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 7
"Wake up." A tap on her cheek. Then another, harder.
Arabella's eyes fluttered open to an unfamiliar ceiling. White. Sterile. The thick smell of disinfectant burned her nose.
She tried to lift her hand to her face. It wouldn't move.
That's when she felt something biting into her wrists.
"W–what is this place? Who are you?" Arabella questioned, attempting to stand up, but again, she couldn't move her legs.
She looked down at herself, only then did she realize her legs and arms had been strapped on the table before her like some criminal in an interrogation room.
Her dress was gone as she was now wearing a plain white gown. Hospital gown.
Arabella panicked, "What's going on here? What do you want from me?"
The lady who was standing before her-middle-aged, tired eyes, nurse's uniform-sighed, running her hand through Arabella's hair gently, "You are so beautiful, I wonder what drove you crazy."
Arabella angrily moved away her head, her heart thumping wildly in her chest as fear crept into the depth of her soul, "What is this place? Who the hell hired you to do this? Adrian?"
"This is the Havenbrook Psychiatric Hospital, Ms..." The nurse paused looking at the name written on the form in her hand, "Ms. Elena, You've been admitted here." The Nurse explained slowly like she was talking to a child, "I am Nala, your personal nurse and I am here to assess your current condition."
Arabella's eyes widened in disbelief, "Elena? Who the hell is that? I am Arabella. Arabella Sterl..." She paused, realizing she had no relationship with that name now, but the nurse mistook it for memory shortage.
"I understand Elena. We've been told you have a memory issue and keep taking on people's identity. But don't worry, we are you to reset your memory." Nala said with an evil smirk dancing on her lips.
Arabella's lips trembled as she realized she was doomed, but she tried to compose herself. This was a mental hospital, so every aggression she showed could be confused for a mental problem. The best option she had at the moment was to borrow the Sterling one last time.
"Nala, I promise you I am not crazy. I am Arabella Sterling. Daughter of the Sterling Law Group. You can check it online."
Even though they had long dissolved her adoption, it was never made public so that detail was still somewhere on the internet. Or so she thought.
Nala raised a brow, her eyes drifting between the file in her hand and Arabella's face.
Arabella's heart thudded violently, as she hoped Nala would give her the benefit of doubt and just check the internet.
"First you claim to be the mother of his child, and now his sister?" She sighed, shaking her head. Nala made a note on her chart. "Honestly, does it look like I care? As long as she pays me well, I will tolerate your gibberish forever."
Arabella's heart sank as hot tears rushed up her eyes, "She? W-who is she?"
Nala looked at the file again, then replied, "Your sister."
Arabella let out a humorless chuckle as more tears poured, "I have a sister now?"
"Don't tell me you've forgotten me, sweet little sister?" Serena's voice echoed from the door as she walked into the room, heels clicking the floor loudly.
"You?" Arabella gasped, eyes widened in disbelief.
Serena glanced at the nurse and commanded, "Excuse us."
Nala attempted to leave but Arabella yelled loudly, "Please just check the internet. You will see it."
Serena smirked, pulling out her phone showing off the screen, "You mean this internet?"
On it was an article that had been issued the previous day.
The title clearly read, "The Sterling Family has no daughter."
Arabella's fist clenched so hard her knuckles turned white. It's barely 24 hours since the divorce and Adrian couldn't wait to publicly get rid of her?
Nala left while Serena pulled a chair and sat just meters away from Arabella.
"You know ever since I called you crazy, I've always wanted to see how this white gown would look on you." Serena started, admiring her freshly made acrylic nails nonchalantly, "I won't lie though, you make anything look beautiful."
Arabella screamed at the top of her lungs, the veins of her neck throbbing as she lunged at her. But the strong chains held her back. "I have divorced him now, haven't I? You've taken everything. What more do you want from me?"
The corner of Serena's lips curled up in a disdainful smirk, shrugging her shoulders, "Everything?"
"Can you ever give back everything you owe me?"
Arabella's brows creased in confusion. She tried to look back into their past when they were kids. Nothing.
Aside from Adrian, she's never taken or even attempted to take anything from her.
Hot tears streamed down her eyes as she stared at her, Serena's smile making her skin burn as she cried, "What did I ever do to you?"
Serena chuckled loudly but she didn't look satisfied...didn't even look like someone that just won everything.
"As for your son..."
"Don't you dare touch my son, you psycho!" Arabella roared, bouncing on her seat, barely able to contain her anger.
Despite the restraint on her movement, Arabella shook so hard, her chair moved closer, startling Serena for a heartbeat, "If you touch a single hair on his head, I will kill you!"
