The Heir's Ascent: From Rags to Fortune.

CHAPTER SEVEN

After we hung up, I sat there for a while, staring out at the city. A week ago, I'd been eating ramen and working the night shift at Walmart. Now I was waiting for a BMW to be delivered to my luxury loft while my CEO discussed my enrollment at one of the country's top universities.

It still didn't feel real.

I opened my laptop to check if Victoria had sent those documents. Instead, I found another email from Sarah.

*Subject: I'm not giving up

*Ethan, I know you were there today when I came to your building. The security guard told me you were home but "unavailable." I get it. You don't want to see me. But I'm not going away.*

*I need to explain what happened. It's not what you think. There are things you don't know about Dylan, about why I did what I did.*

*I'm losing my apartment in two days. I have nowhere to go. I know I don't deserve your help but I'm desperate.*

*Please. Just respond. Even if it's just to tell me to go to hell. At least then I'll know you read this.*

I stared at the message, anger rising in my chest. She knew where I lived now. She'd come to my building. How long before she started camping out in the lobby?

Against my better judgment, I hit reply.

*What part of you sleeping with my brother isn't what I think?*

The response came within seconds.

*Oh my god, you responded. Thank you. Please, can we talk in person? I can explain everything. There are things you don't understand. Please. Just five minutes.*

*No.*

*Ethan, please. I'm losing my apartment. I have nowhere to go. I know I don't deserve your help but I'm desperate. Can't we at least talk about this?*

*You should have thought about that before you cheated on me.*

*It wasn't like that! Dylan manipulated me. He told me you were cheating on me with someone from work. He showed me fake text messages. I was hurt and angry and I made a mistake. Please, you have to believe me.*

I stared at the message, anger turning to disbelief. Did she really think I was that stupid? That I'd fall for such an obvious lie?

*Even if that were true, which it's not, you still chose to sleep with him. In your apartment. On the couch I helped you pick out. So no, Sarah. I don't have to believe you, and I'm not going to help you.*

*You're really going to let me become homeless? After everything we had together?*

*We didn't have anything together. I had feelings for you. You had access to my wallet.*

*That's not fair! I loved you!*

*You loved what I could give you. And when Dylan could give you more, you jumped ship. That's not love. That's opportunism.*

There was a long pause. Then:

*Fine. You want to be an asshole? Be an asshole. But don't come crying to me when you realize what you've lost.*

*I won't.*

I closed my laptop before I could respond further.

For a few minutes, I felt good. Powerful. Like I'd finally stood up for myself.

Then doubt crept in.

What if she was telling the truth? What if Dylan had manipulated her?

No. I shook my head, forcing the thought away. I'd seen them together. Seen the way she looked at him, the way she'd defended him. That wasn't manipulation. That was choice.

An hour later, another email arrived.

*From: [e-mail]*

*Subject: The whole truth*

*Ethan,*

*Since you clearly won't meet me in person, I'm going to tell you everything here. And I'm begging you to actually read it.*

*I know you're angry. You have every right to be. What you saw that night was horrible, and I don't blame you for hating me. But I need you to understand the full story.*

*Dylan has been pursuing me for months. Long before anything happened between us. At first, I turned him down—I told him I was with you, that I loved you. But he didn't stop. He kept showing up at my work, texting me, buying me things.*

*Then, about three weeks ago, he told me something that made me question everything. He said you were only with me because you felt sorry for me. That you'd told him I was "charity work" and that you were planning to break up with me once you'd saved enough money to feel like you'd done your good deed.*

*I didn't want to believe him, but he showed me text messages. Conversations between you and him where you called me "high maintenance" and complained about how much money I cost you. He had receipts, screenshots, everything.*

*I was devastated. I confronted him, and he was so kind, so understanding. He told me I deserved better than someone who saw me as a burden. He made me feel valued, appreciated. And yes, I let things go too far. I slept with him. And I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry.*

