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Chapter 38: Mark Investigate
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2026-07-19 15:09:33
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The heir's mask Chapter 38: Mark Investigate
Mark Dorkul’s apartment felt like a war room bathed in the cold glow of multiple screens. The city hummed far below, indifferent, while he unraveled lives one keystroke at a time. His eyes burned from hours of staring at data streams, but sleep was a luxury he couldn’t afford not when Steve Vanderbilt, the man who consumed every waking thought, was slipping further away.Ken Thompson. The name alone sent a spike of acid through Mark’s veins. He refreshed the latest report from his investigator: bank transfers, encrypted communications, hotel records. The acquisition of Sentinel Shield had been the perfect Trojan horse, but what it revealed was far more dangerous than corporate espionage.Large, irregular “consulting fees” routed from Vanderbilt accounts to a shell company linked to Ken. Not enough to scream bribery on the surface, but the pattern was damning when paired with the timeline right after the yacht party, right after that first violent collision of bodies Mark had only piec
The heir's mask Chapter 37: Veiled Paternity
Ken’s apartment felt smaller than ever, the encrypted files glowing on his laptop screen like accusations. The anonymous text from the café still burned in his mind: Ask about the child. Sleep had been impossible after Steve’s heated visit. Every shadow in the room whispered of Eleanor’s web, Sophia’s burdened silences, and now this pregnancy rumors. He needed clarity before the psychological fracture became permanent.He dialed his old cybersecurity contact at dawn. “Marcus, expand the dig on Sophia Reyes. Hospital records, birth certificates, any sealed documents from the year after our breakup. Cross-reference with Vanderbilt financial trails. I need the truth, not rumors.”While waiting, Ken paced, replaying Sophia’s words. Family pressure had forced her disappearance, medical bills, contracts, Eleanor’s invisible hand. But a child? Their child? The possibility clawed at his denial mechanisms. If true, it reframed everything: her “closure” wasn’t just hope; it was a mother protect
The heir's mask Chapter 36: fractured loyalties
Ken sat across from Sophia in the dimly lit corner of the café, the same neutral ground they had chosen the day before. Steam rose from untouched cappuccinos, mirroring the tension coiling in his gut. Sophia’s fingers traced the rim of her cup, her warm brown eyes avoiding his for longer stretches than usual. The investigation into Eleanor’s manipulations had left Ken raw, hyper-aware of every unspoken word, every calculated pause. He needed answers, not just closure.“Soph,” he started, voice low, “yesterday you mentioned family pressure. What really happened back then? You vanished for months. No calls, no explanation. I thought I’d done something wrong.”Sophia’s shoulders tensed. She glanced toward the window, where New York traffic blurred past like indifferent spectators. “It wasn’t you, Ken. It was never you.” Her voice cracked slightly, the principled warmth he remembered now laced with exhaustion. “My family… they’ve always had expectations. Old money from my mother’s side, b
The heir's mask Chapter 35: shadows of control
Ken woke to the insistent buzz of his phone on the nightstand. This is how it starts, his mind whispered. The slow erosion.Psychologically, Ken knew the mechanisms all too well. He had read enough self-help books during the Sophia breakup to recognize them now, like unwelcome visitors in his own head. Cognitive dissonance clawed at him; the principled, straight man he had always identified as warred violently with the raw hunger Steve unleashed. Denial was his oldest defense: It’s just hate-sex. It doesn’t mean anything. But the evidence mounted. Every encounter left him more addicted, more fractured. Trauma bonding that insidious attachment formed through intense highs and crashing lows kept pulling him back. Steve’s cruelty followed by fleeting tenderness created a psychological trap, making Ken question his own worth outside that volatile orbit. And the identity crisis? That was the deepest cut. Years of insisting he was straight, of building a life around “normal,” now felt like
The heir's mask Chapter 34: fractured echoes
Ken ducked into a quiet alcove beside a closed café and pressed his back against the cool brick wall. “Fuck,” he muttered. He wanted to scrub the memory away. He wanted to chase Steve down and beg for more.This changes nothing. The lie he’d spat at Steve echoed hollowly in his mind. It changed everything. Every brutal thrust had cracked another piece of the armor Ken had built around his straight, normal life. He was supposed to be the principled one the man who had rebuilt after Sophia left, the founder who protected his team. Instead, he had bent over his enemy’s desk like a man starved, moaning for the very person destroying his world.Guilt clawed at him. Sophia. Her name brought a fresh wave of nausea. She had texted again yesterday with short, careful words, asking if they could meet for coffee. “Closure,” she’d called it. Ken hadn’t replied. How could he, when his body still bore the marks of Steve Vanderbilt? He pictured her face warm brown eyes, the gentle curve of her smile
The heir's mask Chapter 33: office fire
Office FireKen slammed the glass door of Steve’s executive office so hard the entire wall shuddered. Outside, a few lingering executives pretended not to notice, but Ken didn’t care. “You absolute bastard,” he snarled, stalking forward. His fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles ached. “You knew. You sat in that boardroom this morning, and you knew exactly what that acquisition clause would do to my team.”Steve leaned back against the edge of his massive walnut desk. “Your little startup is now Vanderbilt property. That includes the proprietary algorithms your people developed. So welcome to the big leagues, Ken.”Ken laughed bitterly. “My people. People who trusted me. You’re reassigning my lead developer to some bullshit compliance desk and burying the rest under NDAs thick enough to choke on. This isn’t business. This is you trying to own me.”“Own you?” Steve echoed, a sharp edge in his voice. “You think this is about ownership? Try survival. Your precious Sophia was sniffi
The heir's mask Chapter 2; best friend rules: straight lines
The Heir’s MaskKen Thompson woke up with his cock painfully hard and leaking against his stomach. I don’t want this to be real. The dream still clung to him like smoke—Steve’s voice, low and filthy, whispering in his ear. He has a girlfriend. This is against our friendship.“Fuck,” he groaned, dra
The heir's mask The golden heir
THE HEIR'S MASK Chapter 1Expensive perfume mingled with the faint metallic scent of power. Steve Vanderbilt stood at the center of it all. Wealth felt like a prison, he often thought. At twenty-seven, he was everything New York’s elite wanted to be. His tailored black Tom Ford suit gave him comma
The heir's mask Chapter 4: Drunken truth
The Heir’s MaskThe days blurred into a haze of obsession for Steve. Every thought revolved around Ken—how far they had come, how cute Ken had been all these years, and how Steve couldn’t open up back then. But now nothing was stopping him. I won’t hide anymore. I’ve been in love with you since hig
The heir's mask Chapter 3: Eleanor's pressure
The Heir’s MaskSteve’s penthouse felt like a gilded cage tonight. The city lights stretched out beneath him like jewels on black velvet, but all he could see was Ken’s flushed face from the restaurant earlier—lips parted, cock straining against his trousers, eyes screaming yes while his mouth spat
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