Mr. Sterling, Your Ex-wife is a Famous CEO
Five years ago, Arabella Sterling vanished without a trace, disgraced, heartbroken, and branded her billionaire benefactor's dirty secret.
What the world never knew was that she'd also been his wife.
Or that the man she loved-and the son she gave everything for-chose another woman over her.
Now, she's back as The Reformer, a world-renowned business strategist celebrated for resurrecting dying empires.
Her newest client? The Sterling Group.
Her ex-husband's empire.
Adrian Sterling has spent years trying to atone for the lies that destroyed them both.
But when Arabella walks into his boardroom, colder, sharper, untouchable...he realizes redemption may come at a cost he can't pay.
Because this time, she's not here to save him.
She's here to ruin him.
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Chapter 2
Adrian pulled Serena into his arms inspecting her face like a trophy.
"I know you hate me, Arabella. But I care about Axel and I can't let you hurt him like that." Serena's voice was sugary sweet with small choked sobs, almost convincing even for Arabella.
Adrian shot stunned Arabella a disdainful look before quickly sweeping his gaze back to his precious treasure, "What happened, Serena?"
Serena wiped out the lone tear that found its way into her teary eyes, explaining, "Arabella wants to come to the annual party tonight. I was worried she might cause a scene and put Axel in a tough spot..."
Arabella let out a loud, humourless chuckle, intentionally cutting her short.
She'd seen Serena scheme against her for so many years but this one? It was just too childish...yet so believable.
Adrian and Serena exchanged a look, the fake fear her eyes held earlier now completely gone.
Adrian's jaw tightened with anger as he gripped Arabella's hand firmly, his eyes spitting fire, "Arabella, stop your stupid tantrum! I am not letting you step a foot into the hall..."
"Don't worry," Arabella forcefully shoved his hand off her, "Just tell your 'fiancée' to stay away from my child!"
"And who exactly are you to make such an order?" Catherine, Adrian's mom wheeled into the kitchen in her electric wheelchair.
Her grey hair was pulled back severely, making her sharp features look even harder.
Arabella dragged her palm down his face, slow and tired, "Mother, Axel is asking questions about this whole mess! I can't let my baby grow up like this."
"Oh? That bothers you?" Catherine asked, lips curving upward.
She lounged back in her chair as if the whole world amused her, "Then you should sign the damn papers and let Serena raise him without all this drama."
Arabella slumped back with a groan, head tilted toward the ceiling.
Every conversation with Catherine always ended up with the divorce reminder, even more desperate than Serena and Adrian were.
But Arabella never dared to speak back, after all, she still carried the guilt of that terrible accident that killed their father and confined Catherine to the chair.
Sometimes she still wonders how someone who once bought her her first pretty dress...gave her her first warm, motherly hug could hate her like this.
But that woman was dead. And Arabella was done mourning her.
"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad Father isn't to witness the trash you have raised, mother."
The room went still.
Catherine's fist tightened around the handle of her chair, her eyes burning into Arabella.
Adrian's face went blank, the kind that meant danger.
Arabella wanted to walk away, but Adrian held her back, pinning her to the counter. His voice was low, dangerous, "How dare you speak to my mother like that?"
Arabella ignored the pain shooting up her waist from the impact on the counter, "Am I wrong?"
Adrian was quiet. Too quiet.
"I know you hate me, but if you have any shame...or at least the slightest bit of respect for father, don't bring your affairs to our matrimonial bed."
"This is what all this is about? Last night?" His tone was flat, like it wasn't a big deal.
And maybe for him it wasn't.
"We were both drunk. We didn't know we ended up in our room, okay?"
But his eyes flickered with something-confusion, maybe. Like he was trying to remember something that wouldn't come into focus.
"I don't even remember going to bed," he muttered, more to himself than to her.
Arabella's rage boiled over. "You don't remember? You DON'T REMEMBER?"
Even now, he wouldn't take responsibility. Wouldn't admit what he'd done.
But Adrian's face had gone pale, his jaw working like he was trying to piece together a puzzle with missing pieces.
Arabella stared at him for a while, dumbfounded, and when she finally spoke, her voice broke, "D–did you ever love me? Even for a moment?"
Adrian's eyes seemed to soften for a heartbeat...just like his feelings always did, then it disappeared.
"As my sister? Yes." He replied, avoiding her gaze, "Serena and I have always been together, so stop acting like I cheated on you."
Arabella's breath caught.
Sister.
His father had adopted her when she was twelve. And Adrian had accepted her as his sister.
But somewhere along the line, the brotherly love blurred into something she couldn't ignore.
She became the adopted sister whose heart raced every time he held her hand or ached when she saw him with Serena.
He leaned even closer, his lips grazing her ear, "You were always the affair, Arabella. Not her."
The affair.
Something cracked inside her chest. Not her heart-that had broken long ago.
This was something deeper. The last fragile hope that maybe, somewhere buried deep, he'd cared about her even a little.
He hadn't.
His grip around her arm tightened as he warned, "So don't ever speak to my mom like that."
