2025-04-21 16:15:59
Previous Chapter
Related Chapters
Sinclair's Lost Heir[The Rise Of The Betrayed Son-in-law] CHAPTER 40
Vanessa’s POV “What in God’s name are you saying?” Father’s voice ripped through the room like shattering glass. “You want to go back to Ethan Sinclair?”“Not go back,” I said coolly, lifting my chin, “win him over again.”“You’ve lost your damn mind,” he spat, pacing behind his desk. “After everything after how he humiliated you in front of the entire city, this is what you come up with?”“I don’t intend to be humiliated again.” My voice was sharp, low, and deliberate. “I intend to be victorious.”He stopped pacing, glaring at me like I was some venomous thing crawling into his office. “You think he’ll just forgive you? Open his arms and welcome you like nothing happened?”“No,” I replied with a smirk. “I think he’ll suspect me every step of the way. I think he’ll hate me a little more each time I smile at him. But I also know something you don’t, he won’t ignore me.”Father narrowed his eyes. “You better start making sense fast, Vanessa.”I crossed the room and stood directly in fr
Sinclair's Lost Heir[The Rise Of The Betrayed Son-in-law] CHAPTER 41
Ethan’s POV "Gracious me!" I sighed for the third time in the past five minutes, "I just hope I don't loose my fucking mind at this rate." It had been one week since that night. One week since Olivia’s body tangled with mine in ways I still hadn’t fully forgiven myself for. Her scent lingered in my sheets longer than I liked, and despite laundering everything twice, I could still feel the ghost of her lips on my skin. My phone lit up for the seventh time that morning.OLIVIA CALLING.Again.I stared at the screen like it was some kind of ghost trying to crawl back into my life. I pressed the side button and diverted it to voicemail. “She just doesn’t quit, does she?” I muttered, tapping the screen away and returning to the planner on my desk. Meetings, contracts, board minutes… every line carefully structured. Predictable. Manageable. Unlike Olivia. That was Olivia’s umpteenth call since our night together. Like she suddenly thought she had a place in my life. Like what happened
Sinclair's Lost Heir[The Rise Of The Betrayed Son-in-law] CHAPTER 42
Ethan’s POV “So… are you going to invite me in or just keep pretending you didn’t see me walk through the glass walls?”Vanessa’s voice was sugar-laced poison, her smile the kind you’d carve into a wax doll before tossing it into fire. And me? I should’ve shut the door in her face. I should’ve told Clara to send security. Instead, I stepped aside like a fool caught between two detonating bombs.“Fine,” I muttered. “Come in.”Vanessa swanned past me like a queen reclaiming her throne. She didn’t look at Olivia. Not at first. But I saw the calculation in her eyes, like a cat pretending not to notice the wounded bird in the room.“A lovely office” she said, eyes scanning my office like she owned it. “But then again, nothing ever really changes with you, does it, Ethan?”“Make your point,” I said, already exhausted.“Why so tense?” she said sweetly, settling into the chair across my desk like it had been reserved for her. “You used to be better at hiding that.”Olivia hadn’t moved from t
Sinclair's Lost Heir[The Rise Of The Betrayed Son-in-law] CHAPTER 43
Ethan’s POV “I’m here because I made a mistake,” she said, voice low now, like honey dripping through a cracked spoon. “I messed up, Ethan. But it wasn’t all my fault, I didn’t mean to. You know it wasn’t.” “Don’t you dare,” I warned.She ignored me, charging forward with her twisted, delusional gospel. “They forced me to do it! My family, my father, he hated you. You know that. You saw what they were capable of, I was also being manipulated.” “They didn’t force you to cheat.”Her face twitched. “They didn’t force you to shut me out night after night. They didn’t force you to curl up with every man who offered you validation while your husband begged for scraps of affection.” “Ethan...” “They didn’t force you to kill our baby.”Her breath hitched like I’d driven a dagger straight through her ribcage. But the only thing she clutched was her lie-ridden heart. “You think I don’t remember?” I growled, stepping in close now. “You think I forgot how you told me you were pregnant and
Sinclair's Lost Heir[The Rise Of The Betrayed Son-in-law] CHAPTER 44