Serena tried to hide the chill that ran down her spine with Arabella's threat, as she stylishly pulled her chair back, trying to bring back her composure.
"Don't worry about Axel. I will treat him well, after all, I don't plan on having a kid of my own." She reassured her.
Arabella swallowed hard, dropping her gaze as she tried to regain the strength she'd exhausted. Her fingers trembled, blood smearing the place where her skin met the restraints.
"Please...please let me go." Arabella begged, how voice was weak. Defeated. "I will never show up again."
That boosted Serena's ego, her confidence returning fast, her smile running wide, "Don't worry. I already made sure of that."
"That's why I changed your name? Even if anyone remembers you, they will never be able to find you, just like your mother..." Serena caught herself a little too late.
Arabella's eyes widened, a chill running down her spine, "M–my mother? How do you know about my mother?"
For all she knew, her birth mother died in prison. At least that was what Victor could uncover before his sudden death.
Serena bit the inside of her lips, avoiding a direct glance at Arabella as she picked her purse ready to leave. "You don't have the luxury to worry about anyone."
Just then the door creaked open and the head psychiatrist of the hospital, Dr. Sebastian walked in, with Nala behind him.
"Ms. Smith, I rushed over as soon as I heard you came by yourself." Dr. Sebastian greeted.
Serena took in a deep breath as she rose, giving one last disdainful look at Arabella before turning to face them.
"Torture her until she actually loses her mind. Then I will have my father give a huge donation to your hospital." She instructed, striding towards the door.
"Thanks, thank you, Ms. Smith." Dr. Sebastian replied, years of corruption etched in his brows.
Just as Serena reached for the door, Arabella managed to speak, "Serena, can you at least tell me what I ever did to offend you?"
Serena's hand hovered over the doorknob for a while, then she turned back walking towards Arabella.
When she was close enough, she leaned in, whispering into her ear with a smile, "If I tell you, I will have to kill you."
"But I don't want you to die just yet."
She strode away, her laughter echoing around the room long after she left, every sound, piercing Arabella's broken heart.
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7.2
I am a resident surgeon, secretly married to Dr. Barrett Walters, the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery. It was a transactional marriage; he paid my mother's mounting medical bills, and I was his secret, obedient wife in the dark.
But at the hospital, he was a cold-blooded tyrant who deliberately made my life a living hell. During a major medical conference, he viciously tore apart my successful surgical repair, looking me dead in the eye as he called me incompetent in front of all my colleagues.
The humiliation didn't stop there. With his tacit approval, the senior residents bullied me, assigning me every brutal night shift. When his beautiful, wealthy heiress "girlfriend" visited the ward, he publicly mocked my background to make her smile.
"Some people get in through the back door. They're not fit for the front lines."
Even when I was forced to work as a secret banquet waitress to cover the medical copays he ignored, he found me, ruined the job out of pure possessive jealousy, and then fined my meager resident salary the very next morning just to show his absolute control.
I endured his punishing kisses and cruel rebukes, sacrificing my dignity just to keep my mother alive. But I couldn't understand why he had to destroy every shred of my peace. If he wanted the perfect heiress, why did he refuse to let me go?
Staring at his cold, controlling eyes in the stairwell, my exhaustion finally overpowered my fear. I was done being his victim, and it was time to tear up this contract.
7.7
Eva Brooks, a 25-year-old woman, was set up by her best friend. Her fiancé broke up with her and demanded compensation for allegedly cheating on him.
Eva had a one-night stand with the richest CEO in Dominic City, Ethan Owen. He was arrogant and offered her a job as his secretary.
As his secretary, Ethan couldn't shake his fondness for Eva. He became obsessed with her, worrying that she was cheating on him.
He broke up with his fiancée to become engaged to Eva, but will his fiancée let him go? Will Eva accept a relationship with her boss?
7.8
Andrea was trapped in a suffocating marriage with billionaire Gregory Morse, forced to live as the pathetic substitute for his dead fiancée.
When armed intruders broke into their estate in the dead of night, she called her husband in pure terror.
"Stop playing these cheap, attention-seeking games," Gregory sneered with disgust, and hung up the phone.
She barely escaped with her life, but the cruelty only escalated. At the family mansion, his dead fiancée's sister deliberately scalded Andrea's hand with boiling tea. Instead of defending his wife, Gregory publicly humiliated her, ordering her to clean up the mess while calling her a stray dog.
That night, hiding in the dark wine cellar, Andrea overheard a chilling confession.
