Heir to an Indispensable Family

Chapter 18

The moment Hector's words landed, the announcer's jaw tightened so hard anyone close could almost hear it.

He knew.

He knew he could not disobey. Not this man. Not Young Master Hector. Not even if the entire world was watching and every instinct in his body was screaming at him to do otherwise.

Without wasting another second, he lowered his head back into that perfect ninety degree bow and held it there, not daring to raise it a single inch without permission.

James watched the whole thing unfold with growing bewilderment twisting across his face.

He stared at the announcer. Then at Hector. Then back at the announcer again. His mind was working furiously behind his eyes, trying to piece together something that simply refused to make sense no matter which angle he approached it from.

Why? Why was this man bowing like that? Why was a professional announcer, a man of obvious standing and authority, repeatedly lowering his head to someone like Hector? What on earth was going on here?

James opened his mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it again.

He decided not to push that particular thread. Not yet. There were more important things to address.

“There's no need for all of that,” James said to the announcer, gesturing dismissively at the bow with a wave of his hand. His voice had taken on the tone of someone trying very hard to sound unbothered when they are anything but.

“I'm sure whatever is making you bow your head has absolutely nothing to do with him. There must be something else going on that I'm not aware of.”

He straightened his jacket and lifted his chin.

“More importantly, when exactly is the representative from the Ross Corporation arriving? Because I am very eager to meet them, claim what is rightfully mine, and get on with the rest of my evening.”

The announcer said nothing.

He remained exactly as he was, head lowered, jaw tight, every muscle in his face pulled taut like a wire stretched to its absolute limit. But deep inside his mind, a storm was raging with a ferocity that would have made James Wesley's blood run cold if he could have heard even a fraction of it.

"These fools. These absolute fly's. I want to reach out and physically remove these people from my sight. They are standing here dismissing him. Talking to the Young Master, the Young CEO himself, like he is nothing. Like he is beneath them. Like he is someone they have the right to look down upon."

He drew a slow, controlled breath through his nose.

"And they think a representative is coming. They have absolutely no idea. No idea whatsoever that the representative was never coming because the representative is already standing right here on this stage soaking wet from the water this fool just poured on him."

“Well,” Hector said, his voice coming through the microphone smooth and unhurried, cutting effortlessly through the tension the way only someone with absolutely nothing to prove ever could, “the representative from the Ross Corporation will not be coming.”

He let those words hang in the air for exactly the right amount of time.

“Actually, the representative from the Ross Corporation—”

The reaction was immediate and explosive.

Sarah's face drained of something she couldn't name. She stared at Hector with her lips slightly parted and her eyes flickering with something caught halfway between fury and a fear she absolutely refused to acknowledge.

The crowd erupted.

Laughter first. Then voices overlapping each other from every direction.

“What is he talking about?!”

“Is he serious right now?”

“He must be completely delusional!”

“Impersonating the Ross Corporation? That is a PUNISHABLE OFFENSE!”

“Someone needs to remove him from that stage immediately!”

“Lock him up! This is criminal!”

The laughter grew louder, spreading through the crowd like a fever. People were shaking their heads, nudging each other, pointing at Hector with expressions that mixed amusement with genuine outrage.

And James, James started laughing the loudest of all.

It began as a sharp exhale through his nose. Then a chuckle. Then a full, open, completely unrestrained laugh that filled the space around the podium and echoed back at him from every direction.

“So that's where we are going with this!” James managed between laughs, his eyes bright with cruel amusement as he looked at Hector standing there soaking wet and perfectly calm.

“That is your next move? That is the grand finale of whatever this performance is?” He wiped the corner of his eye and pointed directly at Hector.

“What's next? Are you going to tell us that you are the boss of the Ross Corporation? Or better yet—” he spread his arms wide in a theatrical gesture to the crowd, “—are you going to tell us that because of some personal vendetta, because of the hatred you have built up in that sad little heart of yours, the twenty five million dollars I just won has somehow been CANCELLED?”

He shook his head and laughed again, turning to the crowd to invite them to laugh with him.

“Is THAT what you are going to say next?”