CEO's Revenge- She Begged After the Divorce

Chapter 4: The Revelation

Emma Winters had never felt more alive than she did walking through Blackstone Real Estate's gleaming headquarters. The marble floors, the designer furniture, the way everyone addressed her as "Ms. Winters" with genuine respect—this was the life she deserved. This was what she'd been meant for all along.

"Emma, darling, you look absolutely radiant." Richard Blackstone appeared beside her, his hand possessively finding the small of her back. "Ready for the marketing meeting?"

"More than ready." Emma leaned into his touch, relishing the envious stares from other women in the office. Just yesterday morning, she'd been Mrs. Alex Chen, wife of a nobody. Now she was dating one of New York's most eligible bachelors and working for a billion-dollar company.

The divorce had been easier than she'd expected. Alex had signed without a fight, without demands, without the pathetic begging she'd half-anticipated. Part of her had been almost disappointed—she'd prepared whole speeches about why she deserved better, why he'd never been enough. But he'd just... signed and walked away.

Good riddance.

"Before the meeting," Richard said, steering her toward his private office, "I need to discuss something with you."

His office was everything Emma had dreamed of—floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Central Park, furniture that cost more than most people's cars, and photographs of Richard shaking hands with politicians and celebrities. This was power. This was success.

"The Chen Industries situation," Richard began, his confident demeanor cracking slightly. "There's been a development."

"The competition for Hudson Yards?" Emma had been briefed on the company's biggest project. "I thought you said we had it locked down?"

"We did. We do." Richard poured himself a scotch despite it being barely noon. "It's just... complicated now."

Emma's phone buzzed on the desk. Another call from her mother, probably demanding money for something. She'd been ignoring Patricia's calls all morning—let her figure out her own finances for once. Alex wasn't around to be their personal bank anymore.

"Richard?" Emma prompted when he didn't continue.

"Richard Chen announced his son is joining the company as Executive Vice President this morning." Richard's hand tightened around his glass. "It's all over the financial news. They're holding a press conference right now."

"So?" Emma didn't understand why he looked so shaken. "Chen Industries is your competitor, but you've been competing with them for years."

"The son's name is Alexander Chen." Richard turned his computer monitor toward her. "I think you should see this."

Emma glanced at the screen, ready to be bored by corporate news. Then her world stopped.

The headline read: "Billionaire Heir Returns: Alexander Chen Named Executive VP of Chen Industries."

But it was the photograph that made her blood run cold. Alex. Her Alex—no, not her Alex anymore—standing beside an older Asian man, both of them in expensive suits, both of them looking like they owned the world. Because, according to the article, they literally did.

"Chen Industries, valued at $28 billion... Alexander Chen, only son and heir... returning after three years away to gain real-world experience..."

Emma's hands shook as she scrolled through the article. Three years. Three years ago was when they'd started dating. When Alex had told her he was a junior financial analyst making $45,000 a year. When he'd pretended to struggle with rent, to save up for modest dinners, to be just another ordinary guy trying to make it in New York.

"That's impossible," she whispered. "Alex is—he was—"

"Your husband," Richard finished bitterly. "The man you've been calling a failure for three years is worth approximately seventeen billion dollars."

The room spun. Emma gripped the edge of Richard's desk, trying to process what she was seeing. The photograph showed Alex looking nothing like the man she'd married—his posture was different, confident and commanding. His suit probably cost more than their entire apartment's furniture. And his eyes, which had always looked at her with such desperate love, now held something cold and calculating.

"The press conference is live," Richard said, clicking a link.

Alex's face filled the screen, larger than life. He stood at a podium bearing the Chen Industries logo, cameras flashing as reporters shouted questions.

"Mr. Chen, where have you been for the past three years?"

Alex's smile was polished, professional, nothing like the shy grins Emma remembered. "Learning. I wanted to understand the real world, the struggles of everyday people, before taking my place in my father's company. I worked a regular job, lived in a regular apartment, experienced life the way most people do. It was invaluable education."

A regular job. A regular apartment. Emma felt sick.

"Mr. Chen, there are rumors you were recently married. Can you comment?"

The camera zoomed in on Alex's face. His expression didn't change, but something flickered in his eyes—something that looked like satisfaction.

"I was married, briefly. It didn't work out. Sometimes you discover that the person you thought you knew isn't who they pretended to be." He paused, letting that sink in. "The divorce was finalized yesterday. I'm looking forward to focusing entirely on my work and my family's legacy."

