Chapter 4 — The Woman Behind the Name

Seven years had passed since Elena Laurent walked away from the family that had never truly wanted her.

Seven years since her father had looked her in the eyes and told her she was no longer his daughter.

Seven years since she had stood outside the Laurent mansion in the rain, one hand resting over the child growing inside her, and promised herself that she would never again beg anyone to choose her.

The years that followed had not been easy, but they had changed her.

After leaving the Laurent mansion, Elena had lived in a small temporary apartment while preparing for the birth of her son. She had no family to depend on and no husband she could find, but she refused to allow those circumstances to determine the kind of life her child would have.

She worked.

She studied.

She learned everything she could about investments and technology while raising her son alone.

The first investment she made had been small, but Elena had always possessed an instinct for recognizing opportunities. She reinvested every profit and gradually moved from small businesses into technology companies with enormous potential.

That was how Nova Global began.

Seven years later, the company had grown into a multibillion-dollar technology empire with investments across several industries. Its founder was considered one of the most influential investors in the business world, yet almost nobody knew what she looked like or where she had come from.

Elena had deliberately built the company behind a foreign identity.

The woman the business world knew was powerful, private, and nearly impossible to reach. People constantly speculated about her background, with some believing she was the heir to a European fortune while others assumed she had inherited her wealth from a powerful family.

Nobody suspected that Nova Global's mysterious founder was Elena Laurent, the daughter the Laurent family had thrown away.

That secrecy had protected her for seven years.

More importantly, it had given her the freedom to build a life that belonged entirely to her.

Elena stood beside the floor-to-ceiling window of her office, looking over the city below. Her reflection stared back at her from the glass, and for a moment she remembered the frightened young woman who had walked through the rain with nowhere to go.

She barely recognized that girl anymore.

“Mom?”

Elena turned at the sound of the familiar voice.

Her seven-year-old son, Leo, stood at the office doorway with a book tucked beneath his arm.

A smile immediately softened her expression.

“Why are you awake so early?”

“I couldn't sleep.”

Leo walked toward her, and Elena opened her arms. He climbed onto her lap as naturally as he had done when he was younger.

He studied her face for a moment.

“Are you nervous?”

Elena knew exactly what he meant.

She had spent the past several weeks preparing to return to the Laurent family, and today they were finally leaving.

“A little,” she admitted.

Leo frowned.

“Are they going to be mean to you?”

Elena's heart tightened.

She gently brushed his hair away from his forehead.

“They don't get to decide who I am anymore.”

Leo smiled.“Then you're stronger than them.”

A quiet laugh escaped Elena.

“Maybe I am.”She kissed his forehead before helping him off her lap.

“Go and get ready. We have a flight to catch.”

“All right.”

Leo ran from the room, leaving Elena alone with her thoughts.Her gaze fell on the black folder resting on her desk.

She opened it and looked at the documents inside. Beneath the business papers was the one thing she had kept hidden for seven years.

Her marriage certificate.

Elena's fingers rested on the document.

She still remembered waking up at St Regis Hotel and discovering that she had somehow become the wife of a man whose identity she barely knew.

She had searched for him afterward, but every attempt had led nowhere.The only thing he had left behind was the family heirloom ring.

Elena opened the small velvet box beside the folder.The ring still looked exactly as it had that morning.

She picked it up and studied the dark stone.

Who was he?

Why had he known her name?

How had they become legally married?

And why had he disappeared without leaving a single explanation?

Seven years had passed, but those questions had never truly left her.

Still, Elena wasn't returning to the Laurent family because of him.

She was returning because she had finally become the woman she once promised herself she would be.

She closed the box and stood.

When she walked into her bedroom, she stopped before the mirror.

The reflection looking back at her was confident and composed. Her clothes were elegant, her posture straight, and there was no trace of the frightened girl who had once stood in the Laurent study begging her parents to see her as their daughter.

Elena had lost a family.

In return, she had built an empire and raised a son who loved her without asking her to prove that she deserved it.

She picked up her coat and looked at herself one last time.

For years, she had imagined what would happen when the Laurent family finally discovered what she had become.

Now she no longer needed their approval.

She only wanted them to understand what they had thrown away.

Elena glanced at the ring one final time before placing it safely inside her handbag.Then she took a slow breath.

“It’s time they meet the woman they threw away.”

With that, Elena left her room.

This time, she wasn't the unwanted daughter returning to ask for a place in her family's life.

She was Elena Laurent, the secret founder of Nova Global.

And after seven years, she was finally going home.