THE DIVORCE MY REVENGE

THE DIVORCE MY REVENGE CHAPTER.2

Chapter Two

The Woman Who Came Back

Three years later.

The Sterling Group headquarters stood at the heart of New York like a monument to power.

Forty-eight floors of black glass and steel. Every morning, executives, investors, lawyers, and politicians passed through its doors knowing one thing

Damian Sterling always won. He had built his reputation on it. Three years had passed since the divorce.

Three years since Elena Marlowe had walked out of his mansion without looking back. Three years since Damian had signed the papers that ended their marriage. And he never expected to see her again.

Until today.

“Mr. Sterling, the board meeting has been moved to ten.”

Damian didn't look up from the documents on his desk.

“Why?”

“The acquisition team has arrived.”

“From where?”

His assistant hesitated.

“Orion Capital.”

Damian finally raised his eyes.

“Orion?”

“Yes, sir.”

He leaned back in his chair.

Orion Capital had appeared on the market less than a year ago.

A mysterious investment company.

Aggressive. Strategic

Almost impossible to compete against.

In twelve months, they had acquired stakes in several major corporations, including two companies Damian had been negotiating with for months.

He had been trying to discover who was behind it.

No one knew.

The company's founder had never given an interview.

No photographs existed online.

No public appearances.

Just a name.

**E. Marlowe.**

Damian's fingers stopped moving.

Marlowe.

Something about the name bothered him.

“Are you sure that's the name?”

“Yes, sir.”

His assistant placed a folder on the desk.

Damian opened it.

The first page contained Orion Capital's acquisition proposal.

The second contained financial projections.

The third contained a photograph.

Damian froze.

The world around him seemed to disappear.

The woman in the photograph stood beside a black car, wearing a white suit.

Her dark hair fell over one shoulder. Her face was sharper than he remembered.

More confident. More beautiful

But it was her eyes that destroyed his composure. He knew those eyes.

He had stared into them across breakfast tables. Across hotel rooms.

Across arguments.

Across four years of marriage.

“Elena.”

The word escaped his lips before he could stop it.

His assistant looked confused.

“Sir?”

Damian closed the folder.

“Nothing.”

But his heart was already beating differently.

She was alive.

She was back.

And apparently, she had become powerful enough to walk into his world without asking permission. Across the city, Elena Marlowe stood in front of a mirror.

The woman staring back at her was no longer the twenty-six-year-old wife who had walked into the Sterling mansion believing she could uncover the truth alone.

That woman was dead.

Three years had changed Elena.

Pain had changed her.

Betrayal had changed her.

And the truth had changed her most of all.

She adjusted the diamond earrings in her ears.

“Are you nervous?”

Elena's assistant, Sophia, stood behind her.

Elena smiled.

“No.”

“You're lying.”

“A little.”

Sophia laughed.

“Because of the Sterling meeting?”

Elena looked at her reflection.

“Because of Damian.”

The smile disappeared from her face.

She had spent three years imagining this moment.

She had imagined him regretting the divorce.

She had imagined him begging for forgiveness.

She had imagined herself standing over him with enough power to destroy everything he loved.

But she hadn't imagined what it would feel like to see him again. She wasn't sure whether she hated him. That was the problem. She still remembered his hands.

His voice.

The way he used to look at her when he thought she was asleep.

Memories she had spent years trying to bury.

She picked up her handbag.

“Let's go.”

Sophia followed her toward the door.

“One more thing.”

Elena stopped.

Sophia handed her a file.

“We found the remaining documents from Marlowe Industries.”

Elena's expression changed.

“Where?”

“Your father's former lawyer had them.”

Elena opened the file.

Her eyes moved rapidly across the pages.

Bank transfers.

Shell companies.

Signed agreements.

Dates.

Names.

Then she saw something she had never seen before.

Her fingers tightened around the paper.

“What is this?”

Sophia frowned.

“What?”

“This signature.”

Elena pointed at the bottom of the document. It belonged to a Sterling executive.

But the date was impossible. The transaction had happened six months before Damian had even met Elena.

Which meant Damian couldn't have known about it.

He hadn't destroyed her father's company.

At least, not alone.

Elena slowly closed the file.

For three years, she had believed the Sterling family was responsible.

Now she was beginning to suspect someone else was behind it all.

Someone who had wanted her to blame Damian.

