Chapter 2

Less than ten minutes after I left the registry office, my phone started vibrating like crazy.

Charles's name flashed on the screen, like a curse that wouldn't let me go.

I ignored it, letting it ring until it hung up on its own.

Soon, another call came in, Charles's mother.

I ignored that one too.

Then came his father, his sister. The whole Eaton family, like they'd tag-teamed, took turns blowing up my phone.

Annoyed by the noise, I flipped my phone to airplane mode.

At last, blissful silence.

Mr. Warren sat in the passenger seat, shooting me a look in the rearview mirror. "Ms. Sterling, I doubt Charles will hand over the money without a fight."

"I know," I replied, watching the city whip by outside the window, my tone calm. "He's so full of himself and selfish; he'll convince himself I owe him, like I'm trying to squeeze him. He'll never cave."

"So, what's our next move?" Mr. Warren asked.

"Follow the plan," I cut him off. "Give him three days. As soon as the deadline hits, file for an asset freeze with the court."

Mr. Warren nodded, keeping quiet.

He knew I meant business.

For three years, I played the perfect, naive, love-crazy wife for Charles.

So much so that everyone forgot who I used to be before I married him.

I was Anna Sterling, the only daughter of the chairman of Vision Capital, a renowned venture capital firm.

I graduated from Wharton at 22, and by 23, I'd spearheaded the takeover and turnaround of a medical tech company on the verge of bankruptcy.

A year later, it was making money and had become an unexpected rising star in the industry.

I knew business inside out and people better.

I could read financial statements, and I could spot every trick people tried to pull.

But for Charles, I kept all that under wraps.

Back then, my dad tried everything to stop me from marrying Charles.

He warned, "Anna, this guy's got way too much ambition. You can see he's always plotting something. He's out of your league. You'll never be able to control him.

"Does he love you? I doubt it. What he cares about is your status as Heiress Anna Sterling, and everything you can offer him."

But I was so blinded by love.

I thought I could change him, heal whatever was broken inside him with my love.

Looking back now, it's laughable.

People don't change. You think you're making a difference, but he's using your efforts to change him to get what he wants every step of the way.

That 5.3 million dollars was my dad's final compromise and the last safety net he left for me.

On the day we signed the loan agreement, my dad looked Charles right in the eye and said, "Charles, this money is my daughter's assets, and it's also my support for your career.

"But let me say this up front, if you ever betray Anna, I'll take back every last dollar, principal and interest, not a penny less."

Back then, Charles swore up and down, promising he'd never let me down.

My dad let out a cold laugh, forced him to sign the contract, and slapped the company seal on it.

At the time, I thought my dad was being paranoid and too cold-hearted.

Now, I'm grateful for how tough he was back then.

Three days flew by in a flash.

Not a single dollar showed up in my account. As I expected.

First thing on the fourth day, I got a message from Mr. Warren: [the asset freeze application had been filed, and the court had accepted it.]

Almost at the same time, the second I switched off airplane mode, my phone was flooded with messages and missed calls.

The latest ping was from Charles on WhatsApp: [Anna, don't get cocky. You think I'm scared of you? Go ahead, sue me. Let's see if a judge actually buys this loan crap between exes.

Blown up with a whole row of angry emojis.

I could picture him right now pacing around, fuming, all bark and no bite.

He was still acting tough, convinced I wouldn't actually go through with it, and sure the law would side with him, chalking it up to family business.

It's almost laughable how naive he is.

I replied calmly: [I only answer to the contract and the law.]

Then I blocked him everywhere on WhatsApp, on the phone, and every single member of the Eaton family.

I had no intention of arguing with any of them.

Actions speak louder than words.

3 PM. Inside the CEO's office at TechNova.

Charles had hung up on Rachel, who'd been all sweet and coy on the phone, saying she'd had her eye on a new Heloise bag and wanted him to go shopping with her.

Charles agreed with a smile, but deep down, he felt more contempt for Anna's refusal to know her place.

'A woman I'd already dumped, and she still dares to go up against me? Typical female nonsense,' he thought.

He'd already decided that once they were in court, he'd claim Anna forced him to sign the contract and use it as evidence she was plotting to steal his money during their marriage.

He was hell-bent on making sure Anna not only got nothing, but that her reputation was destroyed.

Then, the office door was flung open.

Ms. Carter, the CFO, rushed in, her face ghostly pale; she didn't knock.

"Mr. Eaton. It's bad," she blurted out.

Charles frowned, clearly annoyed. "What are you so flustered about?"

"The company's main account the court froze it." Ms. Carter's voice trembled.

"What?" Charles shot up from his chair.

"The bank called. They got a court enforcement notice; our primary account has been frozen. We can't pay the three-million-dollar final payment to the Stellar Initiative suppliers this afternoon," she said.

The Stellar Initiative was TechNova's first major project after the IPO. It could make or break the company's stock price and reputation in the industry.

Charles's mind went blank, like he'd been hit with a sledgehammer.

He grabbed Ms. Carter's phone and immediately called the bank manager.

On the other end, the manager, usually all smiles, was strictly professional now. "Mr. Eaton, I'm sorry, but we have to follow legal procedures. Because of the legal dispute, we can't process any transactions until the freeze is lifted."

