All Chapters of The Heir They Humiliated: Chapter 1
- Chapter 10
14 chapters
CHAPTER 1
“Carter, sign it! You have no fucking choice now!” My mother-in-law, Beatrice, barked as she slammed a sheet of paper onto my desk with enough force to make my coffee rattle.My face went completely ashen. Looking at that document, my heart didn't just beat; it hammered against my ribs like a trapped animal. My eyes darted toward the creaking door of my tiny office. This space was barely a cubicle on the ground floor of the massive corporate headquarters, and the scene Beatrice and her son were making was already drawing a crowd.“Please, not here!” I hissed, my voice a fierce, desperate whisper. Neither of them budged. “Come on, Beatrice, don’t do this at my job.”She snarled at me, her lip curling in pure scorn. “You thought we’d just let it go? We’ve played this cat-and-mouse game for too long. Now sign the fucking divorce agreement and free my daughter from this abominable union this instant!”I knew right then that my already shaky reputation was about to be obliterated. In a com
CHAPTER 2
I refused to believe what my eyes were showing me.Elara? How could she be standing here when she was supposed to be halfway across the country on a business trip? That was the story she’d fed me four days ago before she “left.” I hadn't heard her wrong; the memory was a jagged edge in my mind. But more confusing was her proximity to Julian. Why were they standing so close? What the fuck was happening?I rose to my feet, my legs feeling like they were made of water. “Elara? What are you doing here?” I asked. My voice quivered, and no matter how hard I gritted my teeth, I couldn't control it.She sighed, her face tightening into a mask of visible annoyance. “I didn’t want to come here, Carter. But you were so persistent when my mother and brother showed up that I had to handle this personally. So, here I am.”“I don’t understand. Handle what? How are you even here?” I asked, refusing to look at Julian—the man I had slaved under for over a year. “Jax said something about you being at so
CHAPTER 3
I stood paralyzed in the deluge, my small bag of pathetic belongings clutched to my chest like a shield. I looked around the empty, rain-slicked street, but there was no one else in sight. The old man was looking directly at me.“Quick! Get an umbrella over his head!” he commanded, his voice cutting through the roar of the storm.Before I could blink, a man appeared at my side as if he’d morphed out of the shadows. Suddenly, the heavy, turbulent rain stopped lashing against my skin. A massive black canopy held by a silent, stone-faced guard now shielded me.“Let’s get out of the rain, young master,” the old man said, his tone softening but remaining firm.I shook my head and stepped back, letting the cold water soak my hair again. "Young master?" I shouted. "I don’t know who you are, and I don't know why you keep calling me that. You’ve got the wrong guy. My name is Carter. I’m a nobody. I’m not your guy."The old man didn't look offended. He walked closer, his leather boots splashing
CHAPTER 4
“Have a seat, Master Carter,” Adolph said politely, gesturing toward a sofa that probably cost more than my entire life's earnings.I sat, but my mind was a storm. How was this possible? I had gone from a reject—a man cheated on, humiliated, and kicked out of a company like a stray dog—to the heir of the Van Alen fortune. Was it luck? Or was fate playing a cruel joke before the punchline?“This is too much to process, Mr. Van Alen,” I said, looking at the frail man in the wheelchair. “No one ever mentioned my parents. I’ve lived my life thinking I was a ghost from nowhere.”The old man coughed, a ragged, wet sound that shook his thin frame. “Of course. I do not expect you to bridge two decades of silence in an hour. But I assure you, Carter… my grandson… it is all true. And everything I have built is yours.”I resisted the urge to ask for the exact figures, but looking at the marble pillars and the silent army of guards, I knew I hadn't just hit a gold mine. I had inherited the treasu
CHAPTER 5
The transition was anything but gradual. My grandfather had been relentless, pushing me to absorb decades of corporate strategy and family legacy within a blistering two-week window. I finally understood his haste. Half a month after the night that shattered my old life, I stood in the private gardens once again. But I wasn't there to mourn my parents. There was a fresh grave, the earth still dark and unsettled.The last of the Van Alens was gone. Though our time had been short, the fierce, protective care he’d shown me had given me something I’d never known: a sense of belonging. He had spent his final breaths forging me into a weapon.This was my dynasty now. The consortium, the influence, the sheer, terrifying weight of the Van Alen name belonged to me. Yet, as I stared at his headstone, a hollow ache settled in my chest. His final words echoed in the silence of the garden, a mantra for the man I had to become."Carter, the world has been cruel to you, so now you must be cruel to i
