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 8
Adrian woke up with a splitting headache as he rubbed his palm through his face before slowly opening his eyes.
He lay awake on the bed in the private bedroom within his office.
Bottles of booze lay on the floor by the bed as he had spent the past two days since Arabella left getting drunk and just being utterly miserable.
"Mr. Sterling." Gavin's voice came through the door. "The fraud case meeting is early tomorrow. You still haven't touched the files."
Adrian groaned, sitting up. "I'll handle it overnight."
He stretched his aching muscles, even though he'd barely done any strenuous work to get him so tired.
It felt like his mind was in a fog as he couldn't tell what was weighing him down.
Maybe he missed her?
He scoffed at the idea, dismissing it as fast as it came.
But when his phone buzzed and he picked it up, he realized the last thing he was staring at before he dozed off was an old picture of Arabella.
"Fuck!" He groaned.
As much as he hated it, he found himself staring at the picture a little too long again.
It was the picture he'd taken of her on her college graduation day.
Her smile was bright, open. She looked so young there, sunlight catching in her hair, joy radiating from her face...a smile that had slowly disappeared from her face over the years.
It shouldn't have surprised him to see how much of her brightness had dimmed over the years, but somehow it did.
As if he could pretend he didn't know what he did to drain the light from her eyes...what he did to tighten her smile into something cautious, then erased it altogether.
He suddenly slipped the phone into his pocket, inhaling sharply as he forced himself not to think too deeply into how he treated her over the years.
He wasn't looking for redemption. In fact he did everything just to make her leave. Forever.
But now that she was gone, why did it suddenly hurt?
He stood up and walked towards the large window overlooking the city from the 4th floor.
"You better live a good life, Petals." He mumbled partially to himself and partially to the wind that blew a lone tear down his cheek.
His phone buzzed again in his pocket, jolting him back as he quickly wiped off the tear and reached for it.
Another missed call from Serena among several other notifications.
He typed a short text, "Let's talk in the office tomorrow. I have an important case to prepare for. Take care of Axel."
He made to clear the notification bar, but something caught her attention.
An "Important" email from an unfamiliar sender.
The name caught his attention and he eventually opened it.
The email was brief, straightforward.
***
Hi,
This is an urgent reminder that the contents of your vault at EverGuard Secure Storage are scheduled for release. Please collect your items before 11:59 PM today, or arrange payment for an extension to avoid the items being discarded.
Thank you for your immediate attention.
Best regards...
***
He arched a brow in confusion because he'd never used the company's services before.
Surprisingly, this wasn't their first email.
When he checked the CC, he realized the message was forwarded to both him and his father.
His hands tightened around his phone as he realized his father might have included his email in the contact info.
He checked his phone.
6:30pm.
He sucked in a deep breath as he walked out of the bedroom to start reviewing his case file.
But as the hour went by, he couldn't stop himself from thinking about the email.
"What could be in the safe?" his mind constantly questioned.
When he checked the time again, 8:47pm. Less than four hours before the deadline.
He grabbed his jacket and car key, giving into his curiosity as he drove off.
When he arrived at the office, he was made to fill a few paperworks and a small fee before they handed over the key to him.
"Let us know if you wish for an extension," The vault operator said as she walked away after showing Adrian to the vault.
Adrian was hesitant, taking a few seconds to brace himself.
His relationship with his father had strained ever since the news of Arabella's pregnancy.
He felt like he was a disappointment. A sick perv who preyed on his own 'sister.'
And when his father forced the marriage, he thought it was just damage control. After all, his Dad cherished the family name a lot.
He stopped looking into his Dad's eyes since then...avoided him even.
And suddenly he was dead. Adrian felt guilty.
He needed closure. And maybe this was it.
Eventually, he opened the vault.
A bunch of files laid tired inside the vault. It'd been years, but they looked neat and perfectly in good shape.
Adrian's hand trembled around the edges of the paper as he held them.
'What are these?'
He wasn't sure what he was going to find, but he braced himself for disappointment.
He sat up on the floor to support his numb legs, his back relaxing on the vault as he finally opened the file.
By the third page, hot tears were already blurring his vision.
Inside the file were detailed documents on a secret case his Dad has been working on.
The Wrongful Arrest of Isabella Greene.
Arabella's real mother.
His heart thudded wildly in his chest.
All the secret meetings with Arabella, the lengthy phone calls, the hushed conversation that made his mom believe Arabella had been scheming for the company shares were nothing but innocent case readings?
His Dad was just trying to find her family?
When he got to the last page, it was Arabella's adoption nullification papers.
The date...Adrian's eyes widened.
His Dad had actually nullified her adoption three months before the one night stand? Before his secret feeling even became public debate. Why?
A note fell and with much hesitation, he picked it up reading through it.
***
Damn! I died before I could discuss this with you?
***
As he read the first line, a lone tear trickled down his eyes.
This line alone meant he was anticipating his death. But why? Could it not be a simple accident as they had always thought? Or was it just instinct?
***
I must have been a terrible father not to notice how you look at her. I saw your diary, son. You're not sick. I'd say you're brave even. Loving someone 'forbidden' is never easy. I'm sorry for making you feel that way. So I have nullified her adoption. She's not your sister anymore.
I just feel horrible that you don't find me worthy enough to open up to. You used to tell me everything. How did we become like this?
That aside, can you do me a favour? Look into this case file. It might lead to a dead end, but that innocent girl deserves to know her family if they are still alive.
Just be discreet. The people behind this case might be more dangerous than I anticipated.
Promise me you will protect her at all costs, but drop the case if it gets too risky.
No matter what, you will always be my son. I love you.
***
Adrian curled into his fetal position, each line hitting with the slow, sick weight of a punch he never saw coming.
It should have felt like relief-proof that he wasn't a disappointment to his father.
But all Adrian felt was pain. A raw, twisting ache that settled under his ribs, refusing to loosen.
For over five years, he'd hurt Arabella for his own guilt. Covered it up by calling her a gold digger. And now even tore an innocent mother and child apart just to hide his own shame.
And now his father just told him he wasn't wrong for loving her.
The guilt was instant and suffocating. He'd let his father down horribly.
But maybe he still had a chance. To redeem himself. To get Arabella back. To create their happy family. The one his father always envisioned.
He hurriedly grabbed his phone and dialed Gavin's number.
It rang once. Twice.
"Find Arabella." His voice shook but his resolve was firm. "I don't care what it takes. Find her. NOW."
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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.