Chapter 5

Evelyn’s POV

Five years later.

Five years was a long time to build a fortress and even longer to sharpen a blade that is meant for revenge. I stood at the windows of the Hart-Willy headquarters with an unreadable expression. From this height, the cars looked like ants and everything seemed surreal.

This was the view I had earned over the years. My hair was no longer a curtain to hide behind like it was all those years ago. Now, it was swept up into a sleek, aggressive bun that showcased the sharp but alluring angles of my face. My amber eyes, once clouded with the haze of pain and uncertainty, were now as clear as day.

"The Thorne Enterprises quarterly report is on your desk, Ms. Hart," my assistant murmured, placing a folder on my desk. “Their stock has dipped another four percent and your silent acquisitions of their subsidiary logistics firms are beginning to choke their supply chain."

"Good," I replied, my voice a calm and melodic flow. "Continue the pressure because I want them desperate by the end of the fiscal month."

As she walked away, I turned back to the window as my mind got lost in thoughts. People often asked how I had risen so fast. They whispered about Julian Willy, the man from the bus station who once helped me but now had become my business partner and namesake of my company. But the truth behind it all was the greed of the Thorne family. When I was Charlie’s wife, I had been the black sheep allowed to handle the boring administrative filings he found beneath him because I was educated, but he never deemed me worthy.

I had used my meager allowance to buy up tiny, undervalued private shares in a tech startup Thorne Enterprises had discarded as a tax write-off. I had hidden those shares in a blind trust and acted like I owned nothing. While I was in Oakhaven, that startup had bloomed into a global telecommunications giant and by the time Charlie was celebrating Serena’s miraculous recovery and even got engaged to her, I was already a silent millionaire. With Julian’s polished networking and my intimate knowledge of the Thorne infrastructure, we had built Hart-Willy Tech into a predator. Unknown to Charlie, I now sat on nearly twenty-five percent of his company’s voting shares through various shell corporations. I didn't just want to compete with him, I wanted to own him as well.

And day by day, my thirst for revenge only grew bigger. A sudden squeal jolted me back to the present.

The door pushed open and a small figure swept into my office with small legs that could barely control his energy. "Mama! Look what I drew!"

Leo.

My heart, which usually felt like a stone in my chest since the betrayal, softened instantly. I knelt as he threw his arms around my neck, kissing my cheek like a gentleman. At four years old, the resemblance was a daily haunting. He had Charlie’s thick chestnut hair and those piercing blue eyes that used to make my soul tremble. But when Leo looked at me, those eyes weren't filled with hatred. Instead, they were filled with love for me.

"It’s a castle, Mama," he whispered, pointing at the scribbled crayon lines on the paper he was holding. "To keep us safe from the dragon!"

"It's beautiful, Leo," I murmured, kissing his forehead as my hand rubbed through his thick hair. He sounded exactly like the man I had once loved, but I would make sure he never inherited that man’s cruelty. Leo has been my light during my tough times and I couldn’t be more happy that he was by my side to see me through the difficult times of my life.

I looked up to see Julian step into the room. He leaned against the doorframe with that same golden-boy smile he had always worn. Over the years, he had been my anchor, though I kept him at an arm's length emotionally. I couldn't afford to trust another man completely, not after the way the last one had shredded my soul.

"The audit for the home city acquisition is ready, Evelyn," Julian said, his eyes flicking to the folder on my desk. "But you know what signing that means. Thorne is hosting the Industrial Summit next week and if we sign this contract, we have to go back. You’ll have to face all of them."

I stood straight and reached for the folder. The contract was for the final merger that would give me a majority stake in the very land the Thorne mansion sat on and I was more than ready to proceed.

"I'm not the girl they threw out, Julian," I said, my voice devoid of emotion. "They spent years making me a ghost, so it’s only fair I return to haunt them."

Julian knew practically everything about me, so I never held anything back because I trusted him. That night, I tucked Leo into his bed and pulled the covers around him. As I watched him sleep, I reached out to gently pat his hair.

"One day, you'll understand why we have to go back," I whispered to the quiet room as memories from years ago filled my mind. I walked to my dressing room and opened a hidden compartment in my jewelry box. Inside lay the cheap, plastic pregnancy test from five years ago. I stared at the two faded lines and my heart hardened.

I wasn't going back for an apology. I wasn't going back to show him what he had lost. I was going back to dismantle the Thorne empire brick by brick. I was going back to watch the look on Serena’s face when she realized that the sister she had mocked now held the deed to her life. And oh, would I love to see the look on my parents' faces when they realized the black sheep has now indeed turned black.

"Get ready, Charlie," I breathed as a slow smirk crossed my lips. "The black sheep is coming home and oh, I'm bringing the storm with me."