Page 2 of The Cruel Heir
The heat and alcohol on his breath made me dizzy. I prayed that someone would interrupt us. Chadwick was volatile on a good day. A drunk Chadwick made the devil seem reasonable.
“I’m sorry,” I replied quietly. “I’ll get you something else.”
His face changed, the handsome mask slipping to reveal his truth. "There is only one thing I want from you, Zara.”
When I shook my head, he shoved me away.
Despite the dress and the heels, I managed to keep my footing… barely.
“On your knees then,” he demanded, as he collapsed into the sofa. “Show me why I keep your oinking ass around." He leaned back and unzipped his pants. “Crawl to me. You know I love that shit.”
No one questioned Chadwick Worthington’s demeaning desires. Not the girls who swooned over him at school. Not the parents who wanted their daughters married off to power.
And certainly not me.
I had been raised better, after all.
And I had learned long ago that powerful men had darker tastes.
My body froze, paralyzed between instinctive rebellion, and the conditioned obedience that had been drilled into me since birth. My mind screamed to escape, but fear held me still. Every second stretched unbearably long, each heartbeat a painful reminder of how powerless I was.
A few rooms over, our friends and family were celebrating his birthday.
His expression flickered with irritation, and impatience.
“Chadwick…” My voice came out too soft, too careful. “Please…”
He sighed, shaking his head like I was disappointing him. "Then we’re done, Zara. I don’t date teases."
The weight of his words hit like a wrecking ball, knocking the air from my lungs.
Done?
That should’ve been a relief. But all I could think about was how my father would react. Without Chadwick, I was no longer useful. And a daughter without value had no place in a home built on appearances.
Our relationship was not a love match to begin with. The only reason I bothered with Chadwick was because his attention had gotten too hard to avoid. I had initially said no to his advances, but once Chadwick got our families involved, the decision was taken out of my hands. My father didn’t just encourage the relationship, he enforced it like law. Told me it was a miracle a man like Chadwick would tolerate my hips, my skin, and my mouth. If I ruined the connection, he swore he’d beat me until I learned how to act like a woman deserving of legacy. And so, I became what they wanted: silent, smiling, and easy to shape.
But I knew the truth. Chadwick’s obsession with me stemmed, not from my beauty or personality, but because of his rivalry with Sterling. And now that Sterling was gone, Chadwick’s patience was waning.
My eyes welled. I thought again about my father, who only tolerated me these days because of Chadwick’s family connections. I had spent years molding myself into Chadwick’s perfect girlfriend; the right dresses, the soft voice, the carefully calculated steps of a girl meant to be a wife. I had literally put my dreams on hold, to play sweetheart to an arrogant, philandering prick, and now he was throwing me away?
It’s not like he didn’t get any gratification from me. His abusive ass put his fucking cock in my mouth at least once a week. But men like him were never satisfied, were they?
Chadwick’s gaze darkened.
“Or, are you going to crawl to me like I told you?”
I shook my head.
He pulled out his phone.
I knew what was coming.
“Maybe your dad will have an opinion on this,” he sneered.
I lowered myself to my knees, gracefully.
He smirked in victory, and tossed aside his phone to pull out his pathetic penis.