Someone who had benefited from the destruction of Marlowe Industries.

And someone who was still hiding.

Elena's eyes hardened.

“Keep this between us.”

Sophia nodded.

“Of course.”

Elena walked toward the elevator.

Then she stopped.

“Actually…”

She looked over her shoulder. “Bring the file to the meeting.” Sophia's eyebrows rose.

“You want Damian to see it?”

“No.”

Elena smiled coldly.

“I want to see his reaction.”

The conference room fell silent when Elena walked in.

Damian was standing beside the window.

He turned. Their eyes met

For several seconds, neither moved.

Elena felt her heart betray her.

Just once.

One painful beat. Then she buried it.

Damian looked different.

Older.

Harder.

More powerful.

But she could still recognize the man she had once loved.

His eyes remained fixed on her.

“You're Elena.”

It wasn't a question.

She smiled politely.

“Mr. Sterling.”

His jaw tightened.

“You changed your name.”

“No.”

She walked toward the table.

“I simply stopped using yours.”

Silence.

Several board members exchanged uncomfortable glances.

Damian slowly sat down.

“Elena, I didn't know you were behind Orion Capital.”

“I didn't know you cared.”

His eyes narrowed.

“I didn't say that.”

“You didn't have to.”

She took the seat directly opposite him.

The meeting began.

For the next forty minutes, Elena dismantled every objection the Sterling executives raised.

She anticipated their questions. Countered their arguments.

And when Damian challenged her proposed acquisition, she smiled.

“Do you disagree with the numbers?”

“No.”

“Then what exactly is your objection?”

“You.”

The room went silent.

Elena's expression didn't change.

“I'm sorry?”

Damian leaned back.

“You're making a very aggressive move against my company.”

“I learned from the best.”

His eyes darkened.

“You're doing this because of me.”

“No.”

She paused.

“I'm doing this because of what your family did.”

Something flashed across Damian's face.

“What are you talking about?”

Elena opened the file.

She slid a document across the table.

Damian picked it up.

His expression changed.

He read the first page.

Then the second.

By the third, the color had drained from his face.

“Where did you get this?”

Elena watched him carefully.

“Does it look familiar?”

He looked at her.

“I've never seen this document.”

She hadn't expected that answer.

“Your family's signature is on it.”

“My family signed hundreds of documents.”

“This one destroyed my father's company.”

Damian stood abruptly.

“Elena, I swear to you—”

“Don't.”

Her voice was quiet.

But it stopped him.

“You had three years to tell me the truth.”

“I didn't know.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“I expect you to listen.”

Elena stared at him.

For the first time since she had returned, she saw something in his eyes that she hadn't expected.

Fear.

Not fear of losing money.

Not fear of losing his company.

Fear that he had been manipulated too.

Damian slowly placed the document on the table.

“Someone used Sterling Holdings.”

Elena's breath caught.

“What?”

“They forged internal authorization.”

He looked at the signatures.

“This isn't my grandfather's approval.”

“Then whose is it?”

Damian didn't answer.

He picked up his phone.

“Get me every record from seven years ago. Every transaction involving Marlowe Industries.”

His assistant immediately nodded. Damian looked back at Elena.

“We're going to find out who did this.”

Elena stood.

“We?”

His eyes met hers.

“Yes.”

She gave a small, humorless laugh.

“You divorced me, Damian.”

“I know.”

“You chose your family over me.”

“I know.”

“You watched me walk away.”

His expression tightened.

“I know.”

Elena stepped closer.

“And now you want to help me?”

Damian's voice dropped.

“I never wanted to lose you.”

For one dangerous second, Elena forgot how to breathe.

Then she remembered the divorce papers.

She stepped back.

“Too late.”

She turned toward the door.

“Elena.

She stopped.

Damian's voice followed her.

“Who are you now?”

She looked over her shoulder.

A faint smile appeared on her lips.

The woman you should have fought for.

Then she walked out.

Damian remained alone in the conference room.

His eyes staye

d fixed on the door.

For the first time in three years, he realized something terrifying.

He still loved his ex-wife.

And judging by the look in her eyes…

She hadn't come back for revenge alone.

She had come back for the truth.

And whoever had destroyed Marlowe Industries seven years ago had just made the biggest mistake of their life because Elena Marlowe was no longer alone.

And Damian Sterling was no longer sure whose side he was on.