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 5
"What is this new tactic, Arabella?" Adrian asked, raising his gaze to meet hers.
Arabella's brows furrowed as she tried to speak, "W–what are you..."
"Arabella, I know you hate me, but please don't implicate me like this!" Serena cried, but only Arabella noticed the curl at the corner of her lip. "What do I have to gain from ruining the family's reputation?"
Adrian ran a hand through his dark crew cut, "Serena is right. You should be thanking her for cleaning up your mess, not coming up with more lies!"
"Our last messages were dated to over a month now and it's from you!"
Serena sniffled dramatically, "Adrian...I'm more heartbroken that you chose to believe her instead of me."
Adrian slipped a hand around waist, helping her wipe out the fake tears that she always seemed to have ready, "I'm sorry, Serena."
Arabella bit her lower lip bitterly.
What was she thinking? Serena was one hell of a smart lawyer. There's no way she'd leave evidence behind.
"I doubt you can delete mine," she scoffed, pulling out her phone.
But upon checking her message, nothing was there.
"What?" she muttered, scrolling up and down. There was no trace of any message from Adrian in the past few months.
"What? Can't find the message?" Serena asked with a smirk.
Arabella immediately knew Serena had tampered with it. Ms. Shaw actively worked for her-there was no need to think twice. She sighed, shoulders slumping in defeat.
'Serena is really unbeatable, isn't she?'
"Arabella, no amount of scheming will change my mind today," Adrian interrupted her thoughts. "Unless you don't want Axel back."
Arabella looked up slowly, eyes red. "You want divorce and full custody..." Her voice broke as she paused, "How is this a choice for me?"
Adrian turned, a mocking curl lifting one corner of his lips. "Axel gets to come back home to live with me, my mom, and Serena...a happy, normal family."
Hot tears trickled down Arabella's cheeks faster than her hand could wipe them.
"Or he remains in the boarding school with no one until he's 18," Adrian continued, dawdling over the words, barely hiding his smugness. "Your choice."
He returned to his seat, typing on his laptop, trying his best to be nonchalant about the whole situation...and failing.
Serena leaned closer, her voice pleading, "Arabella, please don't let Axel stay there. He's too young..."
Arabella raised her gaze, silencing Serena.
For the first time, she saw raw fury reflected in her own eyes, sharp enough to pierce Serena's smugness.
Arabella didn't speak, but her stare was warning enough.
As she stepped forward, Serena quickly moved back, unsure why the look intimidated her so much.
Adrian lifted his gaze from his laptop as Arabella approached his desk.
"I will sign it," Arabella said firmly, despite shaky breaths.
Serena ran up to her, excitement written all over her face. "Good choice, Arabella."
But when Adrian looked at her, she quickly added, "Uh...Axel will get to come back home."
"But...I need you to promise me you will protect Axel at all costs," Arabella insisted, voice firmer now.
Adrian frowned. "He's my son too. I don't have to promise you. It's my responsibility."
"Well, I'm just worried Serena will start scheming against him once I'm gone, and you'd blindly believe her like the fool you've become," Arabella murmured with a small, bitter smile.
"ARABELLA!" Adrian snapped-but that was all he could do as she picked up the pen and signed the papers.
As she finished, Arabella felt a strange lightness, as if a huge weight had lifted.
She looked at Adrian, expecting to see relief...maybe even triumph.
But his jaw was locked tight. His eyes fixed on the signed papers like they'd betrayed him.
"You should be over the moon now. All your insecurities about my 'golddigging' are over."
Adrian didn't say a word. He stared at the signature-her name in black ink, finalizing everything he'd demanded.
His throat worked. His fingers curled into his palm.
For a moment, he looked like a man who'd gotten exactly what he wanted and hated himself for it.
For someone who always wanted this divorce, that felt weird.
As much as Arabella tried to stay strong, tears blurred her vision as she looked at the man who had once ruled her heart.
"We are divorced now. Can I at least...see him before I leave?"
Adrian didn't hesitate, "No!"
His jaw clenched. "It's only after I'm sure you're far away from him that he comes back. Don't get any ideas or try any tricks."
All the while, ignoring her gaze.
Arabella inhaled sharply, hurriedly wiping a tear before Adrian could notice. She forced a smile, holding his gaze one last time. "Yes, it was my fault I fell in love with you. I disrupted your relationship with Serena... but remember, Adrian, you kissed me first."
Serena's face twisted, the mask slipping just for a second before she composed herself. "Adrian was drunk. You took advantage-"
"You moaned my name as we fucked," Arabella screamed, veins throbbing in her neck. "Was that a mistake too?" Angry tears poured down her cheeks.
Adrian didn't respond. His eyes slowly reddened, glistening as if he were holding back tears. His hands clenched the edge of the table.
"Adrian Sterling, I will never forgive you for ruining my life." Arabella started to walk away, wiping her cheeks.
Just as she reached the doorway, her phone pinged, and Adrian's voice followed, stopping her in her tracks.
"I sent $5 million to your account." His voice softened, almost like the boy she once loved.
Five million dollars. Like he could pay her to disappear. To forget her child.
To stop existing in his world.
She almost laughed. Almost threw it back in his face.
But she would need to survive...to come back stronger.
So she took his blood money and said nothing.
Then he spoke again, "Live a good life...Petals."
Petals. Named after the birthmarks on her shoulders that only he had ever noticed.
The nickname that once made her heart race now made her blood boil.
She opened the door and walked out. She didn't stop crying, letting the pain spill over as she left the company and hailed a cab.
The cab ride was a blur. She didn't remember paying the driver or walking through the front door.
She only remembered the sound of it closing behind her-final, hollow-before her knees gave out and she slid down against it, finally alone enough to shatter.
This was the last time she would cry over him.
Eventually, she began packing, but everything reminded her of him-from the expensive jewelry to the small hair brooches he had bought randomly, saying, "If I don't spoil my sister, who will?"
What used to make her heart flutter now only burned her skin. She took only essentials: clothes and documents.
She paused at her business degree, realizing she had never used it since marrying Adrian straight out of college.
Then she went to Axel's room. She could almost see him lying peacefully on his bed.
Her fingers trembled as they clutched the blanket, still warm with his scent.
The room was silent, toys lined up neatly as if waiting for him. Her shoulders curled inward, each breath splintering her chest, forcing her to hold the bedframe to stay upright.
Her gaze drifted to the wall where tiny stickers clung in a crooked line-pirates, planets, a smiling sun he used to say looked like her.
A shaky laugh escaped, shattering into jagged sobs. She pressed her forehead into the mattress, remembering him crawling onto her lap with morning hair sticking up like a startled bird.
Axel loved her. She refused to believe otherwise.
As she tried to stand, her hand brushed something hard at the bed's edge.
A notebook.
She remembered it clearly-a fancy diary she'd bought Adrian for his 21st birthday eight years ago. "You may need a place to write your deepest, darkest secrets," she had joked.
Arabella wiped her eyes and dusted it off. "Why is this here?"
Adrian often spent time in Axel's room so he might have dropped it?
She wanted to put it back-she didn't need reminders of him. But curiosity won.
The date at the top caught her eye: his birthday.
The first line read:
"Dear Diary, as scary as it is to admit, I am in love with my sister."
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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.