daughter's request and remained in Odaria. The choice had turned out to be the right one: it wasn't long after the approval of the peace treaty for the world of finance to enter into turmoil. Not that it wasn't profitable: thanks to the contracts obtained for the trade in meat not produced by dinosaurs, the Jersey family had acquired enormous capital. Finally, after all that time, thanks also to the rise of John Hammond who had helped restore order to the market, the waters had subsided enough for the Jerseys to abandon their jobs and travel overseas to visit their daughter. "How are you, my child?" Bethany asked as she scrambled her. Jocelyne smiled at her. "I'm fine, mom. Mr. Hammond is a kind person and he treated me very well" Markus bit his lip. Even though he was glad that someone as powerful as John Hammond had taken Jocelyne under his wing, he knew that the situation wasn't all smooth as her daughter was trying to make them believe. Jocelyne had bags under her eyes, a sign that she wasn't sleeping well, and she had visibly lost weight. The last time he had seen her in that state was after her kidnapping. The Jerseys knew that, for Jocelyne, this was in effect an exile. If their child had returned home it probably wouldn't have lasted more than a week. Many of the other family heads would have been happy to see her go off with a car bomb. Even if she didn't show it, it didn't have to be easy for her. Markus felt pity for her: the girl who had saved her country and perhaps the whole world now couldn't even go back to her home. It was really unfair. "What did you do while you were here?" he asked his daughter about her. "I haven't had much time to sit idle" Jocelyne replied. "There was a lot to do. Speeches, secret operations, things for scientists, finance... I couldn't get bored" "Do you sleep well?" A dark veil passed over Jocelyne's face, but it quickly disappeared: "Well, don't tell Mr. Hammond... but he has a wonderful video game console upstairs and I tend to play it without permission at night! You should see, he is..." "Jocelyne..." "You didn't buy it, did you? Okay, I tried. Yes, I haven't slept well recently, I can't do it with all the anxiety I'm wearing" Markus wanted to reply, but Hammond's voice emerged from the stairwell. "Ah, the youth! I wish I could run like you, girl!" the old tycoon laughed as he struggled down the steps with the help of his cane. "You must be the parents of this little prodigy. It is a pleasure for me to meet you" Markus and Bethany shook hands with Hammond. The old man was as warm as ever, although he struggled to keep himself straight. "It's a pleasure for us too, Mr. Hammond. Indeed, it can be said that it is an honor" Markus replied. He wasn't lying: Hammond was the most important figure in the financial market, it was impossible not to admire him. "Follow me, let's sit in the dining room" the elderly tycoon invited them. "I hope the flight went well. I know there are a lot of delays in this period. Oh, no, leave your luggage there: the servants will take care of them" "There is no need, we can..." "Nonsense. You are my guests. As long as you are under this roof I don't want to see you move a single muscle. I have already had your rooms ready and tonight we will have dinner like royalty! No expense is spared here!" The Jersey couple followed Hammond into the living room and sat down on the sofa; the old tycoon instead took his favorite seat, and so did Jocelyne. Seeing them Markus and Bethany tore a smile: Hammond behaved like a loving grandfather and Jocelyne seemed to appreciate the role of her lovely granddaughter. The Jerseys knew that their little girl always knew how to break through the hearts of others. "I want to thank you for the support you have given my daughter. I hope she didn't bother you" Markus began. Hammond laughed. "Nonsense. Your daughter has been an exemplary guest and she has literally revolutionized my life. It is thanks to her that I am now in my position" Seeing the stunned faces of the Jerseys, Hammond realized a detail: "Oh... you didn't know?" "I didn't tell them yet" Jocelyne said, covering her face with one hand. "Jocelyne!" her mother exclaimed. "You..." "I am the reason why Mr. Hammond is currently the richest man in the world. Yes" the girl sighed. "Why didn't you tell us anything?" "Because I'm pretty sure that my communications are still being intercepted, or that someone is still keeping an eye on me. I don't want anyone else to learn that I was able to turn a nice old man into the most powerful tycoon in the world. I already have enough enemies at home, I don't intend to have any here in the west as well. For the moment I want to keep a low profile" Mr and Mrs Jersey were astounded. Markus and Bethany knew their daughter was brilliant, she had proven it over and over in the last few months; it was Jocelyne's credit if there was peace with the dinosaurs, if Odaria wasn't in full economic crisis and if the