Desperate, Charles tried calling several other partner banks, scrambling for an emergency loan.

They all shot him down without hesitation.

"Mr. Eaton, your company's accounts are frozen, and there's a pending lawsuit. Our bank's risk management team can't approve this," the bank representative said.

Seriously? Lending to a company with frozen accounts and a lawsuit hanging over its head? No bank in its right mind would take that risk.

Meanwhile, the receptionist at the company was handed a court summons.

Everything was spelled out in black and white: [Plaintiff: Anna Sterling; Defendants: TechNova Information Technology Co., Ltd. and Charles Eaton.

[Case: Private loan dispute.

[Claim: The defendants must repay the principal of 5.3 million dollars, plus 1.4 million dollars in interest, for a total of 6.7 million dollars]

The news of the summons and the frozen accounts spread like wildfire through the company.

"Did you hear? The boss is being sued. He owes his ex-wife over 6 million dollars."

"The company's accounts are frozen. Are we getting paid this month?"

"We can't pay for the Stellar Initiative. The partners are freaking out. That's what I heard from the project team."

"Oh my god, is the company going under? I'm still paying off my mortgage"

Everyone was freaking out.

Rumors were flying everywhere.

The company, which had been celebrating its IPO, was hit by a storm, and the mood crashed instantly.

Charles stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the traffic crawl below.

For the first time, he felt real panic.

Panic was spinning out of control, making him feel utterly helpless.

He'd always thought Anna was his little canary, right in the palm of his hand. If he wanted her to sing, she sang; if he wanted her silent, she'd stay quiet.

He never imagined that this canary would turn around and peck his eyes out.

She wasn't joking.

She was out to destroy him.

Charles grabbed his phone, his fingers trembling as he dialed my number again.

All he got was the cold, robotic voice, "The number you have dialed is not available."

He kept dialing, over and over, like a man possessed.

But every time, that same cold message was all he got.

He finally realized. I'd blocked him.

That realization hit him harder than the frozen accounts ever could.

He'd been shut out for good by the woman he'd always dismissed as beneath him.

Tech Tycoon Hit with 6 million dollars in Debt After Divorce, Company Accounts Frozen. The next day, the city's top financial media outlet dropped a bombshell report.

Though names were redacted, the keyword-richly listed tech company, founder, and ex-wife debt dispute made it obvious who they were talking about: Charles and TechNova.

The article was well-written, taking no sides, laying out the facts and quoting legal experts. They said if the loan contract was real, it was a business debt, nothing to do with the marriage.

The article sent shockwaves through the market.

TechNova's stock price took an immediate hit as soon as trading started.

It wasn't a big drop, but it was definitely a red flag.

In business, reputation is your lifeblood.

Who would trust a founder who dodges paying back his ex-wife? Who'd risk doing business with someone like that?

Charles was backed into a corner.

Backed into a corner, he did the most reckless thing he could think of: he called a press conference.

He was hoping he could spin the story and somehow come out on top.

At the press conference, he showed up in a dark suit, looking absolutely exhausted, his face drawn, heavy bags under his eyes. He looked downright miserable.

With cameras flashing all around him, he stared into the lens, his voice trembling as he broke down in tears for everyone to see.

He said, "I loved her for three years. She meant everything to me. I worked myself to the bone so she could have everything she ever wanted. But I never imagined that she had been plotting against me all along."

His voice was choked with grievance and rage. "That 5.3 million dollars was my father-in-law's support for our little family. It was our joint assets.

"But right when my business was at its most vulnerable, she used a so-called loan contract to extort me, to squeeze me dry. She wants to ruin me, to destroy everything we built together."

He painted himself as the victim, blinded by love and marriage, betrayed by someone he trusted.

And me? He cast me as the ruthless, cold-hearted ex-wife, greedy and calculating, willing to do whatever it took to get my way.

Rachel was there too.

She wore plain maternity clothes, no makeup, leaning on Charles, crying her heart out.

She didn't say a word, but her helpless, tear-stained face was the perfect script.

She was silently accusing me, the evil ex-wife, of tormenting her, the innocent woman who was his true love.

Charles knew how to put on a show.

His act got some people feeling sorry for him.

The tide was quietly turning.

The hate started pouring in online.

"This ex-wife is so heartless. After all those years together, did she have to go this far?"

"Classic gold digger scheming against her husband during the marriage, and now she's squeezing him dry after the divorce."

"Sure, the mistress is no angel, but she looks so pitiful. Mr. Eaton must have lost his mind marrying someone like her."

"Such a scheming bitch. So vicious."

I sat on my couch, scrolling through the news and comments on my phone, not a flicker of emotion on my face.

Mr. Warren called, sounding worried. "Ms. Sterling, public opinion is turning against us. We need to release the evidence and fight back right now."

"No rush," Anna said, taking a slow sip of her coffee. "Let him keep jumping. The higher he climbs, the harder he'll crash."

Charles thought public opinion could save him.

He was wrong.

In the world of big money, public opinion is the appetizer. What decides who survives and who crashes is real power and the rules of the game.

As I was about to have Mr. Warren drop the second wave of evidence, a bigger bombshell hit the trending topics.