All Chapters of THE HEIR BEHIND THE CREST: Chapter 31
- Chapter 40
119 chapters
Chapter 31: The Lion’s Awakening
The rain had stopped by dawn, but the sky still hung heavy with clouds. The Imperial Crest tower rose through the mist like a monument scarred by survival. Inside, the world had shifted. Fear had seeped into the walls; whispers followed every passing shadow.John sat alone in the main conference lounge, a single lamp glowing beside him. The flash drive lay on the table, small and unassuming — yet it held the kind of truth that could bury empires.He’d spent the entire night decrypting what he could. Half the data was corrupted beyond repair, but fragments remained. He scrolled through the recovered files again — coded bank transactions, shipping manifests, and an encrypted calendar log. One phrase appeared over and over.“Summit — Dubai. 15th.”John leaned back slowly. The fifteenth was three days away.Rita entered quietly, a folder in her hand. She looked better rested, but still carried the weight of everything they’d lost.“Anything new?” she asked.John nodded. “A meeting in Duba
Chapter 32: Ghost of the Crest
The news broke at dawn.“CEO John Raymond presumed dead after car explosion in The Imperial Crest parking lot.”The headline flashed across every major network, accompanied by shaky footage of emergency vehicles and smoke. The camera caught only fragments — a scorched vehicle, flashing sirens, and stretchers disappearing into the night.By noon, the world had already buried him.Inside The Crest tower, the air was thick with grief and speculation. Employees spoke in whispers. Board members moved like vultures through the corridors, pretending to mourn while counting opportunities.Rita stood before the glass wall of her office, watching rain slide down the surface. Her phone buzzed for the hundredth time — reporters, investors, government agents. She ignored them all.Behind her, Morgan entered quietly. His eyes were red from exhaustion, but his voice was calm. “It’s done. The footage has been wiped from every system. No trace that John survived.”Rita turned, her face pale. “And the
Chapter 33: The Ghost War
The world was still trying to understand how an empire could function without its king.Three weeks had passed since John Raymond’s supposed death, yet The Imperial Crest hadn’t fallen. It was weaker, yes — but still breathing. Rita kept the company afloat with quiet authority, while Morgan worked behind the scenes to guard their digital walls.But in the shadows, the real war had already begun.At 2:17 a.m., inside The Crest’s server chamber, Morgan sat before five glowing screens. The hum of machines filled the air. Data flowed across the monitors in rapid streams, each one representing a firewall, a countermeasure, or a trap.He typed in a new command. A red alert blinked instantly.“Come on,” he muttered. “Show me where you’re hiding.”The worm was clever — invisible to normal systems, buried under legitimate codes. But Morgan wasn’t just anyone. He had written half of The Crest’s encryption himself.Lines of text flashed, then froze. A single signature appeared on-screen.Origin:
Chapter 34: The Return of the Lion
Morning came quietly, but The Imperial Crest was anything but calm. The elevators hummed nonstop. Executives whispered in corners, glancing over their shoulders. Files disappeared, accounts were frozen, and a silence thicker than fear spread across every floor.No one could explain it. Every digital lock, every access card, every internal system had been recalibrated overnight. Security cameras showed no intruder, yet the network logs bore one undeniable truth.Someone was back inside The Crest.Prosper Mercy stood in his London office, staring at the encrypted report flashing across his screen. His hands trembled slightly, though his expression remained smooth.“Impossible,” he muttered. “We shut down every channel after the breach.”A voice spoke behind him. Calm. Cold. Controlled. “The word impossible lost meaning the day you underestimated John Raymond.”Prosper turned sharply. The Benefactor stood near the window, his form cloaked in shadow: no entourage, no guards, just prese
Chapter 35: The Lion’s Counterstrike
The sun rose behind the steel towers of the city, its light cutting through the skyline like a blade. Inside The Imperial Crest, something had shifted. People walked faster, whispered quieter, and checked every email twice before sending. It was as if the building itself could feel the change in the air — the weight of something coming.John Raymond was back.No announcement. No press. No grand reveal. Just quiet movement. Shadows in motion. Files are being rerouted. Power returning to the veins of the company like blood finding its way back to the heart.In the executive boardroom, Rita stood by the window, watching the city below. Morgan entered, holding a tablet.“Another resignation,” he said flatly. “The head of logistics just quit without notice. Third one this week.”Rita frowned. “They’re scared.”“Of what?”“Not what,” she said. “Who?”Before Morgan could respond, the elevator chimed. The doors opened — and John stepped out.He wore a tailored black suit, nothing flashy, bu