Jersey family was getting rich visibly. But had she even been able to make Hammond the richest man on the planet? This was beyond mere genius, this was a prodigy. "We would have preferred to know earlier" Markus murmured. "I have already explained my reasons" "Why did you do that? I doubt that you acted out of pure friendship" "I needed a strong ally here in the west, someone who was able to stabilize the market and avoid an economic crisis. The power vacuum left by the Raiding Global would have caused conflicts between the various multinationals that could have created problems and delayed the operations to modify our energy and food systems. It was best for everyone to have that void filled by someone else, someone who had an interest in keeping the peace between dinosaurs and humans, and Hammond was that person. Now the chances of a war have greatly diminished" Bethany widened her eyes. "Are you still working on the dinosaur problem?" she exclaimed, finally understanding why her daughter was so thin and she had dark circles. She had assumed that Jocelyne's job had finished long ago, but she was actually still working behind the scenes! The girl nodded. "It is my job as an ambassador and as a citizen of my country to keep the peace. If a conflict breaks out, our nation will be the first to crossfire, and I will do everything in my power to prevent it" "You can't carry the weight of the world on your shoulders alone!" Markus snapped. "No, but I can move some pieces. Avoiding war is a lot easier than it looks" Jocelyne replied. "I was able to move the pieces well with the dinosaurs and now I'm doing it with the humans. I gave an explanation to the people, I found the culprit, I gave people a symbol to destroy, I put someone in power who would help change our economic system in favor of peace with the dinosaurs, and finally I created an ideology of coexistence that is slowly taking hold" The Jersey couple froze. "You did what?" they both exclaimed. So Jocelyne told him everything, and she didn't hide anything from them. She revealed that she had hired the best scientists to uncover the mystery of the Mother Cell, she revealed that she had set in motion the events that had caused the downfall of the Raiding, that she had been the one who put together the team that had found and captured Henry Wu, and finally, the way in which he had turned Hammond into the most powerful man in the world and how he had founded the MCD at his request. When she finished, her parents were speechless. "You... have you done all this?" her mother whispered. "I fixed a few things that were wrong. I can't say I fixed the world, but at least I kept it from breaking even more" Jocelyne replied. "The world needed explanations and I gave it to them. The world needed a culprit and I gave it to them. The world needed a farsighted man who was powerful enough to coordinate the change in the global energy and food system and I gave it to them. And in the end, the world needed an ideal of coexistence with our new neighbors and I gave it to them. More than this, I don't know what else I could do" "And it seems little to you?" Markus exclaimed. He didn't know whether to be proud or worried about him, his daughter. Had the whole world really danced in the palm of a fourteen-year-old girl all that time? Was such a thing really possible? In a way he was also a little scared. If her daughter possessed such great acumen that the entire planet did exactly what she wanted, what if she wanted something more than the life she currently had? He wished that Jocelyne was one of the few people resistant to the lure of power, or it was likely that she could change the whole world order as she pleased. Jocelyne bit her lip. "Sorry, I know I should have told you about it, but I couldn't. And then I..." she took a sigh, then admitted "... I thought you were going to try to stop me, and I couldn't allow that. Not with the whole world in the balance" The two parents looked at each other. Would they try to stop her? Absolutely yes. Neither Markus nor Bethany would let their daughter, who was not even adult, become part of such a dangerous game. But apparently she wasn't part of the game, she was the game master. "What are you going to do now? Please be honest"Markus asked in a tired voice. To her surprise, Jocelyne shook her head. "As for the human world, I'm done. I have fielded all my pawns; now there is nothing more I can do. It is up to humanity to choose which direction to take" she replied. "On the contrary... in reality there is still one thing I want to do. A request to the present here Mr. Hammond" Feeling called into question, John spoke for the first time since the conversation began; all along he had decided to leave the family a chance to clarify. "What would you want?" he asked her. He wasn't worried: Jocelyne had always made reasonable requests and he was sure he could give her whatever he wanted. After all, what good is the money if you