Heir to an Indispensable Family

Chapter 20

Hector didn't even blink at the laughter still rolling through the crowd.

He simply waited for it to settle, his expression unchanged, his posture relaxed, his eyes carrying the quiet certainty of someone who has already said what needed to be said and has absolutely no interest in defending it.

Then he raised the microphone one final time.

“Since that has been established,” Hector said, his voice smooth and unhurried, cutting cleanly through the dying laughter like a blade through silk, “the lottery is cancelled. Effective immediately.”

The laughter began to fade.

“The twenty five million dollars will be placed on standby. It will not be awarded through a lottery draw. Not today. Not through this process.” He paused and let his eyes move slowly across the crowd.

“I have come to the personal conclusion that lottery systems carry a fundamental flaw. Money of this magnitude can too easily fall into the wrong hands. Into the hands of people who have already announced, publicly and without shame, exactly how they intend to use it.” His gaze settled briefly on James.

“Bullying. Lavishing. Destroying people who cannot defend themselves.”

The scene had gone very, very quiet now.

The laughter was completely gone.

“Going forward, the twenty five million dollars will be channeled directly and personally by me. If you have a genuine business proposal, a solid investment idea, a vision that requires funding to become something real bring it forward. The money will go to the person who actually deserves it. The person who will build something with it rather than weaponize it.”

He lowered the microphone.

“The lottery is cancelled. That is my declaration.”

He turned and handed the microphone back to the announcer with a simple, clean gesture.

For three full seconds, nobody in the entire scene made a single sound.

Then James Wesley found his voice.

He started laughing.

Not the genuine laughter from before. This was something harder and uglier, the laughter of someone who is furious but refuses to show it any other way.

“LOOK AT THIS FOOL!” James bellowed, his voice cracking slightly at the edges with barely contained rage.

“You crazy bastard! Who the HELL do you think you are?! Who gave you the right to stand up there and say any of that?!” He was shaking his head rapidly, his hands gesturing wildly.

“You think I'm going to fall for this? You think ANY of us are going to fall for this garbage? Let me tell you something — NOBODY is falling for this! Not a single person here!”

Sarah had already started climbing the steps of the podium, her face twisted with outrage, her voice joining James's like a second blade swinging from the other direction.

“Yes! You absolute fool! CANCEL the lottery?!” she shrieked, her composure completely and utterly gone now.

“Who do you think you are? Do you genuinely believe the Ross Corporation is something you can just blackmail and manipulate with your mouth?! Do you think we are stupid enough to believe a single word coming out of you?!”

She reached the top of the steps and pointed directly at Hector. “You deserve to be punished for this. Severely punished. This is criminal!”

The crowd was stirring again, the energy shifting and uncertain, people looking at each other trying to decide what to believe and what to dismiss.

The announcer stood perfectly still through all of it.

He looked at Hector, hector looked back at him.

And gave one small, quiet nod.

That was all, that was everything.

The announcer turned toward James Wesley slowly, the way a storm turns before it makes landfall. His face had transformed into something completely unrecognizable from the professional, composed figure who had been running the event all evening. What was on his face now was not anger exactly.

It was something far more dangerous than anger.

It was the absolute, ice cold certainty of a man who has been given permission.

He walked toward James with measured, deliberate steps.

James opened his mouth to say something else.

The slap landed before a single word could escape.

The sound of it cracked across the football pitch like a gunshot, sharp and clean and impossibly loud in the sudden silence. James's head snapped sideways from the force of it, his whole body staggering half a step to the right.

For one stunned moment, James just stood there blinking, his hand flying up to his face, his mind clearly unable to process what had just happened.

Then the second slap landed.

Harder than the first.

The sound of it silenced every single remaining whisper in the entire football pitch. Every voice. Every murmur. Every breath that had been building back up after the first blow.

Complete and total silence, nobody moved.

Nobody spoke.

The announcer stood directly in front of James Wesley, close enough that James could see every detail of his expression. And what James saw there made the color drain slowly and completely from his face.

The announcer's voice came out low and quiet and absolutely lethal.

“Do you wish to die?”