The Lost Heiress

Chapter 1

Hello guys and welcome to my story, hope you enjoy this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Just to clear up a few things, this story is purely fictional so are the places used.

Enjoy xxx

Its Christmas season in the country of Costa and the whole country is in the high spirits of Christmas. Everyone loves the season and people celebrate based on their bank account balance. Costa is like every other country in terms of social stratification. There’s the third-class citizens who constitute the poor, the middle class that makes up of the working class citizens and finally the elites who owns the means of production and who matters the most in the society.

As the poor delights themselves in being able to afford Pizzas and drinks to celebrate and if lucky, buy new clothes, the middle class prefer to meet up with their distant families for family dinners. And the elites hold extravagant parties amongst themselves to close or seal deals. And some prefer to make new family members through business proposals turned marriage proposals.

This was the case of the Stewarts. The Stewart family was one of the most influential if not the most influential family in Costa. They had dipped their feet into almost every kind of business available ranging from Oil and Gas to Manufacturing to Clothing and Textile to Agriculture to Technology. In short, the Stewarts owned Costa’s largest conglomerate and wielded a strong economic power throughout the entire country. The Stewarts have their business dating back to centuries ago when their family bought a land filled with crude oil unknowingly and had to collaborate with the Government of Costa at that time and since then their story had changed positively and over time, centuries in fact, they had slowly but surely expanded their wings and today they had become an important figure in the country almost as important as the President of Costa.

Along with the money, power, respect and fame that the Stewarts accrued over the years, they also gained a misfortune because everyone who was anyone wanted to be affiliated with the Stewarts. This became an issue of concern especially when the sons and daughters of the Stewart family wanted to begin their forever journey with their life partners. It was difficult to know who was who when it came to the issue of marriage. There were so many failed marriages and divorce battles and those who didn’t divorce remained frustrated with their life partners. As a result, they came to a decision that the head of the family check for a suitable life partner from other families of the same clique. This became the tradition passed down from generation to generation. It still wasn’t a good solution but at least the divorce wars had ended with the introduction of Prenup.

The present Stewart family and the richest, was a family of four consisting of George Stewart, the present CEO of Stewart Group of Companies, his wife, Olivia Stewart, his first son, Allen Stewart and his second child and only daughter, Ivy Stewart. George Stewart had a younger brother and sister, Miguel Stewart and Rena Stewart. They were all married and had families of their own and they all held important positions in Stewart Group of Companies. But George being the eldest held the most powers and as luck would have it, his son Allen was the first born in the whole extended family of the Stewarts. So there was no competition on who would take over as the CEO after George Stewart. So George was not worried about his son but his daughter, Ivy Stewart. He loved her so much he wanted to shield her from all bad things that life had. He had secretly been checking out various families to find a suitable life partner for her.

Ivy Stewart was unlike any other rich heiress, she really didn’t care about being the daughter of George Stewart. She was a beautiful blonde like her mother, she was on the short side but it made her look adorable and coupled with her sparkling blue eyes, Ivy was the female version of a Greek god. Although Ivy had gone to school like every other normal child, her life was far from normal, asides being extremely rich, she was equally beautiful in the eyes of both the male and female student body and as a result she always had her school mates flocking around her in numbers hoping to impress the princess of Stewart Group, to crown it up she was brilliant and excelled in her studies, in short she was every guy’s dream girl, a beauty with brains and wealth. She dated a guy in high school for a while but soon broke it up when he started acting like he was a god because she was with him. She wasn’t stupid, she knew more than half her friends were only with her because of her status and the rest were guys who were struck by her beauty but she wanted to know what it felt like to be in a relationship. Only her mother knew she actually dated someone, her brother would have a fit if he found out and her dad would withdraw her and have her homeschooled. She didn’t see the need to continue a relationship since she wasn’t enjoying it and she was hiding it from her father.

After high school she got into Costa’s best University, University of Jochain. Jochain was Costa’s capital city and the best and finest things of Costa was in Jochain. She was in her third year of College studying Business Administration and even though that was what her dad wanted her to study, she didn’t question it because it was what she wanted as well. She was home for Christmas break as usual. Her dad wanted her home every holiday she got even if it was for a day. This was because, Ivy had refused to attend college from home and preferred to live on her own, this hadn’t gone well with George but Olivia, his wife had convinced him to let her go. He had reluctantly agreed under the condition that she would stay in a house he would personally get for her. Having no other choice, Ivy reluctantly agreed knowing her father would spare no expense to ensure she lived comfortably. And she was right as her father had bought her a penthouse in a hotel, not just any hotel but a Quinton Hotel. The Quinton were owners of a chain of luxurious hotels and Resorts scattered across the country.

She moved out at the age of eighteen when she got admission into college and was in her third year of living at the Penthouse. She didn’t live in the Hotel Building as Quinton Hotels all had living quarters and she lived in the Penthouse of the hotel closest to her college. That was where she met her current boyfriend, he also owned an apartment in the same building and was older than her by three years. He was the son of the owner of Quinton Hotels and Resorts, he was not just any son, he was the first son and the bastard child.

