Cheated & Despised, now the Billionaire Heir

Chapter Five

The room was thick with silence.

Lara’s cold gaze locked onto Manager Hensley, her fingers twitching at her sides. Then—

SMACK!

The crisp sound of her palm meeting his cheek echoed through the store.

Hensley staggered, clutching his face, eyes wide with pure disbelief.

Blanche and Yvonne gasped audibly.

The clerk nearly dropped to his knees.

Ethan? He just smirked.

Hensley, still dazed, scrambled to recover. His mind worked at lightning speed, and suddenly, a brilliant conclusion formed in his head—this man, this pathetic errand boy, must be Lara’s personal servant!

He immediately bowed.

“Madam Lara! I—I had no idea your assistant was here to collect something on your behalf! Please forgive my ignorance!”

Lara’s lips twitched in irritation. “My assistant?"

Hensley nodded rapidly, sweat forming at his temples.

"Yes, of course! A noblewoman like you wouldn’t waste time buying things yourself! This lowly servant should’ve spoken up sooner!”

Ethan’s smirk deepened. Oh, this just keeps getting better.

Lara’s expression darkened. “You absolute piggy.”

Before Hensley could process the insult, another voice boomed from the entrance.

“What the hell is going on here?!”

Heads snapped toward the doorway as an older, well-dressed man stormed in.

The store owner.

His sharp eyes darted to Lara, and his face instantly lost all color.

“M-Madam Lara! You’ve honored my humble store with your presence?!” The man practically tripped over himself in an attempt to bow deeply.

"I wasn’t informed you’d be visiting! Had I known, I would have personally welcomed you at the door!”

Lara barely spared him a glance. “You should be more concerned about how your useless employees treat customers.”

The owner stiffened. “What… what happened?”

Lara gestured lazily toward Hensley and the clerk. “They disrespected the owner of this black card.”

The owner’s face twisted in horror.

Hensley visibly shrank, and the clerk looked ready to pass out.

The owner turned on them with the fury of a thousand suns.

"You worthless piggys! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!” His voice thundered through the store.

"You dare offend Madam Lara?!”

Hensley began trembling violently. “S-Sir, I didn’t—”

“Shut your mouth!” The owner’s hand sliced through the air like a guillotine.

"You’re both fired!”

The clerk collapsed into a pathetic heap on the floor. “Sir, please! I—”

“I said OUT!” The owner barked.

Hensley’s mouth flapped uselessly, his once-arrogant demeanor crumbling into dust. He stumbled toward the exit, dragging the sniveling clerk behind him.

Just as things were settling, Blanche’s voice cut through the air. "Oh, please. What’s with all this ridiculous fuss?”

The entire room stiffened.

Yvonne rolled her eyes dramatically. “Yes, honestly. Who does this nobody woman even think she is?”

Ethan nearly choked on his own amusement. "Oh, this is going to be fun."

Lara’s eyebrow twitched. “Nobody?”

Blanche folded her arms. “Yes. If you think slapping a third-rate manager makes you powerful, you’re delusional. Some people are actually important, not just pretending to be.”

The owner’s soul nearly left his body. Blanche just insulted Lara. In front of Lara.

The store fell into an icy silence.

The owner, now sweating profusely, whirled on Blanche. “You—you stupid woman!”

Blanche staggered backward, utterly shocked. “Excuse me?!”

The owner threw a shaking hand toward the door. “Get out! Now! Before you dig your own grave even deeper!”

Yvonne gasped. “You’re kicking us out?!”

The owner’s face was practically purple with stress. “Yes! Immediately! Get out of my store and never come back!”

Blanche sputtered. “You dare—"

Lara stepped forward, her voice calm but lethal. “Leave. Now.”

Blanche felt an instinctive chill crawl up her spine. Something about this woman’s presence was unnatural, suffocating.

Without another word, she grabbed Yvonne’s wrist and stormed out.

Blanche and Yvonne stood outside the store, their expressions frozen in a mix of shock and outrage.

Thrown out. Like common beggars.

The humiliation burned through them like acid.

Blanche’s fingers twitched with anger, her perfectly manicured nails digging into her palms. “That… that bitch! Who the hell does she think she is?!”

Yvonne, still reeling, tossed her hair over her shoulder, trying to regain some semblance of dignity. “She must be some new money slut Ethan latched onto! That’s the only explanation!”

Blanche’s face twisted with fury. There was no way that filthy stray suddenly had power of his own.

“No,” she spat.

"Of course. A worthless insect like him could never rise on his own. He must have attached himself to a wealthy woman like a parasite!”

Yvonne sneered. “And the worst part? She let him buy the herb with her money! Like some pathetic stray dog she took pity on.”

Blanche seethed, her pride aching more than anything. Ethan, who she had trampled on for years, had the audacity to humiliate her? In public?

Her eyes narrowed. “No. We can’t let this stand.”

She yanked her phone from her purse, nearly cracking the screen as she tapped furiously.

The line rang a few times before a sharp, cold voice answered. "Mother. What is it?”

Blanche immediately switched to her victim act. “Oh, my poor baby! You won’t believe what just happened!”

Vanessa sighed, unimpressed. “Mother, I’m busy. Just get to the point.”

Blanche dramatically gasped. “Your precious Bloodshade Root—it’s gone!”

A pause. “What do you mean?”

Yvonne snatched the phone, her voice dripping with venom. “We went to buy it, but some lowly cockroach got to it first.”

Vanessa’s tone turned sharp. “Who?”

Blanche gritted her teeth. “Ethan. That mangy, useless Piggy."

Silence.

Vanessa’s stomach dropped.

That couldn’t be right.

Ethan? Alive?

She scoffed. “That’s impossible. He’s dead.”

Yvonne giggled cruelly. “That’s what we thought! But no, somehow, that trash survived.”

Vanessa’s fingers tightened around her phone. The world around her suddenly felt off-balance.

Ethan was supposed to be finished. Buried. Forgotten.

Blanche’s voice lowered, a sinister edge creeping in. “Not only did he survive, but he’s already found a new woman to cling to.”

Vanessa’s breath hitched. "What?”

Yvonne smirked. “He’s latched onto some rich bitch. Walked into the store with a black card—definitely hers, not his—and acted like he owned the place.”

Blanche hissed. “That woman slapped the manager, got the owner to fire people on the spot, and then had us thrown out.”

Vanessa’s chest tightened.

Ethan… alive? And not just alive, but already climbing again?

No. No. That wasn’t possible.

The Ethan she knew was a pathetic, obedient Piggy .

A disposable tool.

A man who had nothing.

And now… this?

Her grip on the phone was so tight her knuckles turned white.

Blanche’s voice snapped her back to reality.

“"My darling, you must do something! That herb—it was meant for the new Chairman of Aurelius Group!"

Though it's a gift for the chairman of Aurelius, it doesn't mean that if they don't have it, their family reputation will be ruined.

They just want to use it to get on the good side of the new chairman.

Vanessa’s mind raced. The Chairman.

A man with enough influence to change the balance of power in the city.

Her heart pounding in her chest.

Ethan.

You think you can crawl out of the gutter so easily?