The Heir's Revenge

The First Strike

The cold pavement pressed against Ethan’s knees as he knelt, surrounded by faceless men in the shadows. His breath came in shallow gasps, his mind racing as he grappled with the realization that his father’s enemies had finally found him.

The man standing before him, his voice low and menacing, remained hidden in the darkness, yet his presence was suffocating.

“I knew you’d eventually come out of hiding,” the man said, his tone smooth and calculated. “You thought you could reclaim what was yours? Pathetic.”

Ethan’s mind whirled. Who was this man? Why now? Why here? But most of all, his thoughts raced back to his wife, Sarah, and her family, the Forresters. They were still his priority. His anger at their betrayal burned in his chest, fueling the need for revenge.

He clenched his fists, feeling his body tense as adrenaline surged through him. The men around him tightened their grip, but Ethan’s mind was already formulating a plan.

“You made a mistake by coming after me,” Ethan growled, his voice low, steady.

The man laughed, a dark and sinister sound.

“Mistake? No, Langston. The only mistake here is yours.”

Before the man could say more, Ethan acted. With a swift motion, he twisted his body, breaking free from the grip of one of the men.

Using the momentum, he slammed his elbow into the second man’s stomach and grabbed the first man’s arm, pulling him forward into the third attacker.

Chaos erupted as Ethan fought his way out of the ambush. The men weren’t expecting such a quick response, and that gave him a small advantage. He delivered a series of calculated blows, his years of street fighting coming into play.

He was outnumbered, but his mind was focused, sharp. Every punch, every kick was fueled by the deep anger and desire for revenge.

But as he pushed forward, gaining ground, the shadowy man who had been speaking watched calmly, a smirk on his face. He wasn’t here to kill Ethan, not yet. This was a message, a warning.

“You’ll regret this, Langston,” the man called out, as Ethan shoved the last attacker aside and ran towards his car. “The Forresters aren’t your only problem. Remember that.”

Ethan didn’t look back. He had no time for cryptic threats. He jumped into his car, slammed the door shut, and tore out of the alley, his mind buzzing with thoughts of the Forresters.

The encounter had shaken him, but it had also reignited the fire inside him. Whoever those men were, they were secondary to his real goal, destroying Sarah and her family for what they had done to him.

Ethan arrived back at his small apartment, breathing heavily as he slammed the door behind him. The dim, suffocating space felt even more claustrophobic than usual.

He paced the room, running his hands through his hair, piecing together the night’s events. There was no doubt in his mind now: he was being hunted. But the Forresters, they were his immediate concern. They had betrayed him, manipulated him, and they would pay for it.

He sat down at his old desk and opened his laptop, accessing the encrypted files Victoria had sent him earlier.

The data was overwhelming, thousands of documents outlining the Forrester family’s corrupt dealings, bribes, blackmail, and tax evasion schemes. It was a goldmine of incriminating information, and Ethan knew exactly how to use it.

His plan needed to be meticulous, precise. The Forresters had spent years building their empire, securing their power, and controlling the people around them, including him. But Ethan was no longer the weak, submissive husband they thought he was.

He had the Langston blood running through his veins, and it was time to show them the kind of man they had underestimated.

First, Ethan needed to expose Sarah for the unfaithful, power-hungry woman she truly was.

He knew about her affairs, the lies she had spun behind his back while publicly humiliating him. But revealing her infidelity wouldn’t be enough to bring her down. No, he needed to hit the entire Forrester family where it hurt the most, their money.

Ethan spent the next few hours creating a strategy. He would leak the information to the press, but not all at once.

It had to be a slow burn, a series of calculated blows that would dismantle the Forresters’ empire piece by piece, all while keeping his involvement hidden until the very end.

His phone buzzed, pulling him from his thoughts. It was a message from Victoria: “The media is ready when you are. Let me know when you want to pull the trigger.”

Ethan stared at the message for a long moment, his finger hovering over the reply button. He had come this far, but pressing forward meant crossing a line he could never come back from.

It meant war, against the Forresters, against his past, against everything he once thought he loved.

His decision was made.

They deserve this.

“I’m ready,” he typed back.

The next morning, the first article hit the media like a bombshell. The headline screamed across every news outlet: “Shocking Scandal Rocks the Forrester Family: Sarah Forrester’s Infidelity Exposed!”

The accompanying photos, intimate snapshots of Sarah with her lover, a well-known businessman, were splashed across every tabloid, news website, and social media platform within minutes.

Ethan watched the chaos unfold from his laptop, sipping his coffee as the world reacted to the scandal. His inbox was flooded with messages, most from friends and acquaintances asking if the rumors were true, if he had known. But he ignored them all. This was just the beginning.

The second blow came two days later when a whistleblower report surfaced, linking the Forrester family to a series of fraudulent real estate deals that had defrauded investors out of millions.

Ethan had carefully curated the information, leaking just enough to spark outrage but leaving enough ambiguity to keep the media hungry for more.

The Forresters were scrambling, trying to control the damage, but they had no idea where the leaks were coming from. Sarah was already in hiding, avoiding the paparazzi that swarmed outside her estate.

Her father, Richard Forrester, had gone on the offensive, calling the reports “baseless lies” and vowing to sue the media for defamation. But it was no use. The court of public opinion had already turned against them.

As the days passed, Ethan watched with satisfaction as the Forrester family’s reputation unraveled before his eyes. But it wasn’t enough. He wanted them to suffer, not just financially, but personally. He wanted them to feel the same humiliation and betrayal that he had felt for years.

The next phase of his plan involved Sarah directly. Ethan had been patient, biding his time, but now it was time to confront her face to face. He needed to see her reaction, needed to witness the fear in her eyes when she realized that her world was crumbling.

He called her, his voice calm and collected.

“We need to talk.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and Ethan could almost hear the wheels turning in her mind as she processed his words. She was scared, he could sense it.

“Ethan…” Sarah’s voice was shaky, unsure. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Things are…complicated right now.”

“Complicated?” Ethan’s voice hardened. “You think this is complicated, Sarah? You haven’t even seen complicated yet. Meet me at our old place, tonight.”

He hung up before she could respond, his heart racing with anticipation.

Tonight would be the night he confronted her, the night he looked her in the eyes and saw the fear, the regret, the realization that she had crossed the wrong man.