The Conglomerate Heir Awakens

9

Clara looked like someone who had aged a decade in a handful of days.

Her eyes were red and swollen, her cheekbones sharper than before, and her hair—usually perfect—hung limp against her face. The apartment was a mess of papers, cold coffee cups, and half-shredded documents she’d tried and failed to destroy.

Sleep hadn’t touched her in nearly seventy hours. Every time she closed her eyes, the world crashed in again.

The news.

The police.

Her family withdrawing support.

Her daughter, whom she hadn’t been allowed to see since the investigation started.

And Granger—Granger of all people—lying handcuffed in a holding cell as the city tore him apart.

Clara stood in the middle of her living room with her phone clutched so tight it shook. She couldn’t stop pacing. Her breath came in short bursts, as if the walls themselves were closing in.

Her company stock had plummeted. If only she hadn’t joined companies with Granger, she wouldn’t have been caught up in the mess she found herself.

Her only crime was having Granger associated to her company. She could only break free from the contract tying her to Granger if she signs with another group. But right now, no one was willing to sign with her company for fear of being caught up in the whole mess.

Her world was collapsing, and for the first time in her life, no one stood between her and the fall. She was now starting to miss Ethan. At times like this, she needed her husband more than ever.

But she knew it was impossible, she had killed her husband with her very own hands, not knowing things with Granger will end up this way. All their plans to get married after the forty days of mourning Ethan was over, has now been shattered.

She had no one else to turn to, all except one person.

The one called Ethan Vale; the heir of the Vale Group.

He was the only person big enough to help her, perhaps he might agree to sign her company, she doesn’t care what he demands in return.

Clara stopped pacing and forced herself to breathe. She could fix this. She had always fixed things. She reached for her phone like it was a lifeline, scrolling through her contacts until she reached the private number she’d been given.

Her finger hesitated.

What if he refused?

What if he already knew she was sinking and planned to let her drown?

She pressed the call button anyway.

The line rang.

Once.

Twice.

Her stomach twisted. “Please,” she whispered to the empty room, “please just pick up…”

A soft click.

A man’s voice answered, calm and steady. “This is Ethan from the Vale Group. Speak.”

Clara nearly collapsed in relief. “Sir—Mr. Vale—thank you, thank you for answering. I—I’m in a terrible situation. Please I need help. My shareholder has put me in a dangerous situation, and I need to break my contract with him, but no one will sign with my company.”

The voice didn’t react.

Clara continued, desperate, breath shaky. “Please. I’ll give you eighty percent of my company. I’ll sign anything. Just clear the charges against me.”

A quiet pause followed.

Clara held her breath. “Alright, I’ll give you hundred percent, just let me have a job in the company.”

Finally, the man spoke.

“Hundred percent will do.”

Her knees buckled. She grabbed the edge of her table to stay upright. “Thank you. Thank you. You don’t know—”

“But,” he added, his tone shifting into something cold and precise, “your part ends there. Once the contract is signed, you will step down publicly.”

Clara nodded rapidly, even though he couldn’t see her. “Yes—yes, of course. Whatever you need. Just get the charges off me. I can’t—if I go to prison, I’ll never see my daughter again.”

“You won’t face those charges,” he said.

Clara closed her eyes and let out a sobbed breath. Her chest ached from relief. For a moment she thought maybe she could breathe again. Maybe this nightmare wasn’t permanent.

But then the man continued:

“However, Mrs. Clara, don’t misunderstand something important.”

Her pulse stopped cold.

“I’m not doing this for your sake.”

Her voice trembled. “What… what do you mean…?”

There was no answer.

The line went dead.

Clara stared at her phone in horror. Her mind raced, replaying his exact words. Something about his voice felt familiar. An echo of a life she thought she had erased.

Her fingers trembled uncontrollably.

“Ethan…?”

But the name wouldn’t fully form. The thought wouldn’t solidify. She refused to let it.

“No, I must be imagining things. It can’t be.”

Because if the man who held her fate was Ethan…

Then every breath she took now was borrowed.

Clara dropped her phone and sank to the floor, staring blankly ahead.

She thought she’d found a savior.

She didn’t realize she had handed all of her company directly to the man she betrayed and thought was dead.

She didn’t realize the charges dropped today was just a show. The real charges was yet to surface online.

Because Ethan wasn’t saving her life.

He was just clearing the stage for a far more devastating downfall—

One she would never see coming.

***

After the call with Clara, Ethan stared at the video clip taken on the night where he had been pushed down the cliff by Granger. The video showcased the face of everyone present that night.

Thanks to Ethan’s loyal team, he had no idea he could get the footage of that night from the dashcam of Granger’s car.

Although Clara was cleared of the charges of being involved in corruption by Granger’s company, she doesn’t know there’s another charges of murder that will have her locked up in prison forever.

She thought she was now free, little did she know that Ethan was just starting with his revenge. He would break her till she feels the same pain he felt the day he was murdered.