The Forgotten Heir's Payback

Chapter 9: The Condition of Surrender

The heavy iron gates clicked shut behind Lucas, leaving Chloe kneeling in the wet mud. Cold rainwater poured over her face, but the pain in her heart was far worse.

For three years, she had looked down on Lucas. She had treated him like a dog that had no value. Now, she was the one begging on the floor while he walked back into his warm house.

Chloe gripped her wet hands together, her teeth clicking fast from the freezing wind. She knew she could not leave. If she went home without a signed paper, her mother would be locked in a prison cell for ten long years. Her family name would be ruined forever in the city.

She dragged herself up from the mud on weak legs. She stood near the closed metal gates, shaking like a wet leaf under the dark night sky.

"Lucas!" Chloe screamed with all the strength left in her throat. "I will do anything! Please! Just tell me what you want!"

Inside the warm house, Lucas stood by the tall glass window. He took another slow sip of his warm coffee. Butler Thomas stood behind him, holding a dark leather folder.

"Young Master," Thomas said in a quiet voice. "She is still standing out there in the storm. Her body will not survive much longer in this weather."

Lucas looked at the dark rain hitting the window glass. "She endured three hours. That is enough to teach her a small lesson about coldness."

Lucas turned around and walked out the front door once more. Butler Thomas held a big umbrella over his head to keep the rain away. They walked back down the driveway to the heavy front gates.

With a soft beep, the iron gates swung open again.

Chloe looked up with wet, swollen eyes. Hope flared in her chest, and she fell back onto her knees on the hard stone pavement. "Lucas! Please! I will swallow my pride! I am begging you on my knees! Tell me what I need to do to save my mother!"

Lucas stopped right in front of her. He looked down at her pale, miserable face without any pity in his eyes.

"You want your mother out of jail, Chloe?" Lucas asked, his voice smooth and cold. "Then we need to talk about real compensation. Your mother stole my mother's precious jade necklace. She tried to sell my family heritage for her own profit."

"I will pay you back!" Chloe sobbed out, wiping her wet face with her hands. "I offered you one hundred thousand dollars!"

Lucas let out a cold, sharp laugh that cut through the sound of the falling rain. "One hundred thousand dollars? That jade necklace is worth ten million dollars on the open market. Your cheap money cannot cover the crime."

Chloe’s heart sank deep into her chest. "We do not have ten million dollars in cash! You know our family business is struggling! Where can we get that kind of money overnight?"

Lucas motioned to Thomas, who opened the dark leather folder he was carrying. He pulled out two crisp white documents and a black ink pen.

"Your mother owns thirty percent of the shares in the Vance family textile company," Lucas said, his voice flat and firm. "That company was started using my late grandfather's secret funds years ago. Your family took the money and pretended you built it all by yourselves."

Chloe stared at the white paper in Thomas's hands. Her mind went blank. "You... you want my mother's business shares?"

"That is my condition," Lucas stated clearly. "Beatrice signs over all her shares in the Vance flagship textile company to me right now. Every single share goes to my name as compensation for the stolen heirlooms and three years of unpaid labor."

"No!" Chloe gasped, shaking her head fast. "If my mother gives away her shares, she will lose her power in the family business! My uncles will kick us out of the company completely!"

Lucas turned his back on her without arguing. "Then let your mother spend ten years in a cold prison cell. Thomas, close the gates."

"Wait! Wait!" Chloe screamed in terror, reaching out her wet hands to grab the edge of Lucas's shoes. "Don't go! I will sign it! I will make her sign it!"

She knew she had no choice. Lucas held all the cards. If her mother went to prison, the family business would collapse anyway under the public shame.

Thomas stepped forward and placed the white documents onto the wet hood of Chloe's red car. He handed her the black pen.

Chloe’s hands trembled so violently that she could barely hold the pen. Rain dropped onto the paper, mixing with her warm tears. She bent over the hood of her car and signed her mother's name as her legal representative, followed by her own name as a witness.

She pressed her thumb onto the red ink pad and stamped her fingerprint at the bottom of the page.

With every line she signed, Chloe felt a piece of her soul being ripped away. The Vance family's proudest asset now belonged to the man she had thrown into the trash just yesterday.

When she finished, Thomas took the signed papers carefully, checking every page under his umbrella. He nodded to Lucas. "The documents are valid, Young Master. The thirty percent stake is officially yours."

Lucas took the papers and looked at Chloe's signature. A cold, satisfied smile touched his lips.

"Thomas, call the police station," Lucas ordered softly. "Tell them to release Beatrice Vance from her cell."

"Thank you, Lucas... thank you," Chloe wept, slumping down against the wheel of her car, completely exhausted and covered in dirt.

Lucas looked down at her one last time. "Do not thank me, Chloe. This is just the beginning of what your family owes me."

Without another word, Lucas turned around and walked back into his warm estate. The heavy iron gates closed behind him with a loud, final click.

It was almost five o'clock in the morning when Chloe drove her red car back to her family mansion. Her hair was messy, her dress was ruined with brown mud, and her body was shaking uncontrollably from the cold.

She walked through the front doors of her house, hoping to take a warm bath and rest her broken body.

However, as soon as she stepped into the living room, the bright ceiling lights turned on.

Julian Sterling was sitting on the leather sofa in the middle of the room. He was wearing a fresh navy suit, holding a hot glass of liquor in his hand. His face was dark, angry, and full of cold threat.

Chloe stopped in her tracks, her voice shaking. "Julian? What are you doing here at this hour?"

Julian stood up slowly from the sofa. He walked over to her, his leather shoes making sharp tapping sounds against the floor. He did not ask if she was okay. He did not ask why she was covered in mud and rain.

Julian reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and threw it hard onto the table between them.

"My father called me ten minutes ago," Julian spat out, his eyes glaring at her like a snake. "The news reporters are already talking about your mother's arrest at the hotel last night. If her name shows up on the morning news shows at eight o'clock, our engagement is over immediately!"

Chloe gasped, holding her cold chest. "Julian, please! I just got the release papers from Lucas! My mother is coming home!"

Julian raised his finger, pointing it right at her nose with pure disgust. "Listen to me clearly, Chloe! If your family ruins my name again today, the wedding is canceled, and the Sterling family will pull out all business partnerships with the Vances by noon!"