Jordan Quinton was a simple and honest young man who loved life and saw everything he had as a blessing. Ever since he was little, he had come to understand that he was a drunken mistake of his father and mother. Although his mother showered him with all her love, and his father tried to do what was best for him, he had quickly come to understand that his step mother, Camilla Quinton hated him and his mother with every part of her being and did little to cover it. She only tolerated him at family events because her husband, Kingsley Quinton had threatened her with divorce and if that happened, she would be on the losing end since she had signed a Prenup. In the same vein, Camilla had taught her son, her only child, Caleb Quinton to see his older brother as competition and an outsider whose only aim was to snatch his inheritance away from him. As Jordan grew so did the hatred of his brother and step mom also grow as all they wanted was to see him drop dead somewhere. Kingsley on the other hand loved his sons alike but knew it was a futile attempt to try and get them to go along and so he had given up long ago. But he did his best to ensure that the future of his children were both safe. So he sent both of them to the best schools but did not send them to the same school to avoid being called into the principal’s office every day. Jordan therefore saw everything in his life as a blessing and never wanted more than he was given. He was the replica of his father and his brother hated him even more because no one could deny that Kingsley was his father while he looked a lot more like his mother and inherited her cunning mind. Jordan was proud of all that he had because after college he had worked hard in his father’s company to earn the respect of the society and remained humble through and through.

When he met Ivy, he didn’t know she was a Stewart, he only knew she lived in the Penthouse of his building and went to college. She was only eighteen years at that time while he was twenty-one and was in his last year of college and coincidentally, they attended the same College and he was also a Business Administration student. They had become fast friends since they had studies in common and although she was a bright student, she would always act as though she didn’t understand some of what she had learnt earlier just to get an excuse to talk with him. She also liked the fact that he didn’t know who she was, it was like a breath of fresh air. After a year and he had graduated, he finally got to know who she was. His father had invited him out to dinner to celebrate him completing his studies and he had gone with his mother. His father had wanted to throw him a celebratory party but just as he had turned down many other good things from his father, he had also turned down the party and they had settled on a celebratory dinner instead. His father and mother had learnt to be civil with one another over the years and could enjoy each other’s company without it being awkward. Jordan had excused himself to breath in fresh air when he noticed that his parents wanted to talk without him being present. So going down to the lobby he spotted Ivy hugging a guy and his heart dropped when he thought about her seeing someone. Before he could turn around to excuse himself, he spotted George Stewart coming in and Ivy shouting “Daddy” as she embraced him and he chuckled at her behavior. Jordan’s eyes widened as he took in the sight before him. Ivy was Ivy Stewart, the daughter of George Stewart, the CEO of Stewart Groups. Ivy and her family didn’t take notice of him as they made their way into the restaurant. It all made sense now, he remembered seeing her surname once but he didn’t think much of it, he now understood why she was so rich, she was Stewart Groups’ Princess! Thinking about her attitude now, he understood why he didn’t think of her as a Stewart. She was down to earth and loved to appreciate little things of life. He always envisioned Stewart Groups’ princess to be a snob or have a bitchy attitude, but Ivy was his friend, she was not a b***h nor a snob. She was a good human being with a heart of gold. But he couldn’t get over the fact that she had a higher status than probably his entire family not to mention that he was a bastard son.

After that night, he distanced himself from her not wanting the drama of rich people’s life and he was able to do so since he had completed his studies and was no longer a student. He worked at his father’s company and completely cut her off. His sudden change in behavior made Ivy sad as she had grown attached to him and was always at his apartment for him to tutor her. She ambushed him when he came back from work one day at his front door and confronted him, dressed in casual faded jeans and a pink top with her hair packed into a pony tail, her stance was challenging and so were the words that spilled out of her lips.

“Why have you been avoiding me?” she didn’t beat about the bush and he knew he had no way of escape. He decided to play dumb “What are you talking about?” she rolled her eyes at him “don’t play dumb with me Jordan, you know what I’m talking about” she paused as she studied him. “Ivy, I’m done with college so of course we won’t see each other as frequent as before.” She shook her head “Did I do something wrong?” she asked and he shook his head “then what? You don’t want to be my friend anymore?” she asked.

“It’s not that simple again, you’re a Stewart” he finally answered and confusion was etched on her face for a fleeting second before realization dawned on her and her face showed her anger “you don’t want to be my friend because I’m a Stewart?” she asked in a low voice and he didn’t reply. “So all this time I’ve been racking my brain trying to remember what I did wrong but it’s because of my identity, because of who my family is? Does that change the Ivy whom you have known all these months?” He still had no answer and she sighed turned around and left slamming the door behind her, her full, long and rich golden hair bouncing with every furious and disappointed step she took away from him.