All Chapters of My ex husband lost me to his rival : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

50 Chapters

Chapter 21 :The pen scratches the paper.

OLIVIA / BLAKE POVBLAKE.Eight o’clock She wasn't down yet.I had been at my desk since Six fifty eight. Papers laid out, Pre-signed on my side. Settlement figures calculated. Everything clean and ready and prepared to be signed.I picked up my coffee.Put it down without drinking it.The divorce papers sat in the center of the desk. Forty pages. Six years reduced to forty pages and a signature line.I had done this right. Handled it properly. No mess.The contract had run its term and this was the logical conclusion and I had prepared for it the way I prepared for every difficult board decision — thoroughly and efficiently without sentiment getting into the joints.I looked at the door.Lorenzo had called me twice this week. I hadn't answered. Barr had sent three emails. I had read them without responding. The board could wait Everything could wait one day.The door opened.Olivia walked in.I had seen her walk into rooms a thousand times. Board meetings. Galas. Every Sterling func

Chapter 22:The stability clause

BLAKE POV"She's gone," Lorenzo said. "And now we have a problem."I looked up from the desk. "Keep quiet Lorenzo.""I've been quiet." He put the papers in front of me. "Blake. The clause activates today. The moment she walked out of this building it activated.”"Say it again," I said."The clause requires ongoing marriage with the same spouse." He didn't look at the papers. He has waited for this. "Or remarriage within sixty days. Plus conception within the first year of that remarriage.""And if neither”?"Controlling shares transfer to next of kin demonstrating superior stability." He paused. "That's the language. Superior stability."I looked at the window."Luciano.""Yes."The room was quiet."He's been building toward this," I said."He's been patient," Lorenzo said. "There's a difference."I looked at him. "How long have you known about this?"He held my gaze. "Long enough.""That's not an answer Lorenzo.""No." He stood up slowly. "It isn't." He picked up his jacket from the

Chapter 23: Ivan's apartment

OLIVIA POV"You took wo bags," Ivan said from the doorway. "That's all you brought?"I looked at them on the bed. "It's enough."Ivan leaned against the door frame and looked at me for a moment. Then she went to the kitchen without another word."Tea," she called back. "Don't argue."I sat on the edge of the bed and listened to her move around in the kitchen, The kettle A cabinet opening,A spoon against ceramicIvan's room was peaceful it smelled like clean laundry and Ivan's vanilla candle on the windowsill.No marble floors. No garden views. No house the size of a statement.Just a small warm room that didn't want anything from me.I sat with that for a moment.She put the tea in front of me and sat down without asking how I was feeling.That was the thing about Ivan at her best she knew when not to ask."Found something." She slid her phone across the table. "Job posting. Marketing coordinator Midtown it's a good firm I know someone there."I looked at the screen.Mid level positio

Chapter 24:What Luciano knows

LUCIANO POV"He chose you before Blake even knew your name."Olivia looked up from her coffee."Alexander ran a background check six months before the contract offer," I said. "He wasn't looking for a suitable wife for his son. He was looking for the specific person who could hold everything together while Blake demonstrated exactly why he shouldn't have it."She set her cup down. "He chose me because I would stay quiet.""He chose you because you were capable enough to make Blake look competent and smart enough not to demand credit for it." I looked at her directly. "There's a difference.""And you." Her eyes stayed on mine. "You knew this whole time.""I suspected. For years I suspected." I paused. "Knowing and proving are different things.""When did you know for certain?""The Singapore merger. I tracked the resolution back to its source. It wasn't Blake." I held her gaze. "It was never Blake."She was quiet for a moment."Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she asked."Because tellin

Chapter 25: Brooklyn

OLIVIA POVLuciano called before I was fully awake.I answered anyway."You're up early," he said."Couldn't sleep past seven." I sat up against the headboard. "You?""Never sleep past six." A pause. "How are you feeling?""Different," I said. "Good different.""Good." The comfortable kind of quiet settled between us. " Have you decided on going to Connecticut ?"Not yet." I pulled my knees up. "Actually I'm going to Brooklyn today. Ivan's sister."Silence for a second."Brooklyn.""Just one day that has nothing to do with any of it." I looked at the morning light coming through the curtains. "I just want to be normal for a few hours."He was quiet for a moment.Then — "Olivia.""Yeah.""Go." The word came out warm. Genuine. "Eat something good. Walk somewhere. Just breathe for one day.""You sound relieved.""I am relieved." A pause. "You've been carrying everything for a long time. One day in Brooklyn won't fix that but—""But it's a start.""Yes." I could hear the smile in it. "Exa

