All Chapters of THE HEIR I USED TO BE: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

MayaThe nurse handed me a juice box like I was five years old."Your iron levels are concerning, Mrs. Chen. This is your sixth donation this year. You need to space these out more." She pressed a cotton ball to my inner elbow, her voice gentle but firm. "Your body needs time to recover."I nodded, too dizzy to argue. The recovery room smelled like antiseptic and the metallic tang of blood. My blood. Grace's salvation. David's solution.Six donations in eleven months. Grace's condition was getting worse, requiring more frequent transfusions. At least that was what David told me in his texts. Brief, clinical texts that arrived between meetings, never asking how I felt afterward, only when I could come back.My phone buzzed against the plastic chair. I stared at the screen as it lit up with a notification. Unknown number. Probably spam. I almost ignored it.I should have ignored it.The photo loaded slowly, pixel by pixel, like my brain needed time to prepare for what I was seeing. Davi

Maya "We just talked. You asked if I wanted money. You told me I was being dramatic. You answered Grace's call in the middle of our marriage ending." I moved toward the door. "That is all the talking I need." He stood, blocking my path. Not threatening, just confused. "This is irrational. You cannot throw away three years over one argument." "I am not throwing it away. You did that every time you chose her over me. Every skipped dinner. Every donation without asking how I felt. Every fifty thousand dollar deposit like I was a contractor you hired." I met his eyes, saw the man I married and felt nothing. "I was your wife, David. I deserved better than this." "I gave you a comfortable life. A nice apartment. Financial security. What more did you want?" "I wanted you to love me." The words hung in the air between us, too honest, too raw. "But you never did. You needed a donor who would not ask questions. You needed someone to manage your household. You needed a wife-shaped person to

Maya I sat outside the records office, divorce papers in my lap, watching couples pass by. Some are getting married, some are getting divorced.David was late. Of course he was.James sat beside me, silent and protective. He had wanted lawyers, revenge, everything. I told him no. I did not want David’s money. I wanted my name back.“He has five minutes,” James said, checking his watch.“Give him ten.”“You are being too nice.”“I am being done. There’s a difference.”At nine forty-seven, David walked in. Suit wrinkled. Eyes hollow. He stopped when he saw me.“Maya.”“You are late.” I stood, held out the papers. “Sign these.”“Can we talk first?”“We talked already. You said I was dramatic and asked if I wanted money. There’s nothing left to say.”He glanced at James. “Can we speak privately?”“No,” James said.“It’s okay,” I told him. “Five minutes.”We moved to the corner of the hallway.“You look different,” David said quietly.“I am different. I stopped pretending to be invisible.

MayaThe Lawson Corporation boardroom smelled like leather and old money. Twenty executives stared at me from around the mahogany table, their expressions ranging from skeptical to openly hostile. They knew who I was. They did not know if I deserved to be here.Neither did I, honestly."The quarterly projections for the Southeast Asia division are down eighteen percent," said Richard Moore, CFO and my father's right hand for twenty years. He slid a folder across the table. "Your father suggested you might have insights on how to address this."Translation: prove you belong here or go back to playing housewife.I opened the folder, scanned the numbers. Saw the problem immediately. They were hemorrhaging money on a manufacturing contract that made no sense. The margins were wrong. The timeline was unrealistic. Someone had approved this deal without doing basic due diligence."Who negotiated this contract?" I asked.Richard's expression tightened. "I did. Three months ago."The room went

MayaThe coffee shop Adrian chose was neutral territory. Not too fancy, not too casual. I arrived ten minutes early, ordered green tea, and claimed a corner table with a view of the entrance.I was not nervous. I refused to be nervous.Except my hands were shaking slightly as I checked my phone. Sophie had sent three texts in the last hour. *Remember you are a Lawson. He should be nervous to meet you. And also he is very hot so try not to stare.*I smiled despite myself. Sophie had been researching Adrian Frost like she was writing a dissertation. Self-made billionaire at thirty. Built Frost Enterprises from a single tech startup into a diversified empire. No scandals. No public relationships. Just work and more work.The door opened. Adrian Frost walked in.Sophie was right. He was very hot.Tall, dark hair that looked professionally messy, sharp suit that probably cost more than most people's cars. But it was his eyes that caught me. Intelligent. Assessing. The kind of eyes that mis