He Ditched Me 52 Times

Chapter 4 Reclaiming the Crown

Coffee and wet roses drifted in through the open doors of my bedroom at the Sterling estate. The rain had stopped sometime before dawn, and water still clung to the garden outside.

Sunlight crossed the silk sheets. No 6 a.m. alarm was waiting for me, and there was no meeting to prepare for Julian before he woke. I did not have to settle for stale pizza or check which office problem he expected me to solve first. I stayed in bed until the coffee cart rattled past in the corridor.

Dominic was waiting for me in the sunroom, a tablet in hand and the morning financial papers folded beside him. He didn’t look up as I entered in a simple cashmere robe.

“Good morning, Ms. Sterling. Hayes Tech now faces more than forty million in breach-of-contract penalties. The board is trying to reach Mr. Hayes, but he has not answered since last night.”

I took the glass of orange juice the housekeeper had left for me.

“And the intern?” I asked.

Dominic turned the tablet toward me. “Mia Thorne tried to wire a quarter of a million dollars from the operating account to an offshore entity at 3 a.m. Our automated system blocked it before settlement. We have the account number, authorization request, and full transaction record.”

“Follow standard procedure. Pursue the full value of our investment and send the attempted embezzlement record to the District Attorney. Offer full cooperation.”

Dominic finally looked at me. “No leniency, Ms. Sterling?”

I set down my glass. “She entered the account details herself. Send it.”

That afternoon, stylists filled my private suite with garment racks and open jewelry cases. For five years, I had worn sensible blouses and muted colors because Julian noticed whenever I drew more attention than he did. I had left dresses like these in storage and told him I had never cared for galas.

I chose a deep emerald velvet gown that left my shoulders bare and the Sterling Diamonds, the necklace my family had passed down for generations. A stylist laid the stones across my collarbone before fastening the clasp.

The stones were cold when the clasp closed at the back of my neck.

I checked the clasp in the mirror and straightened one earring. My shoulders were square in the glass. Julian had never seen me wear any of it.

“It’s time, Serena.”

My grandfather stood in the doorway and held out his arm.

“The board is waiting to welcome you home,” he said.

We walked down the main staircase as rain struck the tall windows and thunder rolled beyond the estate. At the entrance, staff held the limousine doors while photographers waited behind the gates. The car took us to the Sterling Group’s annual gala, where the board planned to announce my return.

(Julian's POV)

Everyone in the ballroom looked as if they belonged there except us. The guest list was full of names I had spent years trying to get into a meeting. My suit jacket pulled across my shoulders, and I smoothed it for the tenth time. Beside me, Mia kept smiling at anyone who looked our way.

We had paid a doorman five hundred dollars, nearly the last of my liquid cash, to let us through the service entrance. Our names were not on any invitation, and we had left our coats beside a delivery cart downstairs.

“Just act natural,” I hissed, grabbing two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter. I handed one to Mia. Her hand was trembling.

“That’s CEO of Axiom Corp over there,” she whispered, her eyes wide. “If I can just talk to him.”

She hurried over in her red dress and used the same lost-young-intern smile that had always worked on me. She touched the Axiom CEO's arm while introducing herself. The silver-haired man glanced at her hand, removed it from his sleeve, and turned back to his conversation without answering.

Mia came back flushed. “He was so rude!”

I watched her drain half the champagne I had given her, then complain that the CEO had embarrassed her. At the office, Serena would have known his portfolio, his board, and the terms of every recent deal. I had handed Serena's title to this woman.

Then I saw Serena.

She stood beneath a chandelier in an emerald gown, diamonds at her throat, speaking with a senator. The people around her waited when she talked and laughed when she did. A board chairman I had emailed six times leaned closer to hear her answer.

Nothing about her matched the woman who used to wait up in our apartment wearing an old sweatshirt, reheating dinner after I came home late.

Someone must have brought her. The necklace alone looked worth more than Hayes Tech at its peak, and no marketing salary could have paid for the gown. I decided some wealthy man had picked her up after she left me. It was easier than looking again at the Vance Capital folder.

She had walked out when I needed her and come here to show off what had replaced me. By morning, I had turned that thought over so many times that it sounded true.

“What the hell,” I snarled, shoving my empty glass onto a tray.

Mia called my name as I pushed through the guests, sloshing champagne over one man's cuff. Several people stepped out of my way and looked toward security. Serena kept talking until I broke into the open space around her group.

“Serena!”

The conversations around us stopped. Serena turned, and whatever smile she had given the senator disappeared.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded, taking a step closer. The senator put a protective hand on her arm, and I pointed at him. “You think you can just throw me away and show up on the arm of some new benefactor? I’m still your fiancé! Have you no shame?”

A few people gasped. Someone behind me laughed once and stopped.

The announcer spoke from the stage.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience. And now, it is my distinct honor to ask you to join me in welcoming back our host for this evening.”

“Please put your hands together for the returning Chair of the Board and the sole heiress to the Sterling Group, Miss Serena Sterling!”

My raised hand stopped between us.

Sterling?

The Sterling Group?

Applause filled the ballroom. The people I had pushed past were no longer watching me. Everyone turned toward Serena, and board members near the stage rose to receive her.

She passed me and walked to the stage under the spotlight. The senator and two board members followed her.

I lowered my hand.