CHAPTER 6
A man in a flashy, high-end suit had attached himself to our small group the moment we entered the building. He hovered near me and Helen, but the bodyguards kept him at a distance, refusing to let anyone else enter the private elevator."Who was that?" I asked Helen as the lift began its smooth, silent ascent."That was Mr. Davis, the CEO of this branch," she replied. "He’s a shark. Strict, efficient, and he’s managed over seven hundred employees here for the last eight years without a single dip in performance."I caught my reflection in the polished brass of the elevator door and grinned. "So, Helen, how many employees do I actually have under me?"She stared at me for a moment, then blew out her cheeks in a helpless, amused exhale. "To be honest, Aaron? You can't count them. Between the subsidiaries, the holdings, and the international branches, it’s impossible to give you a static number."I laughed softly. This was the dream I hadn't dared to have. I controlled thousands of live
CHAPTER 7
Julian and Elara stepped out of the Mercedes, but their eyes didn't land on me, not at first. They were glued to the beast idling a few meters away. I had traded the Lamborghini for something even more exclusive from the Van Alen vault: a Pagani Huayra.There were only a hundred units of this limited-edition masterpiece in the world, and it was worth millions. It looked less like a car and more like a low-slung, carbon-fiber predator."Damn, look at that ride!" Julian whistled, his eyes wide with a hunger he couldn't hide."Let’s not look at what we can't have for too long, baby," Elara said, patting his arm. "We’ll get obsessed."They finally wrenched their eyes away from the car, and that’s when they saw me. I stood there, leaning against the porch railing with a look of quiet, dangerous satisfaction. I had watched them drool over my property, and I loved every second of it."There they are—the couple of the fucking century," Beatrice spat, her voice dripping with mockery directed a
CHAPTER 8
I walked into my office with a deep scowl, my mind a rowdy mess of thoughts. Was Elara really going to send me a wedding invite? It would be the height of stupidity, given how ignorant they were of my new status. But then again, arrogance often blinded people to the truth.“Bunch of fools,” I muttered, rounding my mahogany desk.“Yeah, a real bunch of fools,” a sharp, feminine voice cut through the room, startling me.“Christ, Helen!” I exclaimed, my frown deepening. “When did you walk in, and how the fuck did you even hear that?”She shrugged, leaning against the doorframe. “I have a sleek way of walking, an incredible sense of hearing, and I doubt you would have heard a bomb go off over that intense brooding.”I exhaled and sank into my chair.“What’s the matter, Carter?” Helen asked, sitting opposite me. “Who were those ignorant people?”I regarded her for a moment. Helen was striking, but she usually carried a mask of formal indifference. This was the first time I saw a flicker of
CHAPTER 9
I was relieved the board meeting didn’t last as long as I’d feared. Every suit around that massive, round mahogany desk had stared at me as if I were a glitch in the system. The shock was universal: the new heir to the Van Alen Dynasty was far younger—and far more of a nobody—than they had prepared for.The New York headquarters was a sprawling glass-and-steel cathedral of commerce, towering over the city. With every new property I encountered, my sense of wonder grew. The moment the session concluded, I rose to my feet. A man with a flawless white beard and equally snowy hair caught my hand in a firm, dry grip."How about you join us for a small celebration we’re hosting in your honor, Mr. Van Alen?" the man asked. His green, glassy eyes crinkled with a polished smile. "It would be a pleasure to have you grace the event tonight."A party? For me? My ego, bruised by years of Elara’s dismissals, hummed with a new, dangerous frequency. I kept my composure, nodding slowly. "I’ll certainl
CHAPTER 10
I was back in Kingston three days later. It had been the best "vacation" of my life, though it was the only one I’d ever had. Helen was a revelation; between sharing my bed and the quiet moments in the penthouse, she had taught me more about the Van Alen Dynasty than any textbook could."You need to learn how to shoot, Carter," she said as we rode in a matte-black Bugatti toward the estate."Someday," I replied dismissively. I had no desire to touch the cold steel of a weapon again."You’re going to need it. Range practice. Tomorrow," she insisted. I looked at her, but her expression was a deadpan wall."Fine," I surrendered. "But it doesn't mean I’m going to start carrying one."She just smirked. "You'll get the hang of it.""I won't. Right now, I need a new wardrobe. I’ll find the nearest boutique and—""Christ, you don't need to 'find' anything," she interrupted, looking horrified. "Tell me what you need, and I’ll have the designers deliver a seasonal collection by tonight.""I’m m