Heir to an Indispensable Family

CHAPTER 11

The name that echoed across the football pitch stopped Sarah's heart completely.

James Wesley, mot Hector.

James.

The entire crowd went completely silent. But not because of James winning. Every single pair of eyes in scene slowly turned toward Sarah, who was sitting there trying to catch her breath, chest heaving, lips parted, still trembling from the force of her own scream.

*I love you, Hector Ross.*

Those words were still hanging in the air like smoke that refused to disappear.

Sarah's mind was moving a million miles per second. She didn't know whether to laugh, cry, faint, or simply disappear into the ground beneath her feet. Her eyes darted around the crowd, reading every face staring back at her with shock, amusement, and pure disbelief.

Then she saw James.

He was looking directly at her with a sarcastic smile slowly spreading across his face. That smile snapped something inside Sarah and activated every survival instinct she had.

She shot up from her seat.

“It was a mistake! I don't even know how I mixed up the names!” she announced loudly, forcing a laugh as she pushed through the crowd toward James.

“That good for nothing Hector - how could I even mix up those names? I knew it! I knew you were going to win, James Wesley! I knew it was going to be you!”

She was smiling wide and moving fast, but James just stood there watching her performance with those same calm, calculating eyes.

When she finally reached him, he looked down at her for a long moment. Then something shifted in his expression as the full reality of what just happened crashed into him all at once.

He had just won 25 million dollars.

“I'll pretend I didn't hear what you just screamed out loud a minute ago,” James said quietly, his voice dangerously calm.

“I just won 25 million dollars, and I'm walking up to that podium to collect my prize.” He leaned in slightly closer.

“However, when I come back, I'm going to need a very good explanation for everything. One minute you were chasing Hector. The next minute you were chasing me. And then you screamed out loud that you loved him in front of everybody.” His eyes locked onto hers.

“Have that explanation ready before I come back.”

Without another word, James turned and walked toward the podium as the crowd erupted into applause around him.

Sarah stood there alone, the applause washing over her like waves she couldn't swim against. She knew there was no real explanation that could fix this. But she also knew she needed to take a stand right now before James reached that stage and the moment slipped away from her completely.

“James Wesley!” she called out after him, her voice carrying across the crowd.

“You are the one I love! You know that! You are the one I want to spend the rest of my life with! It was just a mistake of words, a mistake of names - you know that, James Wesley!”

A strange thing started happening in the crowd. People began looking at each other with soft, sympathetic expressions. Whispers started spreading like wildfire.

“She's so beautiful though.”

“A woman like that confessing her love openly like this? It had to be a mistake.”

“Sarah would never call that nobody Hector's name on purpose. It has to be a slip of the tongue.”

Sarah could feel the crowd shifting in her favor, and something ignited behind her eyes. She could work with this. She could win this.

She turned slightly to face the crowd, letting her vulnerability show just enough, letting her beauty do the rest of the work as her voice rang out clear and emotional.

“It is you that I love, James Wesley. It is you!”