Heir to an Indispensable Family

Chapter 17

Hector's voice came through the microphone one more time, quiet and deliberate.

“Is that what you really want to do, James?”

James's eyes narrowed.

“If the lottery money is presented to you,” Hector continued, his tone almost curious, “that is what you plan to do with it? Lock me up? Make me disappear?”

James didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second. He nodded his head sharply, his jaw set, his entire body radiating absolute certainty.

“Yes. Absolutely.” His voice was ice cold and utterly confident.

“Or do you want me to do more than that? Actually—” He paused and a dangerous smile spread across his face. “Do you want me to start right now?”

Before anyone could process what was happening, James turned and started walking directly toward Hector with long, purposeful strides. His eyes scanned the podium quickly and landed on exactly what he was looking for.

A glass of water sitting on the edge of the table.

He picked it up without breaking stride, his fingers wrapping around the glass with the calm certainty of someone who had already decided exactly what was about to happen and felt absolutely no hesitation about doing it.

The crowd gasped.

James walked straight up to Hector, who was still standing there holding the microphone, still perfectly calm, still watching James with that same unbothered expression that had been driving James insane all evening.

And then James lifted the glass.

And poured the entire thing directly over Hector's head.

The water cascaded down over Hector's hair, his face, his shoulders, soaking through his shirt and dripping onto the stage beneath his feet. The sound of it hitting the wooden platform was the only sound in the entire scene for three full seconds.

Nobody moved.

Then James dropped the glass.

It hit the floor and shattered into a dozen glittering pieces that scattered across the stage like broken stars. The sound of it breaking echoed through the stunned silence like a gunshot.

James stepped even closer, his face now inches from Hector's, his voice low and venomous and absolutely dripping with contempt.

“Well?” James hissed.

“Are you loving it now? You think you can just walk up here and make a fool of yourself in front of everyone? You think you can stand at this podium and play whatever pathetic little game you're trying to play?”

He leaned in even closer, his breath hot against Hector's soaking wet face. “That is NOT going to happen. Not tonight. Not ever.”

He straightened up slightly but kept his eyes locked on Hector like a predator making sure its prey understood exactly who was in control.

“You've been claiming for weeks that YOU were the one who did all the coding for Sarah's app. That YOU built everything from the ground up. You lied about absolutely everything and now you want me to stand here and believe whatever bullshit you're about to try and sell?” James shook his head slowly, his smile turning colder. “You deserve FAR more than what I just gave you. And I promise you, James Wesley always keeps his promises. You're going to get absolutely everything that's coming to you.”

The crowd was still frozen in complete shock, every single person staring at the stage with wide eyes and open mouths like they were watching something they couldn't quite believe was real.

But then something shifted.

The announcer, who had been standing in that perfect ninety degree bow for what felt like an eternity, who had kept his head lowered and his mouth shut through everything that had happened—His jaw tightened.

The moment that water had been poured over Hector's head, something inside him had snapped like a steel cable pulled too tight. He had felt it happen. Felt the exact second his composure had begun cracking at the edges.

And now he could not hold it anymore.

His head lifted.

Slowly. Deliberately. Like a blade being drawn from its sheath.

When he finally raised his eyes and locked them onto James Wesley, his voice came out low and deadly and absolutely vibrating with barely controlled fury.

“What the hell did you just do?”

The words hung in the air like a threat that hadn't quite finished materializing yet.

James turned toward him with a sneer already forming on his lips, clearly about to respond with something equally sharp and cutting.

But before he could get a single word out—Hector raised one hand.

Just one hand. A simple, calm gesture. Not aggressive. Not rushed. Just a single raised hand that somehow carried more authority than anything else that had happened all evening.

“Don't worry,” Hector said quietly, his voice perfectly even despite the water still dripping down his face.

“I will handle this myself.”