Divorced the CEO, Chose His Rival

Chapter 002 — The Name She Took Back

The name on Nadia's apartment mailbox was still Whitlock.

She noticed it when she returned from her attorney's office, carrying the documents that confirmed she was no longer married to the man whose surname she'd used for seven years.

For a moment, she stood in the hallway looking at the small brass nameplate.

Five months earlier, when she'd rented the apartment, she hadn't known whether the separation would become permanent. She'd signed the lease under her married name and told herself she'd deal with everything else when she was ready.

Apparently, she was ready now.

She went upstairs, found a blank sheet of paper and wrote her name across it.

Nadia Ellery.

The handwriting looked familiar. She'd spent twenty-seven years answering to that name before marrying Adrian, yet writing it again felt strangely deliberate.

She placed the paper beside her handbag and opened her laptop.

The divorce judgment restored her former surname, but that didn't mean every institution would immediately recognize the change. Her bank accounts, professional registrations, insurance documents and several other records still needed updating.

She began making a list.

Halfway through, her phone rang.

Jessa Moreno.

"How did it go?" her friend asked.

"It's final."

Jessa was quiet for a moment.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I've spent months preparing for something that took less than an hour."

"That's usually how paperwork works. The difficult part happens before anyone signs it."

Nadia leaned back in her chair.

"Adrian brought another document."

"What kind?"

"Something concerning my former advisory responsibilities at Whitlock. Margaret's requesting a copy from their legal department."

"Did you sign it?"

"No."

"Good."

Nadia smiled faintly.

"You're not even going to ask what it said?"

"I am. But I'd rather ask after I've established that you didn't sign something unfamiliar while your ex-husband was pressuring you."

"He called it routine administration."

"Then Whitlock's lawyers shouldn't have any difficulty explaining it."

Nadia glanced at her list.

For years, Jessa had been the person she called when she needed an answer that wouldn't change according to Adrian's mood. Her friend was a commercial attorney, practical to the point of occasional bluntness, and unimpressed by expensive titles.

She had warned Nadia about allowing marriage to blur the boundaries between her professional obligations and Whitlock's interests.

Nadia hadn't always listened.

"Adrian also offered me my old advisory position," she said.

"Today?"

"At the divorce meeting."

There was a brief silence.

"That man has extraordinary timing."

"He thinks returning to the company would be good for me."

"Does he?"

Nadia understood the question.

"He said Whitlock still needs my expertise."

"That's not quite the same thing."

"No," Nadia admitted. "It isn't."

Jessa waited.

"I told him I'm not returning."

"Then what are you planning to do?"

Nadia looked at the laptop.

"Work. Preferably for people who understand that professional advice comes with an invoice."

Jessa laughed.

"I'd happily represent that business."

"You already represent the owner."

"Then I expect preferential treatment when you become successful."

"I'll consider letting you pay the full fee."

"How generous."

Their laughter eased something Nadia hadn't realized she'd been holding tight.

For a few minutes, they discussed the practical changes ahead. Jessa offered to review any agreements connected to Nadia's independent consulting work and reminded her to separate outstanding Whitlock matters from new professional engagements.

Before ending the call, she asked whether Nadia wanted company that evening.

"Thank you, but I think I'd like some time to myself."

"All right. Call if you need anything."

"I will."

Afterward, Nadia remained seated with the phone in her hand.

She appreciated that Jessa hadn't tried to turn the day into a celebration. There was relief in ending the marriage, but also grief for the years that had once been happy.

Both feelings belonged to her.

She didn't need to choose between them.

By early afternoon, Nadia had finished listing the institutions that required her updated name.

The next task was considerably more intimidating.

Finding clients.

Ellery Strategy Systems LLC had existed long before her divorce. She had established the business to hold the rights to her analytical framework and manage professional work that remained separate from Whitlock.

For years, however, her consulting activities had revolved almost entirely around her husband's company.

She'd allowed that arrangement to become comfortable.

Too comfortable.

Now she had a business with an established legal identity, valuable professional expertise and no active independent consulting clients.

She opened the company's website.

The existing pages explained its analytical capabilities, but they offered little indication that Nadia was actively accepting new engagements.

Potential clients needed to know what problems she could help them solve.

She began revising the introduction.

Her first attempt described her experience in corporate restructuring, financial risk assessment and business recovery. It was accurate, but the language sounded like something prepared for an investment committee.

She deleted several sentences.

Businesses didn't necessarily need an impressive explanation of financial methodology. They needed someone who could help them understand why profits weren't becoming cash, whether an expansion was affordable or how to address weaknesses before those weaknesses became expensive.

Nadia rewrote the paragraph with those concerns in mind.

She added a short description of her consulting services and a professional inquiry form. She would refine the detailed service pages and pricing arrangements later, once she'd examined what she could realistically deliver as a small independent practice.