Chapter 26 : The petition

CHAPTER 26 The PetitionBlake Pov Forty-three pages to destroy the mother of my child.She thinks she can mess with me.Blake set the petition papers down.Picked up his coffee. Drank it standing. Put the cup back on the desk and sat down and picked the petition up again like maybe the words had rearranged themselves while he wasn't looking.They hadn't.Primary residential parent. Material change in circumstances. Demonstrated instability. Conflict of interest arising from romantic involvement with Luciano."The abandonment framing is our strongest entry point." Marcus Hale slid his copy across the table with two fingers. Eleven years of litigation and the man still handled paper like it was evidence. "The documented absence during the Nathaniel incident — a judge sees that and the rest of the filing writes itself.""She wasn't absent."Marcus looked up."She was in the building," Blake said."She was on the forty-second floor running a client meeting while her four year old son we

Chapter 27 : Billionaire's Ex-Wife Unfit Mother

OLIVIA POV“Billionaire's Ex-Wife Unfit Mother”That was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes.Madam Chen was calling, My lawyer was calling. A number I didn't recognize was calling. I ignored all three and stared at the headline on my screen.Below it — a photograph. Me and Luciano leaving the restaurant. Long lens. Taken from across the street by someone paid to wait.I sat up slowly.So that was how he wanted to play it.Tears rolled down my cheeksI cleaned up,picked my phone and called my lawyer.She answered on the first ring."I've seen it," I said."Blake's team moved faster than we anticipated." Her voice was calm "The association with Luciano is their central argument. They're framing it as a romantic involvement that creates direct conflict with Nathaniel's welfare given Luciano's position relative to Sterling Global.""How bad is it?""It's manageable. But we need to move quickly." A pause. "I want to outline your options—""What's the most aggressive one?"Silence

Chapter 28:The Deposition

OLIVIA POVThey thought I was going to cry. I could see it in the way Blake's lawyer looked at me when I sat down. Her calm positioning. The soft opening question.The patient expression of a woman who had handled emotional witnesses before and knew exactly how to manage them.I let her think itMy lawyer leaned close to me"You ready?" she said quietly."Yes.""They might might ask about Luciano first. Just answer.Don't defend.""I know."She nodded and sat back."Ms. Bennett." Blake's lawyer opened her folder."Let's start with your current relationship with Luciano Sterling.""We're developing a relationship," I said. "It's new. It's built on mutual respect.""Define developing.""We have meals together. We talk. We're getting to know each other.""Has the relationship been physical?""No.""But you intend""I intend to get to know him." I held her gaze.She made a note. "And your marriage to Blake Sterling. Would you characterize it as?"Would you like me to tell you about my ma

Chapter 29 : Cracks

BLAKE POVHe told me to stop making a scene.I read that line again. I was on the balcony.The transcript was open In my tablet.A drink on the railing I hadn't have the appetite to touch since I poured it an hour ago.The city was doing what it always did, everybody busy with there lives.I kept reading.Our son had a hundred and four degree fever. I had spent six hours alone under hospital lights calling him repeatedly. He walked in with another woman and told me to stop making a scene.I put the tablet face down on the table.Picked up the drink and put it back down---The balcony door opened behind me.I didn't turn around.Aria's hand tapped my shoulder. She came and stood beside me and looked at the streets for a moment without saying anything."You've been out here for two hours.""I know.""Come inside Blake.""I'm fine.""You're not." She touched my arm. "Come inside. I'll make something for you"I kept Looking at the direction my eye was fixed."Olivia was good," I said."Sh

Chapter 30:While I was away

BLAKE POVMy phone buzzed at midnight.She was still asleep..I watched her for a moment. Then I picked up my phone and slipped out and went to my home bar. I sat down and opened the report.Cayman Islands account. Shell company. Six years of monthly deposits coming in from a Sterling family discretionary fund.My father's fund.I scrolled down The same account had outgoing transfers. Eighteen months of payments going to a name I didn't recognize. The security chief had flagged it ,and it required further investigation.I picked up my phone and called him.He answered immediately."The outgoing transfers," I said quietly. "The name on the receiving end. How far back does the relationship go?""We're still tracing sir. What we have suggests the payments have been going on for a long time but we don't know the exact length yet. The amounts are irregular but the intervals suggest a pattern. Not random.""Meaning someone is being paid for what we don't know.""That's one reading, yes.""W

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