Mr. Sterling, Your Ex-wife is a Famous CEO

"What is this new tactic, Arabella?" Adrian asked, raising his gaze to meet hers.

Arabella's brows furrowed as she tried to speak, "W–what are you..."

"Arabella, I know you hate me, but please don't implicate me like this!" Serena cried, but only Arabella noticed the curl at the corner of her lip. "What do I have to gain from ruining the family's reputation?"

Adrian ran a hand through his dark crew cut, "Serena is right. You should be thanking her for cleaning up your mess, not coming up with more lies!"

"Our last messages were dated to over a month now and it's from you!"

Serena sniffled dramatically, "Adrian...I'm more heartbroken that you chose to believe her instead of me."

Adrian slipped a hand around waist, helping her wipe out the fake tears that she always seemed to have ready, "I'm sorry, Serena."

Arabella bit her lower lip bitterly.

What was she thinking? Serena was one hell of a smart lawyer. There's no way she'd leave evidence behind.

"I doubt you can delete mine," she scoffed, pulling out her phone.

But upon checking her message, nothing was there.

"What?" she muttered, scrolling up and down. There was no trace of any message from Adrian in the past few months.

"What? Can't find the message?" Serena asked with a smirk.

Arabella immediately knew Serena had tampered with it. Ms. Shaw actively worked for her-there was no need to think twice. She sighed, shoulders slumping in defeat.

'Serena is really unbeatable, isn't she?'

"Arabella, no amount of scheming will change my mind today," Adrian interrupted her thoughts. "Unless you don't want Axel back."

Arabella looked up slowly, eyes red. "You want divorce and full custody..." Her voice broke as she paused, "How is this a choice for me?"

Adrian turned, a mocking curl lifting one corner of his lips. "Axel gets to come back home to live with me, my mom, and Serena...a happy, normal family."

Hot tears trickled down Arabella's cheeks faster than her hand could wipe them.

"Or he remains in the boarding school with no one until he's 18," Adrian continued, dawdling over the words, barely hiding his smugness. "Your choice."

He returned to his seat, typing on his laptop, trying his best to be nonchalant about the whole situation...and failing.

Serena leaned closer, her voice pleading, "Arabella, please don't let Axel stay there. He's too young..."

Arabella raised her gaze, silencing Serena.

For the first time, she saw raw fury reflected in her own eyes, sharp enough to pierce Serena's smugness.

Arabella didn't speak, but her stare was warning enough.

As she stepped forward, Serena quickly moved back, unsure why the look intimidated her so much.

Adrian lifted his gaze from his laptop as Arabella approached his desk.

"I will sign it," Arabella said firmly, despite shaky breaths.

Serena ran up to her, excitement written all over her face. "Good choice, Arabella."

But when Adrian looked at her, she quickly added, "Uh...Axel will get to come back home."

"But...I need you to promise me you will protect Axel at all costs," Arabella insisted, voice firmer now.

Adrian frowned. "He's my son too. I don't have to promise you. It's my responsibility."

"Well, I'm just worried Serena will start scheming against him once I'm gone, and you'd blindly believe her like the fool you've become," Arabella murmured with a small, bitter smile.

"ARABELLA!" Adrian snapped-but that was all he could do as she picked up the pen and signed the papers.

As she finished, Arabella felt a strange lightness, as if a huge weight had lifted.

She looked at Adrian, expecting to see relief...maybe even triumph.

But his jaw was locked tight. His eyes fixed on the signed papers like they'd betrayed him.

"You should be over the moon now. All your insecurities about my 'golddigging' are over."

Adrian didn't say a word. He stared at the signature-her name in black ink, finalizing everything he'd demanded.

His throat worked. His fingers curled into his palm.

For a moment, he looked like a man who'd gotten exactly what he wanted and hated himself for it.

For someone who always wanted this divorce, that felt weird.

As much as Arabella tried to stay strong, tears blurred her vision as she looked at the man who had once ruled her heart.

"We are divorced now. Can I at least...see him before I leave?"

Adrian didn't hesitate, "No!"

His jaw clenched. "It's only after I'm sure you're far away from him that he comes back. Don't get any ideas or try any tricks."

All the while, ignoring her gaze.

Arabella inhaled sharply, hurriedly wiping a tear before Adrian could notice. She forced a smile, holding his gaze one last time. "Yes, it was my fault I fell in love with you. I disrupted your relationship with Serena... but remember, Adrian, you kissed me first."

Serena's face twisted, the mask slipping just for a second before she composed herself. "Adrian was drunk. You took advantage-"

"You moaned my name as we fucked," Arabella screamed, veins throbbing in her neck. "Was that a mistake too?" Angry tears poured down her cheeks.

Adrian didn't respond. His eyes slowly reddened, glistening as if he were holding back tears. His hands clenched the edge of the table.

"Adrian Sterling, I will never forgive you for ruining my life." Arabella started to walk away, wiping her cheeks.

Just as she reached the doorway, her phone pinged, and Adrian's voice followed, stopping her in her tracks.

"I sent $5 million to your account." His voice softened, almost like the boy she once loved.

Five million dollars. Like he could pay her to disappear. To forget her child.

To stop existing in his world.

She almost laughed. Almost threw it back in his face.

But she would need to survive...to come back stronger.

So she took his blood money and said nothing.

Then he spoke again, "Live a good life...Petals."

Petals. Named after the birthmarks on her shoulders that only he had ever noticed.

The nickname that once made her heart race now made her blood boil.

She opened the door and walked out. She didn't stop crying, letting the pain spill over as she left the company and hailed a cab.

The cab ride was a blur. She didn't remember paying the driver or walking through the front door.

She only remembered the sound of it closing behind her-final, hollow-before her knees gave out and she slid down against it, finally alone enough to shatter.

This was the last time she would cry over him.

Eventually, she began packing, but everything reminded her of him-from the expensive jewelry to the small hair brooches he had bought randomly, saying, "If I don't spoil my sister, who will?"

What used to make her heart flutter now only burned her skin. She took only essentials: clothes and documents.

She paused at her business degree, realizing she had never used it since marrying Adrian straight out of college.

Then she went to Axel's room. She could almost see him lying peacefully on his bed.

Her fingers trembled as they clutched the blanket, still warm with his scent.

The room was silent, toys lined up neatly as if waiting for him. Her shoulders curled inward, each breath splintering her chest, forcing her to hold the bedframe to stay upright.

Her gaze drifted to the wall where tiny stickers clung in a crooked line-pirates, planets, a smiling sun he used to say looked like her.

A shaky laugh escaped, shattering into jagged sobs. She pressed her forehead into the mattress, remembering him crawling onto her lap with morning hair sticking up like a startled bird.

Axel loved her. She refused to believe otherwise.

As she tried to stand, her hand brushed something hard at the bed's edge.

A notebook.

She remembered it clearly-a fancy diary she'd bought Adrian for his 21st birthday eight years ago. "You may need a place to write your deepest, darkest secrets," she had joked.

Arabella wiped her eyes and dusted it off. "Why is this here?"

Adrian often spent time in Axel's room so he might have dropped it?

She wanted to put it back-she didn't need reminders of him. But curiosity won.

The date at the top caught her eye: his birthday.

The first line read:

"Dear Diary, as scary as it is to admit, I am in love with my sister."