All Chapters of Reborn to Seduce the Devil CEO : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The board meeting to appoint me as Acting Vice President of Lin Enterprises was supposed to be a celebration. Grandfather made it a coronation. He wore his best Tang suit, the one he wore when he took the company public thirty years ago. He had the entire boardroom redecorated with fresh lilies — my mother's favorite, not Margaret's roses. He even had a new nameplate made. VIVIAN LIN - ACTING VICE PRESIDENT It sat next to his own. I walked in at 9 AM sharp, in a white power suit Julian had sent up this morning with a note: White looks good on you when you are about to draw blood. — J. My bruise from Pier 7 was covered with makeup, my hair in a sleek ponytail, the sapphire hidden under my blouse because today I didn't need to be Mrs. Sterling. Today I needed to be Miss Lin. Grandfather stood up when I entered — and that meant everyone had to stand up. Twelve senior executives, all men, all over fifty, all who had watched me grow up in pigtails, now staring at me with varying degre

The crisis came on my fourth day as Acting Vice President. I was supposed to be celebrating. Grandfather had moved his will appointment from Monday to tomorrow — Friday — after Leo told us Chloe called Victor Kane. He said, "I won't let those two snakes decide my legacy." Julian had doubled my security, put two guards outside my office, and even gave me a tiny silver panic button disguised as a lipstick. "Press it and I will come," he said. "Even if I'm in a board meeting with the President." I pressed it once by accident in the bathroom and he kicked open the door in thirty seconds. The board meeting was not happy. So yes, I was supposed to be safe. Powerful. The future leader everyone was talking about on the news. Then at 9:13 AM, my office door burst open and Director Zhou, the only senior executive who had been genuinely kind to me — the one who taught my father how to read shipping manifests when he was young — ran in, his face white, holding a newspaper like it was on fire.

My first week as Acting Vice President ended with three people fired, two people arrested, one company blacklisted, and a will that now said 100% to Vivian Lin. Grandfather signed it at 10 AM on Friday in front of his lawyer, me, and a very nervous notary who kept looking at the door as if Margaret might burst in with a gun. She didn't. She was too busy hiding because the police wanted to talk to her about VP Zhang and the German algorithm. At 6 PM, I was ready to collapse on the floor of my office and sleep for a year in my white suit. That's when Mark knocked and said, "Madam, Master Sterling requests your presence for dinner. Private dinner. He says it's not a date." I frowned. "Not a date? Who says that?" Mark coughed, trying not to smile. "Master said to tell you: It's not a date, don't wear the white suit that scares his board members, and if you bring work documents, he will burn them." Despite myself, I laughed. The first real laugh all week. Julian had been working from

I found out Julian was working himself to death by accident. It was 1:47 AM on a Thursday, my third week as Acting Vice President. I had finally finished the Smart Port real blueprint review with Mr. Yang and the German team — a six-hour video call where the German CEO kept saying "Frau Sterling, you are a genius" and I kept blushing and saying "It's Mrs. Lin-Sterling, but thank you." My head hurt, my feet hurt, my white suits were all in the laundry, and all I wanted was water. I came downstairs from my office in Seabreeze Villa in my pajamas — one of Julian's old black t-shirts that went to my knees, hair in a messy bun, no makeup, no armor — barefoot, yawning. The villa was dark, quiet, the servants asleep. The sea outside was black and calm. Then I saw light under the study door. Faint, yellow light. Julian's study. At almost 2 AM. I frowned. Julian always went to bed at 11 PM. Doctor's orders. After his accident five years ago, his legs had nerve damage that got worse if he

Margaret didn't get to apologize. She couldn't. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water under my white silk and my fake tears, and the reporters' cameras kept flashing, and I knew she was calculating — cry harder? faint? blame me again? She chose faint. Classic Margaret move #4: The Dramatic Faint. "Oh— oh my heart—" she clutched her chest, swaying. "Vivian— you— you twist my words— I—" Chloe rushed forward just in time, catching her, wailing, "Mom! Mom! Don't be like this! Sister, how can you be so cruel! It's Mom's 50th birthday! She just wanted to reconcile! You are trying to kill her!" Perfect. Mother fainting, daughter crying, evil stepdaughter standing cold in white silk. The guests, who two minutes ago were on my side, started whispering again. Maybe the girl is too harsh... it's her mother's birthday... Arthur even tried to add, his voice weak, "Vivian, don't—" Julian looked at him. One look. Arthur stepped back and hit a table. I sighed inside. This family.