Ethan’s POV About an hour or so after Vanessa left, my office still reeked of her lies.I sat slouched in my chair, elbow on the desk, staring at the untouched espresso Clara had brought me earlier. The steam had died, and so had the appetite for anything that resembled normalcy. If chaos had a scent, it was the lingering perfume mix of two women who should’ve never have crossed paths in my life again. Or so I believed. “God,” I muttered, rubbing my temple. “What a mess…”What was I even doing?Trying to breathe in the ruins of a Monday morning that had started with Olivia’s broken heart and ended with Vanessa’s crocodile tears on my floor. How the hell did it get here? My life was spiraling like a damn soap opera I didn’t audition for.The one thing I was thankful for?My grandfather wasn’t around to witness that train wreck.He would’ve raised his brow, cocked his head to the side, and muttered something like, “I built a legacy and left you an empire, and this is how you run it? B
Sinclair's Lost Heir[The Rise Of The Betrayed Son-in-law] CHAPTER 45
Ethan’s POV Lost in thoughts, the ring from my phone snapped me back into consciousness of my surroundings. I picked it up. It was Jordan.“Good day Ethan.”I really hoped there were goods left in my day today.“Good day, Jordan. What do you have for me today?”“They’re laundering money through a ghost company, Ethan. One that supposedly shut down over thirty years ago.”“What?” I straightened in my seat, pulse spiking. “Say that again.”“A shell corporation. Called Bellemore Industries. Disbanded on paper in ’92. But a few bank records show it’s very much alive. Just—operating from the shadows. Massive offshore transfers. Cayman Islands. Liechtenstein. You name it.”“And you’re sure the Hales are behind this?”“Positive. I followed the money trail, and guess where it leads?” Jordan paused dramatically. “A building owned by none other than Richard Hale. Bought under the alias ‘Carl Donovan.’”I shot up from my chair, heart pounding against my ribs. “An alias?”“Yeah. He used a dead m
Sinclair's Lost Heir[The Rise Of The Betrayed Son-in-law] CHAPTER 46
Vanessa’s POV I had just returned home from seeing Ethan, an experience I would rather not recount to anyone.I sat in my car, parked just outside the house like the marble driveway suddenly demanded my respect. My fingers were still trembling around the steering wheel, nails digging into the leather as if the wheel had wronged me. I couldn’t go inside. Not yet. Not while my heart was still stuck in that cold, heartless office where he’d looked at me like I was filth.“He hates me,” I whispered under my breath, my voice cracking. “He really... hates me.”I tilted my head back against the headrest, blinking away the sting in my eyes. I hadn’t cried when he yelled. Not when he called security. Not even when he spat the word trash like it belonged to me. But now, alone in the quiet bubble of my car, it hit differently.“Who wouldn’t?” I muttered, scoffing bitterly at myself. “I practically destroyed the one person who actually loved me.”He loved me once. I know he did. There was no way
Sinclair's Lost Heir[The Rise Of The Betrayed Son-in-law] CHAPTER 47
Vanessa’s POV As I stepped into the foyer, the sharp thump of bass-heavy music slammed into my ears like a slap to the face. My heel paused mid-step. That sound... it was coming from the west wing. The west wing? That place hadn’t seen life in years.“Who the hell is playing music in there?!” I hissed aloud, my voice slicing through the silence of the hall like a whip.My fingers curled tighter around my clutch, jaw clenched and body tense. Which one of the staff had lost their damn mind? That wing was sacred. Deserted. Locked down. No one went in there. Not unless they wanted to face my wrath.“Have the maids gone stupid? Or just suicidal?” I snapped under my breath, heels stabbing furiously into the marble tiles as I advanced. Each echo of my steps was a countdown.The closer I got, the more the bass trembled through the walls. Rap music, filthy lyrics, distorted and booming with disrespect. My fists balled up.“I swear, if this is someone’s idea of a joke, they won’t live to tell
Latest Chapter
CHAPTER 51
