Chapter 9: The Payback Starts Now

The quarterly reports on my desk screamed disaster, a level of calculated ruin that would impress even Sun Tzu. Every lost deal, every failed merger, every conveniently timed bad press—it all pointed to a corporate war so sneaky, it took me three years to even realize it was happening.

"Sir?" Jennifer, my assistant, stood in the doorway, wearing that expression that spells bad news. "That Romano Enterprises report you asked for? It's ready."

I'd been dreading this ever since Victoria Chen dropped her Bella bombshell a couple of hours ago. I'd hoped she was exaggerating and that my ex-wife just got a decent job with her family's business. Turns out, the truth was worse than I thought.

"Romano Enterprises," I read from the summary, "private company worth about sixty-eight billion euros. Main stuff includes..."

The list went on for three pages. Tech, medicines, property, media, security, and a bunch of other stuff I never saw coming. This wasn't just a family business; it was a hidden powerhouse that made my billion-dollar company look like a kid's lemonade stand.

But the CEO profile stopped me cold. "Chief Executive Officer: Izabela Romano, 28 years old. MBA from Harvard, graduated top of her class 2023. Before this..." There was a photo, probably from some business magazine. The woman in it barely looked like the Bella I knew. The sweet, agreeable wife who went along with my ideas and cared about dinner parties was gone. Now, she commanded attention like gravity.

Her dark hair was in a tight bun, showing off those cheekbones I always liked but never saw this strong. She wore a gray suit that probably cost more than a car, and her face showed the kind of smarts that built and destroyed empires.

But those eyes did me in. Those warm brown eyes that used to look at me with love now sized me up like a predator looking at its next meal. This was Izabela Romano, the boss and heir to one of Europe's biggest families—not Bella Sterling, the pregnant wife I left in the hospital.

"There's more," Jennifer said softly. "The numbers of people found some... weird things about our losses in the last four years."

I forced myself to look away from Bella's photo and check out the money stuff. What I saw chilled me to the bone.

Romano Enterprises had been going after every part of Sterling Industries' business. They beat us on contracts by tiny amounts, like they knew our secret bids. They stole our best people with offers that hit each person's weak spot. They even played the media, making our little mistakes look huge while keeping their wins quiet.

"How long has this been going on?" I asked, even though I knew.

"The first time we saw it was April 2019," Jennifer said. "About six months after Mrs. Sterling disappeared."

Six months. She had a baby, recovered from surgery, planned her escape, and then spent six months learning how to run a huge global company before starting to take down everything I'd built.

It was mind-blowing. The brains it took to do this kind of corporate war while running her own company and raising a kid... I almost admired her if it wasn't aimed at destroying me.

"Sir?" Jennifer's voice sounded far away. "Should I set up a meeting with the board to talk about what we can do?"

What can we do? Like we had a chance. Like Sterling Industries could fight a family that had been building power for generations, while my company was only ten years old.

"Not yet," I finally said. "I need to see how bad it really is first."

After Jennifer left, I sat there with the photos and reports, trying to match the woman in the magazine with Bella who used to fall asleep in my arms reading baby books. The same person who planted roses and hummed while cooking had spent five years learning to use corporate power like a blade, cutting away everything I cared about with care.

My intercom buzzed. "Mr. Sterling? Detective Morrison is here about your wife's disappearance."

Right, the investigation. Five years of private eyes, search parties, and lawyers trying to find a woman who was out in the open on magazine covers. I'd been looking for Bella Sterling, the lost person, while Izabela Romano was building an empire.

Detective Morrison looked tired when he came in, like he'd been chasing ghosts for years, only to find out they were dragons.

"Mr. Sterling," he said, "I'm going to say we should close the case."

"You found her." Not a question.

"We did," he said. "Though I think you already knew that, since you have those Romano Enterprises files."

I told him to sit, but he stayed standing, like he wanted to get the bad news out and leave.

"She's not missing, Mr. Sterling. She never was. She's been where she wanted to be, doing what she planned. Mrs. Romano—she changed her name back five years ago—has been living as herself since 2019. We couldn't find her because she wasn't hiding from us. She was hiding from you."