Gregory admitted to his brother that he knew Andrea was completely innocent of the car crash that killed his fiancée. He knew she had been framed.
Why did he marry her? Just to use her as a psychological punching bag to vent his twisted grief. He watched her suffer every single day, treating her like disposable trash, while violently threatening anyone who showed her an ounce of kindness.
He thought she was just a useless, helpless shadow who would quietly endure his torment forever.
He had no idea that behind her submissive facade, she was secretly Madame Lan, the apex predator of the global fashion world. And now, she was ready to burn his empire to the ground.
8.7
Emerson worked grueling twelve-hour shifts just to keep her five-year-old son, Leo, alive. Her only lifeline was her partner Alden, who was willing to give up his wealthy family to protect them.
But when Leo's bone marrow completely failed, the doctor delivered a death sentence. The only way to save him was a two-million-dollar treatment, or having another child with his biological father.
That father was Finnegan Mcconnell, the ruthless billionaire who had accused Emerson of faking her pregnancy and abandoned her five years ago.
Desperate for the medical fees, Emerson submitted her designs to Finnegan's company.
Instead of advancing the money, Finnegan tore her portfolio to shreds and trapped her as a prisoner in his estate.
To force her complete submission, he systematically destroyed her reality. He framed Alden with federal charges, leaving him facing twenty years in prison.
Alden's mother stormed into the pediatric ICU, violently strangling Emerson against the wall.
"Beg Finnegan to let my son go! You are a curse!"
Even Emerson's own adoptive mother showed up at the hospital, just to publicly mock her dying child.
Emerson was suffocating in despair. Finnegan already had a beautiful new wife and a five-year-old daughter—absolute proof he had been cheating while she was pregnant and alone.
He had his perfect family. Why did he have to hunt her down and sever every lifeline she had left, just to watch her drown?
With her son's heart monitor fading and Alden locked in a cell, her pride finally shattered.
Emerson walked into the top-floor executive office and dropped to her knees at the devil's feet, but the desperate mother looking up at him was preparing for a devastating revenge.
7.5
I am the biological daughter of the wealthy Fitzpatrick family, but I spent my childhood eating out of dumpsters.
When I was finally brought back to the estate at age seven, I thought I would experience my parents' love.
Instead, my biological parents looked at my dirty clothes with raw disgust. They only cared about Hallie, the fake daughter who lived like a princess.
The moment I walked in, Hallie hurled a heavy ceramic cup at my head, slicing my hand open.
"Get out of my house!"
My father didn't even look at the blood. He raised his hand to strike me, accusing me of bringing trailer park rules into his home.
In my past life, I dropped to my knees and begged for their forgiveness. I endured their abuse, hoping they would eventually love me.
But they let the maids humiliate me, let Hallie steal my identity, and eventually threw me back onto the streets to die. Even my playboy Uncle Byron, the only person who ever showed me mercy, was driven to suicide by them.
I didn't understand why my own flesh and blood hated me so much, or why a vicious liar deserved everything while I was treated like a jinx.
Opening my eyes again, I was back on the exact day I first returned to the estate.
As my father raised his hand to hit me, I didn't cower.
Instead, I looked at the family patriarch and pointed directly at my notorious, alcoholic uncle.
"I want him to be my new guardian."
9.8
When I woke up on the muddy bank of the freezing river, I unlocked a brutal, unfiltered preview of my actual future.
For the past six months, I had been the town's ultimate joke, chasing after a city boy who looked at me like a diseased insect. Everyone thought I jumped into the river because he rejected me.
But the nightmare didn't stop there. In the future I foresaw, my entire family was destroyed. My eldest brother was handcuffed and dragged into a squad car. My second brother died in a pool of blood on the asphalt. My parents passed away from sheer grief and humiliation, and our farm was foreclosed.
Meanwhile, Bart Hawkins—my family's sworn enemy, the boy everyone accused of pushing me, but who actually jumped in to save my life—became a billionaire tech mogul. I ended up starving to death in a damp, moldy basement, completely alone.
I finally understood that I was just a pathetic, tragic side character meant to drag my family into hell. My own sister-in-law, Felicie, had been stealing our food and money, laughing at my misery behind my back.
But right now, my mother was still alive, my brothers were safe, and the farm was ours.
When Felicie walked into my bedroom, playing the devoted sister-in-law with a bowl of clear, meatless broth while a stolen roasted chicken thigh leaked grease through her apron pocket, I didn't play along.
"What's in your pocket, Felicie?"
This time, I was going to tear that horrific future apart with my bare hands.