He turned sharply, kneeling by his mom who had angry tears in her eyes, "Mom, please go and rest in your room. Ms. Shaw will bring you breakfast."
Ms. Shaw was the elderly Housekeeper of the family. The only domestic staff that was allowed to reserve her job ever since Arabella fell from grace.
Catherine nodded gently, dabbing off her tears as she looked up at Arabella, "Arabella, I'm going to make sure you regret coming to this family."
Arabella smirked, "I already am. I think the orphanage would have been better."
Adrian shot her a cold glance, but she ignored him, walking her tired body out on them.
***
By evening, Arabella was done with her chores. The house was quiet, as everyone had gone to the company's annual charity gala which was being held in the Sterlings Hall at the west wing of the mansion.
She stared at the picture of Axel on her phone, her mind unsettled.
It wasn't the first time Axel was going out with Adrian and Serena, but she'd never been worried because as much as Adrian and his mother hated her, they adored Axel even more.
She thought Serena genuinely adored him too, but after today, she realized all that affection was just part of her scheme.
Just as she was still contemplating, her phone buzzed. A text from Adrian Sterling.
"Axel is bleeding. Come get him."
Arabella's heart skipped and without stopping to think she ran out of the house, heading straight for the hotel.
As she sat inside the cab, she wondered why Adrian didn't just call a hospital first. Or didn't even take care of things himself.
She dialed his number. It rang. Once. Twice. No response.
She shook the doubt away, "Maybe he is busy."
Soon enough, she arrived at the hotel.
Arabella dashed into the hall, breath uneven, still in the plain dress she'd been working in, her apron tied crooked at her waist.
The chandeliers glowed over polished floors and elegant guests, their champagne raised in a poised hush as Adrian spoke at the podium, his voice steady and calm.
Arabella bit back her anger, assuming he was too busy with his stupid speech to care for their son.
Everything stopped when they noticed her. A few guests pulled back, their eyes slipping over her apron and flushed face with quiet disapproval. She didn't care.
She moved through the crowd, scanning every table, every corner-heart in her throat-trying to find her little boy.
Then just by the front row, she spotted Serena squatting beside Catherine, holding what looked like a kid's suit. In front of them was Axel, his white shirt wet, stained Red.
From this distance, it looked like-
'Oh God. Blood.'
Arabella dashed forward, forcefully shoving Serena aside, dropping to her knees before her son.
"Baby, where does it hurt? Show mommy-"
But up close, the smell hit her. Sweet. Acidic.
Wine.
Her hands froze on Axel's shirt.
"Mommy?"
The words echoed through the hall like a gunshot.
Whispers erupted instantly, spreading through the crowd like wildfire.
Arabella's heart slammed against her ribs as reporters surged forward, cameras flashing like lightning, microphones thrust into her face.
"Is this child really Adrian Sterling's?"
"Did you have an affair with your brother?"
The questions came from all angles, suffocating her. She pulled Axel tighter against her chest, his small body trembling.
Her eyes found Adrian across the chaos.
He stood frozen at the podium, his face carved from stone, jaw so tight she could see the muscle jumping beneath his skin. But it wasn't concern in his eyes.
It was pure, cold fury.
At her.
Catherine sat with one hand pressed dramatically to her chest, but there was no shock on her face.
Arabella raised her head slowly to meet Serena's gaze. A sinister smile spread over her lips.
A smile only Arabella could see.
Only then did she realize she'd walked into a trap.
And Catherine was in full support of it.
Her stomach dropped. The cameras. The questions. The looks.
They'd planned this. All of it.
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8.2
I went to a private clinic for a routine physical, only to find out I was pregnant.
It was impossible. I took my birth control every single day. But when the doctor tested my pills, they turned out to be high-purity vitamin placebos. My billionaire husband, Denton, had been systematically replacing my medication.
Yet, on our anniversary, he brought my sister Beverly home, demanding a divorce so he could marry her. When I refused to sign a settlement that left me with nothing, he froze my accounts and blacklisted me across New York.
My own father disowned me. When an old friend offered me a job just so I could afford prenatal care, Denton launched a ruthless financial attack to bankrupt his firm.
Then, Beverly got into a car crash. Denton's bodyguards dragged me off the street and forced me into a hospital trauma room. Beverly was hemorrhaging, and I was the only blood match.
I cried and begged Denton to stop, desperately trying to protect my fragile pregnancy without exposing my baby to the monster who controlled my life.
"Please, my body can't handle this. Don't do this to me!"
But he just looked at me with pure disgust and ordered his men to strap me to the chair, forcing the needle into my vein while threatening to kill me if his mistress died.
As I dragged my bleeding, cramping body out of the hospital into the freezing snow, my last shred of hope died.
I touched my stomach and made a vow: I would disappear, and I would make them all pay.
7.6
🔞🔞🔞🔞🔞🔞
Aria Bennett is the perfect daughter, a decoration in her father's massive business empire. But for one night, she decides to break every rule. At a secret underground club, she meets Adrian, a man who knows exactly how to please her and awaken desires she never knew she had. They promise each other nothing but one night of pleasure and desire.