*But then I found out he faked those messages. I saw the photo editing app on his phone. He manufactured everything to manipulate me into sleeping with him so he could hurt you. Because that's what this was really about—hurting you. Not me. You.*

*I know I should have been smarter. I should have come to you first, asked you directly. But I was hurt and confused and Dylan was there, telling me everything I wanted to hear.*

*I'm not asking you to take me back. I know I've destroyed any chance of that. But I am asking you to please, please reconsider the eviction. I have nowhere else to go. My parents won't take me in—they're furious with me for dropping out of school. I've applied to every apartment in my budget, but none of them will accept me without a cosigner.*

*I made a mistake. A huge, unforgivable mistake. But I don't think I deserve to be homeless because of it.*

*If you ever cared about me at all, please help me.*

*Sarah*

I read the email twice, my emotions a tangled mess.

Part of me wanted to believe her. Wanted to think that she'd been manipulated, that this wasn't entirely her fault. That the person I'd thought I loved had actually existed.

But another part—the part that had grown stronger over the past few days—knew better.

Even if Dylan had manipulated her, even if he'd faked those texts, she'd still chosen to sleep with him without talking to me first. She'd still let him touch her, kiss her, undress her. She'd still looked at him with desire while I was working a double shift to buy her a handbag.

And now she wanted me to save her from the consequences.

I opened a new email addressed to Victoria.

*Sarah's claiming Dylan manipulated her into cheating on me. Saying he faked text messages to make her think I was trash-talking her. Is there any way to verify if that's true?*

Victoria's response came within minutes.

*I can have our IT team look into it. But even if it's true, does it matter? She still made the choice. And she only came clean after you cut her off and she faced eviction. If Dylan hadn't faked those messages, would she have told you? Or would she have just kept sleeping with him?*

*She has a point though. About being homeless.*

*Ethan, you're not responsible for her housing situation. You helped her with rent for months while she was cheating on you. You don't owe her anything. In fact, she owes you.*

*I know. But still...*

*Let me ask you something: if you were still broke, still working at Walmart, still living in that storage room—would she be begging you for help? Or would she have moved on to the next guy who could afford her rent?*

I stared at the message, knowing the answer.

*She'd have moved on.*

*Exactly. So stop feeling guilty. She made her choices. Now she gets to live with them.*

Victoria was right. I knew she was right.

But it still felt wrong to let someone become homeless, even someone who'd hurt me.

My phone rang. Unknown number.

Against my better judgment, I answered. "Sarah—"

"It's not Sarah." Dylan's voice, smug and irritating as always. "It's me."

My grip on the phone tightened. "How did you get this number?"

"I have my ways. Look, Sarah's pretty upset. Says you're letting her get evicted just because she chose me over you." He laughed. "Kinda harsh, don't you think?"

"What do you want, Dylan?"

"Just checking in. Seeing how you're doing. Word on the street is you've come into some money. New apartment, new clothes..." He whistled. "Must be nice."

"How do you know about any of that?"

"I have my sources. Question is, where'd you get the cash? Rob a bank? Sell drugs?" He laughed again. "Come on, Ethan. We both know you're nobody. So either you're doing something illegal, or you're getting catfished by some scammer who's going to clean you out."

"Believe what you want."

"Oh, I will. But here's the thing—Sarah's actually a good person. She made a mistake, sure, but she doesn't deserve to be homeless. So how about you man up and help her out? For old times' sake?"

"Old times' sake?" I couldn't help it—I laughed. "You mean the old times when you stole my girlfriend and humiliated me in her apartment? Those old times?"

"Hey, I didn't steal anyone. She came to me. Because I could give her things you couldn't." His voice turned nasty. "But now suddenly you have money, and she comes crawling back to you. Funny how that works, isn't it?"

"What's your point, Dylan?"

"My point is you're being a petty little bitch. So what if she slept with me? You two weren't married. She was free to make her own choices. And now you're punishing her for it like some kind of spoiled child."

