Heir to an Indispensable Family

Hector's body was shaking as he waited for his girlfriend, Sarah Hendrix, to call his name on stage. He wanted to hear her tell everyone that he was the person who helped build the app she was showing to the tech investors. More than that, he wanted her to say he was the one who stood by her side through everything.

At that moment his body started shaking even more when he thought about what would happen next.

Sarah Hendrix calling out his name in front of everyone - it would be the best moment of his life. She was the school's three-time beauty queen and still the most beautiful girl on campus. Being recognized by Sarah Hendrix felt like a dream he never thought would come true. Yet here he was, a nobody in everyone's eyes, and he was actually Sarah Hendrix's boyfriend.

He remembered wanting to make their relationship public from day one. But Sarah had other plans. She wanted to wait until all the school drama was over, then nobody could mess with their love, their lives, their business anymore.

Hector thought about her words back then and nodded to himself. Sarah was right about everything. If they had gone public too early, too many people would have come after Sarah just because they didn't like the idea of them together. Even worse, plenty of people would have made his life hell too.

Now, thinking about this moment, Hector couldn't stop himself from smiling. Finally, the school exams were done and finished. Now everyone was about to get the biggest shock of their life.

At that moment his cheeks started raising uncontrollably now, Just then Sarah Hendrix's voice cut through the air.

“Yes, I had a couple of people help me along the way, but one person helped me with most of the things I needed.” She paused and smiled brightly.

“And that person is my boyfriend, James Wesley!”

Immediately Hector felt like someone just punched him in the stomach. His whole world stopped spinning. Sarah just called James her boyfriend. James Wesley. Not him.

He stood there, mouth hanging open, trying to make sense of what he just heard.

This had to be some kind of mistake. Maybe he heard wrong. Maybe she said the wrong name by accident.

But deep down, he knew exactly what she said.

James Wesley. The same James who slept with a different girl every week. The same James who bragged about all his hookups in the locker room. Sure, Hector knew Sarah talked to James sometimes, she even call him a bully, a womanizer, but he never thought anything was going on between them. Why would there be? James was just another guy in their class.

Hector's chest got tight. He couldn't breathe right. The air felt thick and heavy in his lungs.

Then, like the whole thing wasn't bad enough already, James jumped up on stage with that stupid grin on his face. Sarah walked right over to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him full on the lips right there in front of everyone.

At that Then crowd let out a loud “Woooah! Wooah!!” when Sarah and James kissed, but Hector just stood there like a statue. His feet felt glued to the floor. His arms hung by his sides like dead weight.

In two whole years of dating Sarah Hendrix, he had never even held her hand. Not once. She always pulled away when he tried to hug her, telling him they needed to wait. Kissing her? holding her so tightly that was something he only dreamed about late at night, wondering what it would feel like.

He always thought Sarah was different from other girls. Pure. Special. The kind of girl who saved herself and didn't do things like this in front of people. But here she was, pressing her lips against James like she'd done it a thousand times before.

Heat started building up in Hector's chest. His hands slowly turned into fists. The anger wasn't really about Sarah calling James her boyfriend - that part still felt like a bad dream. What made his blood boil was how she was doing all of this right here, right now, knowing he was standing in the crowd watching every single second of it.

Could it be she doesn't realize he was here seeing everything, or she doesn't think highly of him.

At that moment his jaw tightened as he said himself.

"She doesn't think highly of me, it's so clear, that was why she's doing this, she never took the relationship seriously, I was just played like a fool."

Hector couldn't wrap his head around how cold Sarah's heart really was. All this time, he thought he knew her. He thought she cared about him, even just a little bit. But watching her up there, acting like he didn't exist, made him see the truth for the first time.

When Sarah finally pulled away from James, she turned to face the tech investors with that same sweet smile she used to give Hector in private. Her voice came out smooth and confident.

“Everyone, I want you to meet James Wesley. He's the brilliant mind who helped me build this entire app from the ground up. None of this would have been possible without him.”

Hector's eyes went wide. His mouth dropped open again. That was his work she was talking about. His late nights. His code. His ideas that she took and called her own. All those times she came to his tiny dorm room, acting sweet and grateful, asking him to fix this bug or he should use his idea to add that feature or create something unique. All those times she promised him credit when the time was right.

Then Something snapped inside his chest. The anger exploded out of him before he could stop it.

“That's a lie!” Hector's voice cracked as he shouted from somewhere in the middle of the crowd. Immediately People's heads turned to look for whoever was yelling.

“She's lying to all of you!”