Who Are The Key Characters In 'Business As Unusual: The Triumph Of Anita Roddick'?

They were meant to be married. But three months before the wedding, he married someone else. The night she planned to tell him she was pregnant, she saw his wedding pictures splashed across the internet. Broken. Humiliated. She left without a word and built her life from the ashes. Now, she is a brilliant lawyer, a mother of four, and stronger than the world that once broke her. He is a powerful billionaire CEO trapped in a crumbling marriage with a wife who betrayed him. When their paths cross again, he is stunned by the woman she has become and the secrets she still holds. But secrets don’t stay buried. Her children bear a striking resemblance to him. And the past they tried to escape refuses to let go. As betrayals unravel, identities collide. Will forgiveness be enough to rebuild what was destroyed?

“You’re gentle. You’re not always gentle, Julian…” “It’s our anniversary…” he muttered. Before Lena could respond, Julian placed his thumb to her clit and pushed a finger into her. “Julian,” she gasped. . . . Days after their third anniversary, Lena’s husband came home and asked for a divorce. No warning. No apology. Just a decision he had already made, for a woman who had already left before. Lena signed the papers. She walked away. And while Julian went back to the love of his life, Lena went back to something she had been hiding all along—her name, her family, and an empire worth more than everything Julian Black had ever built. She was never a nobody. He just never bothered to find out who she really was. Two years later, they’re in the same room again. Same circles, same boardrooms, same suffocating tension neither of them knows what to do with. Julian is starting to understand exactly what he threw away. And Lena is trying very hard to remember why she let him go. But some mistakes don’t stay buried. And some feelings refuse to stay dead. And some secrets fight to resurface. But what are those secrets?

Five years ago, Arabella Sterling vanished without a trace, disgraced, heartbroken, and branded her billionaire benefactor’s dirty secret. What the world never knew was that she’d also been his wife. Or that the man she loved—and the son she gave everything for—chose another woman over her. Now, she’s back as The Reformer, a world-renowned business strategist celebrated for resurrecting dying empires. Her newest client? The Sterling Group. Her ex-husband’s empire. Adrian Sterling has spent years trying to atone for the lies that destroyed them both. But when Arabella walks into his boardroom, colder, sharper, untouchable...he realizes redemption may come at a cost he can’t pay. Because this time, she’s not here to save him. She’s here to ruin him.

It only took a moment to burn everything down. For five years, Isla Merrick played the part—soft-spoken wife, graceful hostess, quiet shadow to Callum Braxton’s powerful presence. She became what the world expected: dutiful, polished, harmless. Then came his cold declaration: “Let’s get divorced.” No emotion. No explanation. Just a clean cut—like a business deal. But Callum never knew she had been waiting for that moment. Planning for it. Beneath the composed surface, Isla had been sharpening the edges he once dulled. Because Isla Merrick had a past—and it wasn’t the scandal the tabloids spun. It was deeper. Sharper. Before she was Mrs. Braxton, she trained at Summerdell—an elite, off-the-record martial arts academy. Whispers of crime and prison blurred the truth, but Isla stayed silent. She had bigger plans. Three years later, she returns—not to reconcile, but to reintroduce herself. Isla Merrick now runs a luxury fashion empire, famous for turning scandal into power. And when she steps into the country’s most elite gala, draped in elegance and authority, Callum barely recognizes her. But she recognizes him. Before he can speak, a figure joins her—Dorian Kane. Ruthless investor. Public obsession. His hand rests on Isla’s waist like it belongs there. “Just so we’re clear, Braxton,” Dorian says coolly. “She’s not yours. Not anymore.” For Callum, it’s the beginning of a reckoning. For Isla, it’s the first breath of freedom. She isn’t the woman who once begged to be loved. She’s the woman who knows she never needed to be. And this time, she’s not just rewriting the story—she’s owning the ending.

The day my father slid that contract across the table, I should have walked away. I didn't. Instead, I signed my name next to his: Damien Blackwood. The most feared man in the city. Cold. Ruthless. The kind of man who buys companies for sport and destroys lives before breakfast. I told myself it was survival. That I was signing to save my mother and protect what was left of my family. But Damien Blackwood didn't choose me by accident. He chose me because he knew exactly who I was. Because he had been watching me for three years. Because the secret buried between our families goes deeper and darker than anything I was prepared to find. He says this is a partnership. He says we both want the same thing, to burn our fathers' empires to the ground. He says this is strictly business. But the man who shows up at my mother's hospital without being asked, the man who tucks my hair back in a dark car park and calls at midnight just to hear my voice, the man who kept a seven year old photograph and a handwritten note that says she is the one. That man isn't doing business. And neither am I. We started as enemies. We signed a contract. We were supposed to use each other and walk away. But somewhere between the revenge and the secrets, we forgot to stay on opposite sides. It was never just business. It was never going to be.

Riley never planned to work for Jax Maddox—the arrogant, insufferable, and ridiculously good-looking tennis champion. She only took the job when her twin sister, Vanessa falsely applied for an elite assistant position under her name, landed it, and then vanished. But now, she’s stuck—answering to Jax’s impossible demands, biting back her sharp retorts, and trying not to lose her mind (or the job) under his relentless teasing. Jax Maddox doesn’t do assistants. They never last. And yet, there’s something about Riley—her sharp mouth, her refusal to be intimidated by him—that gets under his skin. So, instead of firing her, he makes her life miserable just to see how long she’ll last. But Riley has bigger things to worry about—like Leo Carter, Jax’s friend and the only man who has ever made her heart race at first sight. As Leo turns up the charm and Jax turns up the torment, Riley finds herself caught between two men who are used to winning. Riley has to decide: will she play it safe, or will she risk everything—including her heart? And for whom—Leo or Jax?