Ethan’s POV "Pick up the damn phone, Olivia," I muttered under my breath, pacing the living room like a caged animal. I pressed the device harder against my ear, as if sheer force could will her to answer. Another voicemail. Another dead end."Fine," I snapped at the silence, yanking the phone from my ear and staring at the blank screen like it had personally betrayed me. "Ignore me, then. See if I care."I tossed the phone onto the coffee table, the clatter slicing through the heavy stillness of the room. For a moment, I just stood there, breathing hard, hands curled into fists at my sides.Why should I care? She wasn't answering. Big deal.Maybe she was busy. Maybe she finally realized what a bastard I was.Good for her.Wasn't that what I wanted? To push her away before she could get too close?Hadn't I made that crystal clear the last time we met, spitting venom just to watch her flinch?I sank down onto the leather sofa, scrubbing a hand over my face.But what if she wasn’t just
CHAPTER 50
Ethan’s POV “Are you sure you want to do this?” Jordan’s voice crackled through the secure line. “Because once this gets out, there’s no going back.” “No one burns my house and walks away,” I said flatly, gripping the edge of my desk. “Let it burn them instead.”“You’ll be starting a war.”“I didn’t start it. The Hales did the moment they tried to ruin me.”Silence on the other end. Then a slow exhale.“Alright. The files are ready. Everything you asked for—bank transfers, offshore accounts, distribution routes, and the tapes from the warehouse surveillance.”I closed my eyes for a second, letting the gravity of it wash over me. “Send the package anonymously to the District Prosecutor,” I said. “Make sure it can not be traced back to me.” “Already handled. By tonight, the press will be begging for statements.”“Good,” I muttered, staring at the framed photo of myself on the shelf. “Let them watch it burn.” The call ended. It was only a matter of hours before the news spread like
CHAPTER 49
Vanessa’s POV “Of course it’s Nathan’s,” he scoffed, waving the packet. “That brother of yours really comes in handy when you need an alibi, doesn’t he?”“Goodness, Collins, what is wrong with you?” I took a step back, robe clutched tight, trying to gather what little dignity I had left.“Wrong with me?” He laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I’m not the one playing house in a silk robe with mystery condoms on the floor.”“Nathan brought his junk here, trashed the place, and I’ve been trying to get everything back in order. That’s it. I’m tired. I haven’t even eaten today.”“You want me to believe that?” His voice dropped, low and dangerous. “Then prove it.”My jaw tightened. “Prove it how?”He stepped closer. Too close. “Let me touch you. Right here. Right now.”My breath caught. “What?”“You’re so innocent, right?” he said, pressing a hand against the wall behind me, trapping me. “Then let me touch what’s mine.”“We’re not doing this.” I shoved at his chest, but he didn’t budge
CHAPTER 48
Vanessa’s POV Tired of the whole drama, I slammed the door behind Nathan and his pathetic entourage, locking it with more force than necessary. The bass from the now-silenced speakers still thudded inside my skull, a cruel echo of the madness I had just evicted. Drunk girls with smudged mascara and glittered heels had been stumbling over my Persian rug like it was a damn runway. Nathan, high out of his mind, had laughed at thin air, drooling over the same chaos he dragged in. My home, my place if solace, had turned into a drug-fueled circus in a matter of hours.“Why do I even let him back in?” I muttered aloud, tightening my silk robe around me. “Because he’s my brother? Or because somewhere in my deranged heart I think he’ll change?”Maybe I was the deluded one. Always hoping. Always giving him another chance. But I was done. Done playing mother, fixer, savior.I needed to cleanse every ounce of that filth. I needed a bath, something hot enough to scald off Nathan’s stench from my
CHAPTER 47
Vanessa’s POV As I stepped into the foyer, the sharp thump of bass-heavy music slammed into my ears like a slap to the face. My heel paused mid-step. That sound... it was coming from the west wing. The west wing? That place hadn’t seen life in years.“Who the hell is playing music in there?!” I hissed aloud, my voice slicing through the silence of the hall like a whip.My fingers curled tighter around my clutch, jaw clenched and body tense. Which one of the staff had lost their damn mind? That wing was sacred. Deserted. Locked down. No one went in there. Not unless they wanted to face my wrath.“Have the maids gone stupid? Or just suicidal?” I snapped under my breath, heels stabbing furiously into the marble tiles as I advanced. Each echo of my steps was a countdown.The closer I got, the more the bass trembled through the walls. Rap music, filthy lyrics, distorted and booming with disrespect. My fists balled up.“I swear, if this is someone’s idea of a joke, they won’t live to tell