But when Aria wakes up to find him gone, leaving only a cold note behind, she thinks the fantasy is over. That is, until she walks downstairs the next morning to see the same man standing in her driveway.
Now, the man who knows her darkest secrets is her father's new driver. Forced to face him every day while pretending they are strangers, Aria is caught in a suffocating game of cat and mouse.
Adrian on the other hand is dangerous, cold, and hiding a secret that could destroy her father's empire.
And the closer she gets to him, the more she risks losing everything, including herself.
9.6
I was the dedicated, "wolfless" Luna of the Blackwood Pack, bound to Alpha Damien for seven years.
Just three days before our marriage contract expired, Damien burst into my clinic carrying his mistress, Allena.
He used his Alpha Command to clear the room, humiliating me in front of my own medical staff.
The ultrasound revealed Allena was suffering from internal bleeding due to their uncontrolled mating frenzy.
Instead of feeling shame for his weakness, Damien shoved me brutally against a metal counter to protect her.
He threw a $100,000 check at me to buy my silence, treating my broken soul like a cheap transaction.
Later, when I refused to kneel and apologize to his mistress, he pushed me again, shattering my arm against a glass table.
As my blood soaked the pristine white rug, he stood over me, demanding my absolute submission.
He thought I was just a pathetic, weak Omega who would endure his cruelty forever because I had nothing else.
He didn't know that five years ago, after he threatened to kill any pup I bore him, I secretly built a massive offshore empire.
I calmly tied a tourniquet over my bleeding arm and wiped my blood right over his heart.
"I am done with you."
Then I liquidated his thirty-five-million-dollar penthouse assets and walked out into the night, ready to show him who the real monster was.
8.2
Casey woke up with a throbbing skull in a glamorous dressing room, facing a public execution by an internet mob.
Her wealthy family had thrown her away. Her hypocritical sister, Coralie, forced a holographic tablet into her hands, demanding she join a deadly survival reality show on a wasteland planet.
"It's what Mommy wants. If you don't sign, you're dead to the Hendersons."
The whole world wanted her dead. On the live broadcast, billions of viewers cursed her as a toxic stalker. The golden boy idol Kayson physically attacked her to defend Coralie's honor. Even the show's staff mocked her, deliberately leaving her with nothing but a torn, broken tent and a single bottle of water for the lethal alien wilderness.
The universe was playing a cruel joke on her. She was framed as the villain of her sister's perfect story, banished to a wasteland where everyone expected her to cry, beg, and die on live television.
But they didn't know she had already survived a decade in the ruins. Casey didn't shed a single tear. Instead, she invoked a hidden contract clause, demanding a full year on the planet instead of the standard month.
"I'll survive for a year, and the planet becomes mine."
She grabbed her broken tent, stepped onto the red alien dirt, and prepared to show the universe what a real predator looked like.
7.9
On our third wedding anniversary, my husband skipped our celebration to comfort his fragile adopted sister.
When I went to look for him in the middle of the night, I saw them intimately kissing in bed.
"She is a spoiled heiress who cannot live without me. Let her wait."
He scoffed to his sister, calling me a pathetic, clingy dog waiting for a scrap of attention.
For three years, I gave up my career as a top surgeon and managed his estate like a compliant housewife.
I swallowed my pride because my dying father desperately needed an experimental drug controlled by my husband's company.
But when my father accidentally overheard how my husband humiliated me, the guilt gave him a severe heart attack.
Waking up in the ICU, my father grabbed my hand and ordered me to divorce him.
When I finally handed my husband the divorce papers on the street, he flew into a violent rage.
"If you file these, I will cut off your father's medicine and leave you with nothing!"
He threatened me, thinking I would drop to my knees and beg for his mercy.
He didn't know that my personal trust fund was the only thing keeping his entire over-leveraged company from going bankrupt.
I smiled calmly and executed the secret clause to instantly withdraw my two hundred million dollars.
This time, I chose to burn his family's empire to the ground.
8.2
Grace hid her identity as the heir to a multi-billion-dollar empire just to experience ordinary love, acting as a free, devoted assistant to her actor fiancé, Hayden.
But while delivering his coffee, she caught him cheating with a new actress in his dressing room.
Through the crack in the door, she heard the actress whine about Grace being a feelingless robot.
Hayden just laughed, not stopping his frantic movements.
"She is a shield. She is a boring, free assistant. That is all she is."
He bragged that their upcoming engagement was just a PR stunt to build his perfect boyfriend image, and he would dump her the second he didn't need her.
He thought he held all the power, completely unaware that every massive movie contract and endorsement he had was secretly funded by Grace.
The betrayal poured over Grace like ice water, freezing her heart completely.
She had fought her aristocratic family and lowered herself to serve a man who treated her like disposable trash.
The girl who believed in simple love died in that hallway.
Grace didn't cry or burst into the room. She calmly hit record on her phone, securing the evidence to trigger his morality clause.
Then, she dialed her billionaire mother.
"I made a bad investment. Now I am liquidating the asset."
She was going to artificially inflate his fame to the absolute peak, and when he finally thought he was untouchable, she would strip him of everything.