Chapter 36: The House of Shadows
The storm outside The Imperial Crest had not stopped for three days. The city lights flickered through the downpour, turning the skyline into a blur of silver and smoke. Inside the tower, the atmosphere was thick with unease.Executives moved like ghosts through the corridors. Files were locked, communications went silent, and every conversation seemed to end in a whisper. Word had spread that John Raymond was alive, though no one dared to say it aloud.In the boardroom, Rita watched the rain strike the glass. Morgan stood beside her, reviewing reports on his tablet.“Three departments have requested emergency transfers,” he said. “People are nervous.”“Good,” she replied. “Nervous people make mistakes. We need those.”He looked up, surprised. “You sound like him.”Her lips curved faintly. “I learned from the best.”The elevator chimed behind them. When John stepped out, the air in the room changed. He moved with the calm assurance of a man who had already buried his fear.“We have co
Chapter 38: The Unmasking
The morning rose over the city with a strange, brittle stillness. It felt as if the world sensed something heavy stirring beneath the surface, something that would not be contained once released. At The Imperial Crest, tension clung to every corridor like an invisible fog. Staff whispered, security tightened, and every pair of eyes darted toward the upper floors where the real war was gathering strength.John stood in the conference suite, reviewing the final draft of the audit report. The document exposed every hidden transaction tied to Lionwell Capital, every shell company the Benefactor had built, and every internal leak he had used to infiltrate The Crest. It was a declaration of war in the purest form, and once it went public, there would be no turning back.Morgan entered with a stack of printed summaries. “Media teams are already waiting. Once you release this, the market will react instantly.”John nodded. “Let it react. The truth needs air.”Rita joined them shortly after, h
Chapter 37: Echoes of the Past
The flight back to the United States was quiet. Outside the jet window, the night stretched endlessly, stars scattered like fragments of glass. Inside, John sat alone, reviewing the encrypted files they had stolen from Geneva.Every name, every date, every account led back to the same origin. Lionwell Capital. The shell company that had once been a small subsidiary of The Crest was now the spine of the Benefactor’s empire.Rita approached, holding two cups of coffee. Her expression was calm, but her eyes betrayed exhaustion.“You have not slept,” she said.John looked up. “I will sleep when this is finished.”She set the cup beside him. “You have been saying that for years.”He gave a faint smile. “Then it has been a long night.”Morgan appeared from the rear cabin, tablet in hand. “I decrypted another layer of the Lionwell data. You need to see this.”John straightened. “Show me.”Morgan turned the screen toward him. “Half of Lionwell’s funding came from The Crest’s charitable founda
Chapter 39: The Fall of a Pawn
The storm outside The Imperial Crest was getting worse. Rain hammered the windows with relentless force, and thunder rumbled across the clouds like warning drums. Inside the tower, alarm bells flashed quietly through the internal systems. Most staff did not notice the change, but the few who did moved faster, sensing danger creeping through the veins of the building.John paced the executive suite with a controlled intensity, the kind that made the air vibrate. Morgan sat at the desk, fingers racing over the keyboard as he pulled live feeds from the building’s infrastructure. Rita stood beside him, arms crossed, her eyes sharp and alert.“Tell me you have something,” John said.“I have everything and nothing,” Morgan replied. “The elevator Prosper is in has been taken off the main grid. It was shifted to a shadow line that only high clearance staff can access.”Rita narrowed her eyes. “Which means the Benefactor did not need to be inside the building to do this.”Morgan nodded. “He is
Chapter 40: The Sanctuary Beckons
The night deepened across the city, and the Imperial Crest glowed like a beacon against the dark sky. Inside the tower, the entire executive floor pulsed with a feverish energy. Every department felt the tremor left behind by Prosper Mercy’s death. Whispers spread faster than security updates. No one dared to ask questions aloud, but everyone sensed the truth. Something dangerous had entered their world, and there was no turning back.John stood at the centre of the crisis room, surrounded by screens projecting maps, documents, and live security feeds. He looked like a man preparing for a storm of his own making, calm yet coiled with purpose.Morgan approached with a tablet held close to his chest. “I finished analysing the compound’s layout. You need to see this.”John motioned for him to continue.Morgan placed the tablet on the table, enlarging the blueprint of the Sanctuary. The structure was large, isolated, and heavily fortified, sitting deep within a wooded valley beyond city l