When she reviewed the finished page, the company name appeared above the introduction.

Ellery Strategy Systems LLC

For years, she'd been introduced as Adrian Whitlock's wife before anyone mentioned her professional qualifications.

The company had always belonged to her.

Now she had to give people a reason to recognize it.

Nadia published the updated page.

Nothing remarkable happened.

No client immediately appeared. No notification announced that she'd taken an important step toward rebuilding her career.

The website simply went live.

She checked that the inquiry form worked, then closed the browser.

For the moment, that was enough.

Around four, she opened a spreadsheet and began estimating her monthly expenses.

Rent, utilities, insurance, groceries and the ordinary costs of maintaining her business appeared in separate columns.

She had savings and some financial breathing room, but she didn't intend to spend either carelessly.

At Whitlock, her recommendations had affected transactions worth millions. She was accustomed to examining complicated financial structures and identifying risks that other executives preferred to overlook.

It was almost embarrassing how long she spent debating whether to increase the allowance for her own groceries.

She eventually adjusted the figure.

A person could be financially independent without pretending she would survive indefinitely on coffee and determination.

Next came the less comfortable question of income.

She had no active consulting contracts. Building a client base would require professional outreach, credible references and proposals that demonstrated the value of her work.

Her experience was substantial, but experience didn't automatically produce customers.

She thought about contacting several former professional acquaintances.

Then she stopped.

She would need to be careful about confidentiality and relationships that might create unnecessary complications with Whitlock.

She wasn't interested in using her former position to obtain information or clients she had no legitimate right to approach.

Instead, she began compiling a list of independent industry contacts and businesses that might benefit from restructuring advice.

It was a modest beginning.

But unlike the work she'd performed during her marriage, she would be responsible for negotiating the terms, delivering the services and collecting payment.

There was something reassuring about that.

Something frightening, too.

At six, Nadia prepared dinner.

She had grown accustomed to the apartment over the past five months. The kitchen was smaller than the one in the Whitlock house, and the living room barely accommodated the sofa and narrow bookshelf she'd purchased after moving in.

But she liked the afternoon light that reached the windows, and she'd finally stopped thinking of the bedroom as somewhere she was staying temporarily.

While her food warmed, she opened the drawer where she'd placed a few things from her former home.

There was a photograph from an anniversary trip, a restaurant receipt she'd once intended to keep in an album and a small velvet box containing her wedding ring.

Nadia picked up the photograph.

Adrian had been laughing when it was taken. She remembered the day clearly, including the terrible weather that had forced them to abandon their sightseeing plans and spend the afternoon in a little restaurant.

He had held her hand across the table and told her there was nowhere he'd rather be.

At the time, she'd believed him.

She still believed he'd meant it that day.

That was one of the hardest things to accept about the marriage. The happy memories hadn't become false because the relationship ended badly.

Neither did they excuse what came afterward.

Nadia placed the photograph back in the drawer.

She wasn't ready to throw everything away.

She didn't have to be.

Her phone vibrated with an incoming email.

The sender was Claire, an administrator from Whitlock's executive office.

Nadia opened it.

The message confirmed that she could collect her remaining personal belongings from the company's headquarters at ten the following morning.

She would need to sign in as a visitor and would be accompanied while accessing the executive offices.

Nadia appreciated the formality. She had requested an appointment precisely to avoid misunderstandings about her former access.

She was about to reply when she reached the final paragraph.

Ms. Lydia Fenwick will be available to oversee the collection and address any questions concerning the belongings remaining in your former workspace.

Nadia stared at the screen.

Of all the people Adrian could have asked to supervise her visit, he'd chosen Lydia.

She read the sentence again, wondering whether the arrangement had been deliberate or simply the result of Lydia's current responsibilities.

Either possibility was unpleasant.

For several moments, Nadia considered requesting someone else.

Then she looked toward the folder containing her divorce documents.

She had spent enough time rearranging her life around Adrian and Lydia's decisions.

Tomorrow's visit wasn't about either of them.

She needed to collect her belongings, complete the necessary formalities and leave.

Nadia typed a short confirmation.

Thank you, Claire. I'll be there at ten.

She sent the message and returned to her dinner.

The food had cooled while she'd been reading.

She reheated it, carried her plate to the small table beside the window and opened the notebook containing her plans for Ellery Strategy Systems.

At the top of a fresh page, she wrote down three tasks for the following day.

Collect personal belongings. Review business expenses. Continue preparing for independent consulting work.

She paused before closing the notebook.

For seven years, almost every important professional decision she'd made had somehow involved Whitlock Industries.

Tomorrow, she would return to its headquarters for the first time since leaving.

But she wasn't going there to resume her responsibilities.

She was going to collect what she'd left behind.

And whatever Lydia Fenwick had to say about it, Nadia intended to leave with everything that still belonged to her.