All Chapters of The Heir Behind Bars: Chapter 351
- Chapter 360
412 chapters
Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-One
Dinner was supposed to be simple.That was the lie Nathan told himself as he stepped into the quiet restaurant just off the main avenue. No private room. No security sweep beyond the basics. No assistants hovering with tablets or whispered updates. Just a corner table by the window, soft lighting, and the low murmur of people living ordinary lives.Still, his shoulders stayed tight.Cassandra noticed immediately.“You’re doing it again,” she said as she slid into her seat.“Doing what?”“Treating peace like an ambush.”Nathan huffed softly and pulled out the chair across from her. “Habit.”Liam arrived seconds later, shrugging out of his jacket. He looked around once, scanning exits out of instinct, then visibly forced himself to stop.“Feels illegal to sit somewhere without a screen nearby,” he said.Cassandra smiled. “You’ll survive.”They ordered without ceremony. No one talked business. At least, not at first.For several minutes, there was only the sound of cutlery and the faint
Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Two
Morning came without ceremony.No dramatic sunrise. No sense of renewal. Just light pressing in through the windows, exposing the exhaustion on all three of them.Nathan hadn’t slept.He stood at the kitchen counter with a mug gone cold in his hand, eyes fixed on a data stream scrolling silently across the tablet. Numbers, ownership trails, dormant clauses waking one by one like something stretching after a long sleep.Cassandra sat on the couch behind him, jacket draped over the armrest, hair tied back with the same elastic she used when she expected a long day. Liam paced near the window, stopping only long enough to reread the same paragraph on his phone before moving again.“You’re going to wear a groove into the floor,” Cassandra said.Liam didn’t stop pacing. “At least movement feels honest.”Nathan finally turned. “You’re not wrong.”He set the mug down untouched. “Whatever this is, it isn’t rushing. That worries me more than if it were.”Cassandra lifted her gaze. “Because you
Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Three
The press didn’t know what was happening.They only knew something felt off.It began with questions that weren’t accusations, just curiosity sharpened by instinct. Analysts noticed delays. Commentators speculated about internal restructuring. A few financial reporters started circling Hayes Global again, not aggressively, but with interest.Nathan watched it unfold from his office window.“You can feel it, can’t you?” Cassandra said behind him.“Yes,” he replied. “The water’s moving.”She set her tablet down. “We’re still within control parameters. Barely.”“That’s all we need.”Downstairs, Liam sat in operations reviewing logistics reports, jaw tight. He hadn’t slept much either. Every time an approval stalled or a vendor hesitated, he logged it.Patterns were forming.Someone was nudging the system just enough to create doubt without exposure.By midday, the first internal confrontation happened.A department head — nervous, sweating — knocked on Nathan’s door.“I received guidance
Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Four
The first real crack didn’t come from the outside.It came from home.Nathan realized it late in the evening, long after the office lights had dimmed and the building had settled into that hollow quiet that followed heavy days. He was halfway through a report Cassandra had flagged when his phone vibrated against the desk.A message from an aunt he barely spoke to anymore.We need to talk. This family is breaking apart again.Nathan stared at the screen longer than he should have.Family.The word still carried weight, even after everything.He didn’t reply.Not yet.Instead, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, letting the hum of the building fill the space. For weeks now, he had been fighting systems and shadows and structures built by men who believed power mattered more than people.He hadn’t prepared himself for blood pulling at his sleeve again.When he finally left the office, the city felt heavier than usual. Not louder. Just closer. Every streetlight seemed too bri
Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Five
The calm after the family meeting didn’t feel peaceful.It felt watchful.Nathan noticed it the next morning while standing in the kitchen, staring at a message he’d already read three times. No threats. No demands. Just a polite request from an extended relative asking to “talk privately.” The wording was careful, almost rehearsed.He set the phone down without replying.Across the room, Cassandra sat at the table, jacket already on, hair pulled back tight. She was scrolling through security logs on her tablet, but her eyes kept lifting toward him.“They’re testing access points,” she said quietly. “Not corporate ones. Emotional ones.”Nathan poured coffee he didn’t really want. “They think if they isolate me, I’ll crack.”“They think family pressure makes people irrational.”He met her gaze. “Sometimes it does.”A knock sounded at the door.Liam stepped in moments later, expression unreadable. He didn’t say anything at first. He just dropped his phone onto the table and pushed it to
Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Sixx
The betrayal did not arrive loudly.There was no shouting, no dramatic confrontation, no moment where someone stormed into a room and confessed under pressure.It arrived quietly, dressed as concern.Nathan first sensed it during a routine morning briefing. The room was full, but something felt misaligned, like a note slightly off-key in a familiar song. He watched faces as reports were delivered, noting pauses that were too careful, eyes that avoided his for half a second too long.When the meeting ended, most people filed out quickly.One person lingered.Aunt Rose.She stood near the doorway, clutching her purse tightly against her side like armor. She had always been nervous in corporate spaces, uncomfortable around glass walls and polished floors. Seeing her here now made Nathan’s chest tighten.“Nathan,” she said softly. “May I speak with you?”Cassandra’s gaze flicked toward him, questioning.He nodded. “Give us a minute.”The door closed behind Cassandra, leaving the room sudd
Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Sevenn
The morning the story broke, Nathan did not hear about it from the news.He heard it from his phone vibrating endlessly against the bedside table.He reached for it half-awake, squinting at the screen as missed calls stacked one after another. Cassandra. Legal. Communications. Even his mother. That alone told him everything.By the time he stood, fully alert, the damage had already begun.Downstairs, the television murmured in the background, a low urgent rhythm that didn’t need words to explain itself. He walked into the living room just as the anchor’s voice sharpened.“…sources close to the Hayes family claim internal conflict has reached a boiling point…”Nathan stopped moving.“…raising questions about whether the current leadership can withstand growing instability.”He exhaled slowly and turned the screen off.Silence settled, heavy and deliberate.Cassandra arrived twenty minutes later, coat thrown on over sleep-wrinkled clothes, hair pulled back with more urgency than precisi
Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Eightt
The backlash did not arrive all at once.It came in waves — quiet at first, then deliberate, then relentless.Nathan felt it the moment he stepped into the building the following morning. Security was tighter, yes, but the real shift was subtler. People hesitated before speaking. Conversations paused when he passed. Even those who supported him were afraid of being seen doing so.Fear had begun to circulate.Not panic — doubt.He rode the elevator alone to the executive floor, hands resting loosely at his sides, breathing slow and controlled. Leadership, he had learned, wasn’t about appearing strong. It was about not transmitting anxiety when the room desperately wanted to borrow it from you.Cassandra was already inside his office, standing by the window.“They’re pressing again,” she said without turning. “Shareholder coalition filed for an emergency review.”“On what grounds?”“Leadership integrity,” she replied. “Vague enough to be dangerous.”Nathan removed his jacket and placed
Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Nine
Nathan woke before the alarm.Not because of noise.Because of weight.The kind that settled on his chest quietly and refused to move.He lay still for a long moment, staring at the ceiling, listening to the city breathe through the glass walls. Cars far below. A distant siren that faded before it reached meaning. The soft hum of the building’s systems reminding him that even at rest, everything around him was working.He wasn’t.His phone lay face-down on the nightstand.He didn’t touch it.Instead, he sat up slowly, feet finding the cold floor, palms resting briefly on his thighs like he needed to steady himself before standing. When he rose, his reflection caught him in the mirror across the room.He looked older.Not dramatically — no sudden lines, no grey overnight — but something behind his eyes had shifted. Less expectation. More vigilance.He dressed without thinking, movements automatic. Shirt. Watch. Jacket.Only when he reached the kitchen did the silence begin to feel loud
Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty
Nathan did not go home that night.He drove past the familiar turn without telling the driver to stop, eyes fixed on the glow of storefronts sliding by the window. The city looked different after confrontation. Sharper. Less forgiving. As if it had been waiting for him to finally choose a side.“Just keep going,” he said quietly.The driver glanced at him in the mirror but nodded.They ended up at the old apartment building near the east district — the one Nathan had kept long after he no longer needed it. No security detail. No concierge who knew his name. Just a narrow lobby that smelled faintly of detergent and dust.He dismissed the driver and rode the elevator alone.The apartment was dark when he entered.He didn’t turn on the lights at first.He stood there in the quiet, jacket still on, listening to his own breathing. The space felt smaller than he remembered, but honest. Nothing here demanded anything from him. No boardrooms. No family politics. No legacy pressing against his