Emma's phone exploded with notifications—texts, calls, social media alerts. Her mother, her brother, her friends, everyone suddenly wanting to talk to her. She ignored them all, unable to tear her eyes from the screen.

"Mr. Chen, Chen Industries is competing with Blackstone Real Estate for the Hudson Yards project. Do you have any comments on your company's chances?"

Alex's smile sharpened. "I'm confident Chen Industries will secure the contract. We have the superior proposal, the better financing, and the right vision for New York's future. Some of our competitors have overextended themselves chasing this project. It would be unfortunate if their entire company collapsed because they bet everything on a losing hand."

Richard made a strangled sound beside Emma. She barely heard him.

"One final question, Mr. Chen—is it true you've been living in modest circumstances for three years? How did you manage financially?"

"My trust fund provides a comfortable income. I've been receiving quarterly payments since I turned eighteen." Alex's expression remained neutral, but Emma saw the deliberate cruelty in his words. "More than enough to support myself and help others who needed financial assistance."

The trust fund. The quarterly payments he'd told her were bonuses. The money she'd spent on designer clothes, spa days, and her family's endless demands. Money that had come from a fortune worth billions.

"Oh God," Emma breathed. "Oh my God."

"Indeed." Richard's voice was acid. "The man you've been calling worthless, the husband you cheated on and divorced, is the heir to one of the largest fortunes in America. And now he's personally gunning for my company."

Emma's mind reeled back through three years of memories, seeing them with new eyes. Alex always having money when they needed it, even when it should have been impossible. His calm acceptance of her family's demands. The way he never seemed stressed about money despite their supposed tight budget. The expensive watch he'd kept hidden in a drawer that he said was "sentimental."

"He lied to me," she said, anger beginning to cut through the shock. "He pretended to be poor. He let me think—"

"He tested you," Richard interrupted harshly. "And you failed spectacularly." He drained his scotch. "Do you understand what this means for us? For me?"

Emma looked up at him, seeing real fear in his eyes for the first time. "What?"

"That man—your ex-husband—just declared war on my company. Richard Chen has been planning this for months, maybe longer. They've been positioning themselves to destroy Blackstone Real Estate, and now I understand why." Richard laughed bitterly. "Revenge. This is personal revenge."

"But that's insane. Alex isn't—he was never—" Emma couldn't finish the sentence. Because the man on the screen wasn't the Alex she'd known. Or maybe he was, and she'd just never really seen him.

Her phone rang again. Her mother. Emma answered this time, too numb to ignore it anymore.

"Emma! Have you seen the news? Have you seen who Alex really is?" Patricia's voice was shrill with panic. "We need to fix this. You need to call him, apologize, get him back—"

"Get him back?" Emma laughed, a harsh sound even to her own ears. "Mother, I just divorced him yesterday. I signed the papers while sitting with another man."

"Then un-divorce him! There must be a way. Emma, do you understand what this means? That family could have set us up for life. Your brother's debts, my credit cards, everything could have been solved with pocket change to them!"

"Is that all you care about? The money?"

"Don't be naive. Of course it's about money. What else matters?" Patricia's voice turned calculating. "You're still beautiful, Emma. You can fix this. Apologize, say you made a mistake, seduce him if you have to—"

Emma hung up, feeling dizzy. She looked at Richard, who was watching her with an expression that was part sympathy, part contempt.

"Your mother's right about one thing," he said quietly. "You made a catastrophic mistake."

"I didn't know—"

"That's the point. You weren't supposed to know. He wanted to see if you'd love him without the money." Richard moved to the window, looking out at the city. "And instead, you treated him like garbage, cheated on him, and divorced him for someone richer. Except it turns out he was always richer. Richer than me, richer than your wildest dreams. And now he knows exactly who you are."

Emma felt tears prick her eyes. Not tears of sadness—tears of rage and humiliation. How dare Alex do this to her? How dare he lie for three years, let her think she was settling, let her family treat him like a servant?

But beneath the anger was something else: the sickening realization that every insult she'd thrown at him, every time she'd called him inadequate, every moment she'd made him feel small—he'd remembered all of it. And now he was in a position to make her pay.

"What do we do?" she asked.

Richard was quiet for a long moment. "I try to save my company. You..." He looked at her, and Emma saw her future in his eyes. "You're a liability now, Emma. The woman who divorced Alexander Chen is not someone I can be seen with. It makes me look like an idiot, and worse, it gives him ammunition."

"You're breaking up with me?" Emma's voice rose. "You told me yesterday you loved me, that we'd be together—"

"Yesterday, you were a beautiful woman leaving her struggling husband. Today, you're the fool who threw away a fortune." Richard's voice was cold, businesslike. "I can't afford to look like a fool, especially not now. I'm sorry, but this isn't going to work."