CHAPTER 46
Vanessa’s POV I had just returned home from seeing Ethan, an experience I would rather not recount to anyone.I sat in my car, parked just outside the house like the marble driveway suddenly demanded my respect. My fingers were still trembling around the steering wheel, nails digging into the leather as if the wheel had wronged me. I couldn’t go inside. Not yet. Not while my heart was still stuck in that cold, heartless office where he’d looked at me like I was filth.“He hates me,” I whispered under my breath, my voice cracking. “He really... hates me.”I tilted my head back against the headrest, blinking away the sting in my eyes. I hadn’t cried when he yelled. Not when he called security. Not even when he spat the word trash like it belonged to me. But now, alone in the quiet bubble of my car, it hit differently.“Who wouldn’t?” I muttered, scoffing bitterly at myself. “I practically destroyed the one person who actually loved me.”He loved me once. I know he did. There was no way
CHAPTER 45
Ethan’s POV Lost in thoughts, the ring from my phone snapped me back into consciousness of my surroundings. I picked it up. It was Jordan.“Good day Ethan.”I really hoped there were goods left in my day today.“Good day, Jordan. What do you have for me today?”“They’re laundering money through a ghost company, Ethan. One that supposedly shut down over thirty years ago.”“What?” I straightened in my seat, pulse spiking. “Say that again.”“A shell corporation. Called Bellemore Industries. Disbanded on paper in ’92. But a few bank records show it’s very much alive. Just—operating from the shadows. Massive offshore transfers. Cayman Islands. Liechtenstein. You name it.”“And you’re sure the Hales are behind this?”“Positive. I followed the money trail, and guess where it leads?” Jordan paused dramatically. “A building owned by none other than Richard Hale. Bought under the alias ‘Carl Donovan.’”I shot up from my chair, heart pounding against my ribs. “An alias?”“Yeah. He used a dead m
CHAPTER 44
Ethan’s POV About an hour or so after Vanessa left, my office still reeked of her lies.I sat slouched in my chair, elbow on the desk, staring at the untouched espresso Clara had brought me earlier. The steam had died, and so had the appetite for anything that resembled normalcy. If chaos had a scent, it was the lingering perfume mix of two women who should’ve never have crossed paths in my life again. Or so I believed. “God,” I muttered, rubbing my temple. “What a mess…”What was I even doing?Trying to breathe in the ruins of a Monday morning that had started with Olivia’s broken heart and ended with Vanessa’s crocodile tears on my floor. How the hell did it get here? My life was spiraling like a damn soap opera I didn’t audition for.The one thing I was thankful for?My grandfather wasn’t around to witness that train wreck.He would’ve raised his brow, cocked his head to the side, and muttered something like, “I built a legacy and left you an empire, and this is how you run it? B
CHAPTER 43
Ethan’s POV “I’m here because I made a mistake,” she said, voice low now, like honey dripping through a cracked spoon. “I messed up, Ethan. But it wasn’t all my fault, I didn’t mean to. You know it wasn’t.” “Don’t you dare,” I warned.She ignored me, charging forward with her twisted, delusional gospel. “They forced me to do it! My family, my father, he hated you. You know that. You saw what they were capable of, I was also being manipulated.” “They didn’t force you to cheat.”Her face twitched. “They didn’t force you to shut me out night after night. They didn’t force you to curl up with every man who offered you validation while your husband begged for scraps of affection.” “Ethan...” “They didn’t force you to kill our baby.”Her breath hitched like I’d driven a dagger straight through her ribcage. But the only thing she clutched was her lie-ridden heart. “You think I don’t remember?” I growled, stepping in close now. “You think I forgot how you told me you were pregnant and
