All Chapters of MARRIED TO MY RUTHLESS CEO : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

The drive back to Sterling Holdings was unusually quiet.Ethan rested one hand on the steering wheel while the other tapped absentmindedly against the leather armrest.His grandfather's words refused to leave his mind.Your family was not destroyed by one bad night.Someone believed they were supposed to be the heir.He had walked into Alistair Sterling's study looking for answers.Instead, he had walked out carrying even more questions.Who had wanted his father's position?Why had his grandfather kept it hidden for so many years?And what kind of power had his father possessed that people were still willing to fight over it?Ethan tightened his grip on the steering wheel.He hated puzzles with missing pieces.Especially when they involved his family.By the time the familiar glass tower of Sterling Holdings came into view, the afternoon sun had begun to sink lower in the sky.The building stood exactly as it always had—confident, elegant, untouchable.But today, Ethan couldn't shake

The next morning, Sterling Holdings looked exactly the same.Employees moved through the building with their usual urgency.Phones rang across the offices.Meetings were scheduled.Reports were delivered.From the outside, everything appeared normal.But Ethan Sterling knew better.Normal was an illusion people created when they didn't know what was happening beneath the surface.He stood in his office, looking through the glass walls that separated him from the company he had spent years building.For the first time in a long time, he wasn't thinking about growth.Or competition.Or profit.He was thinking about the past.A past that had somehow found its way back to him.The sound of the door opening pulled him from his thoughts.Sophia walked in carrying two cups of coffee.Ethan looked at her and raised an eyebrow."Are you trying to make this a habit?"She placed one cup on his desk."What?""Reminding me to eat and drink coffee."A small smile appeared on her face."Someone has

Ethan stood motionless in the center of Alistair's study, the weight of his grandfather's confession pressing down on him like a stone. The room, lined with towering bookshelves and framed photographs that stretched back decades, had always carried an air of authority. Tonight, however, it felt more like a courtroom, where the past had finally decided to put the present on trial. "I chose your father." The words lingered in the silence between them. Ethan drew a slow breath, forcing himself to remain calm even though every instinct urged him to demand more. "Why?" Alistair didn't answer immediately. Instead, he walked to the small cabinet by the window and poured two cups of tea with steady, practiced hands. It was a habit Ethan had seen countless times growing up. Whenever his grandfather needed time to think, he made tea. He set one cup on the table before Ethan and returned to his seat. "Because I believed your father was ready." Ethan's eyes never left him. "And Adrian

The photograph sat in the center of the dining table. A small piece of paper. A simple image. Yet somehow, it carried more weight than all the documents surrounding it. Ethan stared at it silently, his eyes fixed on the three figures captured inside the frame. Adrian Sterling. His father. And the person standing between them. For several minutes, nobody spoke. Daniel had already explained everything. The retired Sterling employee. The warning. The fact that someone had begun removing Adrian's presence from the company's history after he disappeared. But this photograph was different. This wasn't just a missing record. It was proof that someone else had been standing in the middle of everything. Sophia leaned closer, studying the image carefully. "That's not where someone stands if they're just an employee." Ethan looked at her. "What do you mean?" She pointed at the photograph. "Look at their positions." Her finger hovered over the third person. "Adrian and your

The document remained on Ethan's desk long after everyone had left. He had read it so many times that every word was already burned into his mind. The approval. The signature. The authority given. A decision that had changed Adrian Sterling's life. And somehow, nobody had known. That was the part Ethan couldn't understand. His grandfather had spent years carrying regret over Adrian leaving. His father had carried the weight of being the one chosen. But somewhere between those two moments, someone else had moved in the shadows. Someone had made a decision that affected the Sterling family forever. And no one had stopped them. Sophia found him standing there when she entered the study. She didn't need to ask what he was looking at. "You didn't sleep." It wasn't a question. Ethan looked away from the document. "I had other things to think about." Sophia walked closer. "Like how many people might have lied to you?" His expression changed slightly. Because she had sai