The words hit hard.

"And my daughter?"

"Emma Sterling is in a fancy private school in Manhattan under the name Emma Romano-Sterling. She's doing great—honor roll, clubs, happy, according to her teachers." He paused. "She's been asking about her dad."

Emma. My daughter, who I held for seventeen minutes before her mom disappeared. The five-year-old who might not even know she has a dad.

"Do you have a photo?" I asked, my voice rough.

Morrison hesitated. "Mr. Sterling, I don't think that's a great idea. Mrs. Romano filed a restraining order that says you can't—"

"Restraining order?"

"Yep. Three years ago. You were trying too hard to find her. If you try to contact her or the kid, you'll be arrested." He looked sorry for me. "Look, Mr. Sterling, I've been doing this for fifteen years. I've seen families ruined by bad choices. If you want my advice? Get a good lawyer and do this the right way. The woman you're dealing with now isn't the scared wife who left that hospital. She could ruin you with a phone call, and she probably has been for years."

After Morrison left, I stared at Bella's photo, trying to find the woman I loved in the stranger looking back at me. Same face, same eyes, but everything else showed power.

She did what I said she couldn't. She took control, built something amazing, and became someone who didn't need anyone's help. The messed-up part was, I loved her strength and tried to change her so she'd fit what I thought a wife should be.

My phone rang. "Mikel? It was Richard Blackwood, my lawyer. "We need to talk. Can you come over now?"

"What's wrong?"

"Romano Enterprises just made a hostile takeover offer for Sterling Industries," Richard said. "And they have the money to pull it off."

The room spun. She wasn't just hurting my company; she was going for the kill.

"How long do we have?"

"Six weeks, maybe eight if we fight it in court. But Mikel, their lawyers are like the Supreme Court. They've been planning this for years."

I hung up and sat in my office, surrounded by the remains of what I thought was a strong company. Everything I built, everything I sacrificed for, was about to be torn apart by the woman whose love I threw away.

The worst part? I couldn't even be mad. It was payback, plain and simple. I ruined the most important thing in my life, and now she was doing the same to me.

I opened my laptop and did something I hadn't done in five years—I looked up Izabela Romano. I found articles, photos from events, and interviews that showed a woman who'd become everything I wanted her to be.

But a photo from a charity thing got to me.

Bella was at the edge, trying to stay out of the shot. She wore a black dress that made her look like royalty, her hair up to show the neck I loved to kiss. But the little girl in her arms broke me.

Emma was beautiful—dark hair like mine, but with Bella's face and that Romano stubbornness. She was laughing, her face full of the kind of joy every parent wants for their kid. She looked happy, healthy, loved, and didn't know that somewhere in the world, she had a dad who would give anything to be there.

The caption said, "CEO Izabela Romano and her daughter Emma at the Children's Hospital thing."

Her daughter. Not our daughter. Not Emma Sterling. Just Emma, who belonged to the powerful woman who made a new life from our broken marriage.

I stared at that photo until my eyes hurt, remembering everything about the daughter I never knew. She'll have my eyes when she's older, I thought. And something about her reminded me of my childhood photos.

But she was Bella's kid now—strong, smart, determined. She'd grow up knowing she was strong and worth respect. Everything I didn't show her mother.

My intercom buzzed again. "Sir? The board wants a meeting to talk about the takeover."

"Tell them I'll be there in an hour," I said, still looking at Emma's happy face.

I had six weeks to try to save Sterling Industries. Six weeks to find a way to talk to a woman who hated me and had no reason to be nice.

But more than that, I had six weeks to become the kind of man who deserved to know his daughter. Seeing Emma in her mother's arms, I knew that saving my company wasn't as important as being her father.

The girl was growing up without me, making memories while I was sitting in meetings counting money. She was five, and I was a stranger.

That had to change, even if it cost me everything else.

The war between Romano Enterprises and Sterling Industries was just starting. But the fight for my daughter's love and my ex-wife's forgiveness? That was going to take more than I had.

I closed the laptop and stood up, straightening my tie. Izabela Romano spent five years becoming someone strong enough to destroy me.

Now, it was time for me to become someone worthy of winning her back.