don't spend it? "What I want, Mr. Hammond, is to go home. I want to be able to go back to live in my home, in my country, and be able to take care of my family's business again. All things that I cannot do at the moment because they would shoot a bullet in my head the instant I get off the plane. So please accept this selfish desire of mine" Jocelyne replied, and then stared intently at him: "Mr. Hammond, would you be willing to take me as your goddaughter?" Markus nearly choked on the same saliva as he heard her daughter's words, and Bethany exclaimed a "what?" choked with a cough. Hammond singing about him nearly fell out of his chair: all he had expected, except that. "Take you as my goddaughter? What good would it do you?" "Isn't it obvious?" Jocelyne asked with the typical 'how can you not get there, it's too clear!' look. Hammond and the Jerseys were stunned for a moment, then the wheels in their brains started working again and it was all clear. Jocelyne was currently on the blacklist of all Odaria household heads; if she had returned, surely someone would have organized a riot to eliminate her. The police would never intervene and Markus Jersey did not possess enough power to protect her, nor did she have the authority to intimidate the other heads of household with threats of revenge. But if a prominent international figure like John Hammond became Jocelyne's godfather, everything changed! No one would have risked the wrath of the richest man in the world. Householders were the highest authorities in Odaria, but outside their country they were just ordinary millionaires. To infuriate a big shot like John Hammond was to lose everything. If anyone dared to twist Hammond's goddaughter a hair, he would destroy him and his entire fortune within a day. The other heads of families, therefore, could no longer organize a full-scale aggression to eliminate Jocelyne, because they would have been recognizable! Even a car bomb or an attack would have left signs that would have led to the perpetrator. The police wouldn't investigate, but Hammond did: and once the culprit was found, it would be his end. Therefore, the only option that would have remained for the heads of the families would have been to hire assassins, the only ones who could not directly connect them to them. But Jocelyne would surely have surrounded herself with a huge supply that would have greatly limited the chances of murder. Furthermore, there was always the risk that the hitman would be caught and confess everything, and even if the killing was successful, Hammond would surely have suspected the heads of the household, which would have condemned them anyway. In essence, it would have been much cheaper for the heads of families to let Jocelyne live, because killing her meant condemning themselves! It was therefore very likely that they would eat the leaf and accept that the girl lived. Perhaps some of them would even have her guarded and protected in secret to avert any assassination attempt. Basically, Jocelyne would have been in an iron barrel! For Markus and Bethany that was a brilliant option. It would greatly lessen the danger their daughter was in. However... ask John Hammond? Seriously? "Jocelyne, you don't seem to be a little..." "Wait" Hammond stopped them. "Do you think this could protect her?" Markus nodded. "Yes, but we would never allow ourselves to ask you..." "Hey, did I refuse? If this can save your daughter, so be it!" The Jersey spouses rolled their eyes: "Do you agree?" Hammond smiled. "Your daughter helped me become the richest man in the world, what kind of person would I be if I refused to be her godfather? As long as it's okay with you, of course" Neither Markus nor Bethany could believe it. "We would be honored to have you as godfather for our daughter, if you really want it" "I don't see why not. I've never been a godfather after all. I think I'll like it" Hammond replied satisfied, and then turned to Jocelyne: "But didn't you say you want to keep a low profile?" "I would attract attention if the world knew that I have enough brain to influence the entire global economic system as I please. Nobody will give a damn if I become the goddaughter of the richest man in the world, at least not until I become a danger to them. They'll think you just took a liking to me" Jocelyne explained. "Oh... I understand" Hammond replied, then he smiled again. "So we all agree. What are we waiting to celebrate? I have a bottle of excellent champagne that..." The old tycoon was about to get up, but Markus stopped him: "Wait a moment, please" he said, staring intently at his daughter. "I have learned that with you it is appropriate to read carefully between the lines. You said you would no longer be concerned with things related to the human world. You didn't specify it by chance, am I right?" All eyes were on Jocelyne again. The girl sighed. "You know me too well, father" she admitted. "I intend to go back to the dinosaurs"