The hypocrisy was staggering. "You're seriously lecturing me about being petty? You brought her to that apartment specifically to hurt me."

"That was different. This is about Sarah's life. Her home." He paused. "Look, here's what's going to happen. You're going to call off the eviction. You're going to help Sarah get back on her feet. And in exchange, I won't make your life difficult."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I'm giving you advice. Help Sarah, or things get uncomfortable for you. Your choice."

He hung up.

I sat there, phone in hand, rage and disbelief coursing through me.

He was threatening me. Actually threatening me.

I should have expected it. Dylan had always been entitled, always assumed he could bully his way through life. But this was different. This was him trying to manipulate me into helping the woman who'd cheated on me.

I immediately texted Victoria.

*Dylan just called threatening me. Says he'll "make things difficult" if I don't help Sarah.*

Three dots appeared immediately, then disappeared, then appeared again.

*Give me ten minutes.*

I didn't know what she had in mind, but I trusted her.

Exactly eight minutes later, my phone rang. Victoria.

"That was fast," I said.

"I'm efficient, in time you'll get to know that about me.Listen carefully. Dylan Blake's credit cards were just frozen. All of them. His car—the Audi, registered in his father's name—was just reported as having multiple unpaid parking tickets and will be towed within the hour. And the Blake Insurance Agency's application for the Meridian contract was just denied with a note that any future applications will be rejected."

I blinked. "You did all that in eight minutes?"

"I made three phone calls. As you'll soon learn, when you have enough economic leverage, things move very quickly." Her voice was cold, all business. "Dylan Blake wants to threaten you? Fine. Now he gets to see what real consequences look like."

"Victoria... isn't that a bit much?"

"No. It's exactly enough. He needs to understand that you're not the same person he used to push around. And if he continues to harass you, things will get much worse for him."

I should have felt guilty. Should have felt like this was going too far.

Instead, I felt satisfied. Maybe even a little bit gleeful.

"What about Sarah?" I asked.

"What about her?"

"She's still going to be evicted."

Victoria sighed. "Ethan, are you seriously considering helping her?"

"No. I just... I don't know. It feels wrong."

"What feels wrong is her expecting you to bail her out after what she did. But if it'll make you feel better, I can offer her a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"Meridian owns several properties that need property managers. If she's willing to work—actually work, not just show up and collect a paycheck—I can offer her a position with housing included. She'll have to earn it, but she won't be homeless."

It was more than fair. More than she deserved, honestly.

"Do it," I said.

"Are you sure? Because once I make this offer, there's no taking it back."

"I'm sure. But make it clear—this is a job, not charity. If she doesn't perform, she's out."

"Understood. I'll send her the offer this afternoon." Victoria paused. "You're a good person, Ethan. Too good, sometimes. But that's not a bad thing."

After we hung up, I sat back and tried to process everything that had just happened.

In the span of one morning, Sarah had begged for my help via email, Dylan had threatened me, and Victoria had systematically dismantled Dylan's life in under ten minutes.

This was my new reality. 

This was power.

And I was starting to understand why people said it was addictive.

An hour later, another email from Sarah appeared in my inbox.

*Subject: Thank you.

I just got an email from Meridian Corporation offering me a job. With housing. I know this was you. I don't know how you did it, but thank you. Thank you so much.

I know I don't deserve your kindness. I know I hurt you in the worst possible way. But I promise I'm going to work hard and prove that I'm not the person you think I am.

Maybe someday, we can be friends again.

Sarah*

I deleted the email without responding.

Friends? Right.

That ship had sailed the moment I walked in on her with Dylan.

But at least now, I wouldn't have to feel guilty about her being homeless.

I could move on. Focus on my new life. On Prestige. On figuring out who Ethan Cole Ashford really was.

Starting next week, everything would change again.

And this time, I'd be ready for it.