The Heir's Revenge

Shattered Facades

The tension between Ethan and Sarah was palpable in the dimly lit apartment, each second stretching like a knife blade poised to strike.

Sarah’s eyes flitted between the small flash drive in Ethan’s hand and his cold, emotionless expression. She took a shaky breath, her mind racing as she realized the magnitude of the situation.

“Ethan,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “Please, we can talk about this. I made mistakes, but you don’t have to do this.”

Ethan’s lip curled into a cruel smile.

“Talk? Now you want to talk? After years of humiliation? After you paraded me around like your obedient puppet while you laughed behind my back?” He took a step closer, his presence overwhelming. “You made your choice, Sarah. Now you live with the consequences.”

Sarah’s knees buckled, but she forced herself to remain standing.

“It wasn’t always like this,” she pleaded. “There were good times. I… I didn’t mean for things to get so bad.”

Ethan’s eyes narrowed, anger swirling in the depths of his gaze.

“Spare me the sob story. You knew exactly what you were doing every step of the way. You and your father used me, humiliated me. But now, it’s my turn.”

He moved toward her, the flash drive still dangling from his fingers like the blade. Sarah flinched, backing away instinctively, her pulse pounding in her ears.

She had never seen this side of Ethan before, this cold, ruthless version of him, and it terrified her.

Ethan stopped mere inches from her, his voice lowering to a whisper.

“Do you want to know what’s on this drive? The complete, unfiltered truth about your family. The media has already started digging. Your father’s fraudulent real estate deals, your mother’s offshore accounts, and of course, your little affair, exposed for the world to see.”

Tears welled in Sarah’s eyes.

“I’m sorry, Ethan. I never wanted to hurt you—”

“Liar!” Ethan exploded, his voice echoing off the empty walls of the apartment. His fist slammed against the nearby table, causing Sarah to jump in fear. “You didn’t just hurt me, you destroyed me. And now, it’s my turn.”

Ethan turned away from her, the fire of revenge burning brightly in his chest.

He’d waited so long for this moment, for the chance to make Sarah and her family feel the same pain they had inflicted on him. And now, with the evidence he had gathered, he was on the cusp of bringing them all to their knees.

“Please, Ethan. We can fix this. You don’t have to do this. We can go to my father, work something out—”

“Work something out?” Ethan laughed bitterly, turning back to her. “Sarah, your father doesn’t negotiate. He destroys. Just like you.”

She shook her head desperately.

“No, I swear… I can talk to him. I’ll tell him to stop everything. We’ll call off the lawyers, the hitmen—”

Ethan froze.

“Hitmen?”

Sarah clamped a hand over her mouth, realizing she had said too much.

“What did you just say?” Ethan demanded, his voice sharp as a blade.

Sarah’s face drained of color.

“Ethan, please, it’s not what you think. My father, he’s just scared of what you might do with the information. He didn’t mean for things to go this far—”

Ethan’s stomach twisted as the pieces clicked into place. Sarah’s father wasn’t just trying to protect his reputation; he was trying to eliminate Ethan before he could expose their crimes.

Rage boiled within Ethan.

“You knew,” he said, his voice deadly quiet. “You knew they were coming for me, and you said nothing.”

Sarah took a step back, her breath coming in short gasps.

“Ethan, I was trying to protect you. I didn’t want—”

“Don’t lie to me!” Ethan roared, his composure shattering. “You were going to let them kill me. Just like you stood by and watched as they tore me down all those years.”

Sarah shook her head furiously, tears streaming down her face.

“No, Ethan. I would never let that happen. I love you. I still love you—”

Ethan’s laugh was dark, cold.

“Love? You don’t know the meaning of the word, Sarah.”

He turned and stormed toward the door, leaving Sarah standing there, sobbing.

As he reached for the doorknob, a sudden crashing sound echoed from outside the apartment. Ethan froze, his instincts kicking in. Someone was here.

The door burst open before he could react, and three men dressed in black stormed into the room, guns drawn. Ethan’s heart pounded as he recognized them, hitmen, just like the ones who had attacked him the night before.

“Ethan Langston,” one of the men snarled. “You should’ve stayed quiet.”

Without thinking, Ethan dove behind the nearest piece of furniture, narrowly avoiding the bullets that ripped through the air. The apartment erupted into chaos as the hitmen opened fire, their shots tearing through walls and furniture.

Sarah screamed, scrambling for cover as the gunfire intensified.

"Don't shoot me, you dummies" She yelled at them. "Kill him."

Ethan’s mind raced. He had no weapon, no backup. His only chance was to outmaneuver them, to escape before they could corner him.

He spotted the window at the far end of the room and made a split-second decision. He darted across the apartment, ducking and weaving as bullets flew past him. Reaching the window, he smashed it open with his elbow and climbed onto the fire escape.

Ethan reached the alley below and took off running, his heart pounding in his chest. He had to get away. He had to stay alive long enough to finish what he started.

But as he rounded the corner, his path was blocked by a black SUV, its headlights glaring in the darkness. The back door swung open, and a familiar figure stepped out, Victoria, her face calm but her eyes filled with urgency.

“Get in,” she commanded.

Ethan didn’t hesitate. He dove into the SUV just as the hitmen burst out of the building, their guns still trained on him and Victoria drove away.

Victoria glanced at him, her expression unreadable.

“You’ve pissed off some very dangerous people, Ethan.”

He nodded, his jaw clenched.

“I know. But I’m not stopping.”

Victoria’s lips curved into a small, approving smile.

“Good. Because neither am I.”

She handed him a sleek, black folder. Ethan opened it and froze. Inside were photographs, documents, and detailed reports. It was a dossier, on Sarah, Richard, and the entire Forrester family. But this wasn’t the information he had already gathered. This was something much darker, much more dangerous.

“This,” Victoria said, her voice low, “is the key to destroying them for good.”

Ethan stared at the contents of the folder, his mind struggling to process what he was seeing. Corruption, human trafficking, murder cover-ups, this was far worse than anything he had imagined. The Forresters weren’t just corrupt. They were monsters.

He looked up at Victoria, his hands trembling slightly.

“How did you get this?”

She met his gaze, her eyes hard.

“I have my ways. The question is, are you ready to use it?”

Ethan swallowed hard, the weight of the decision pressing down on him. He knew what he needed to do.

He closed the folder and nodded, his voice firm.

“Let’s finish this.”

Before Victoria could respond, the SUV’s tires screeched to a halt. Ethan was thrown forward in his seat as the car slammed to a stop, the sound of metal grinding against metal filling the air.

“Get down!” Victoria shouted, but it was too late.

The windshield shattered, and gunfire erupted once again. Ethan’s heart raced as the car was hit from all sides. Someone had found them, someone was coming for them.

The last thing Ethan saw before everything went black was the flash of headlights approaching fast, and the sound of a car door slamming.

Then, darkness.