He was dismissing her. Just like that, the life she'd started building this morning was collapsing. Emma felt panic claw at her throat.

"Richard, please—"

"You're welcome to finish out the week, but I think it's best if you start looking for other opportunities." He moved to his desk, already pulling up documents. "HR will process your severance."

"Severance? I just started yesterday!"

"And today you became a public relations nightmare." Richard didn't even look at her. "I'll have security escort you to collect your things."

Emma stood there, frozen, as her morning's triumph turned to ashes. An hour ago, she'd been on top of the world. Now she was unemployed, single, and facing the reality of what she'd done.

Her phone buzzed with another text. This time from her brother Marcus: "Emma, wtf? You divorced a BILLIONAIRE? Mom says you need to fix this NOW. I need money for—"

She turned off her phone.

The walk through Blackstone Real Estate's offices was a nightmare. Everyone stared, their expressions ranging from pity to schadenfreude. They'd all seen the news. They all knew she was the woman stupid enough to divorce Alexander Chen.

Security escorted her to the elevator, professionally distant. As the doors closed, Emma caught her reflection in the polished metal. She looked exactly the same as she had this morning—same designer dress, same perfect makeup, same styled hair.

But everything had changed.

The lobby television was showing the press conference. Alex was shaking hands with New York's mayor, both of them smiling for the cameras. The ticker at the bottom of the screen read: "Chen Industries Expected to Win Hudson Yards Contract—Blackstone Real Estate Shares Drop 15%."

Emma stumbled out onto the street, the autumn air sharp against her skin. Her apartment—Alex's apartment, she realized now with a sick lurch—was forty blocks away. She'd planned to take a car service, expense it to the company. But she didn't have a company anymore.

She hailed a taxi instead, giving the address mechanically.

The doorman looked at her strangely when she entered. "Ms. Winters, there was a gentleman here earlier. He removed some belongings from the penthouse."

Alex had been here. In their apartment—his apartment—while she'd been at Blackstone celebrating her new life.

The penthouse looked wrong. Small gaps where his things had been. His books gone from the shelves. His clothes missing from the closet. It was like he'd been surgically removed from her life, leaving empty spaces that she'd never noticed he filled.

Emma collapsed on the couch—the expensive couch Alex had bought when they first moved in, claiming he'd gotten "a great deal." It had probably cost more than her car.

Her phone, still off, sat in her purse like a bomb waiting to explode. She knew what would be waiting when she turned it on—hundreds of messages, calls, social media mentions. Her mother demanding she fix things. Her brother asking for money he now knew she couldn't provide. Friends who'd always been jealous finding vindication in her downfall.

And Alex. What was he doing right now? Celebrating his victory? Laughing with his father about how completely he'd fooled her? Planning the next stage of his revenge?

Emma looked around the apartment—the luxury she'd thought they'd barely afforded, that Alex had actually been slumming in. Every piece of furniture, every appliance, every detail she'd thought was them stretching their budget had been him deliberately limiting himself.

And she'd still treated him like he wasn't enough.

The tears came then, hot and bitter. Not tears of regret for losing him—Emma wasn't sure she was capable of that kind of self-reflection yet. These were tears of humiliation, of rage at being deceived, of fear for her future.

Because the truth was settling in now, heavy and inescapable: She'd had everything she ever wanted, and she'd thrown it away because she was too blind to see it.

Her phone buzzed in her purse, even though it was turned off. No—a different sound. The apartment intercom.

Emma wiped her eyes and answered. "Yes?"

"Ms. Winters, there's a courier here with a delivery. Legal documents."

Her stomach dropped. "Send them up."

The envelope was thick, official, from a law firm she didn't recognize. Emma's hands shook as she opened it.

"NOTICE OF LEASE TERMINATION" read the top page.

She skimmed through the legal language, heart pounding. The apartment belonged to a Chen Industries subsidiary. Alex—or his father—owned the building. And she had thirty days to vacate.

There was a second document underneath. A statement of accounts, showing exactly how much money Alex had given her and her family over three years. The number at the bottom made her sick: $437,000.

Almost half a million dollars. Gone. Spent on designer clothes, expensive dinners, her mother's credit card bills, her brother's "investments." Money she'd spent while thinking Alex was struggling to keep them afloat, while insulting his inability to provide more.

A sticky note was attached to the final page, handwritten in Alex's precise script:

"YOU WANTED EVERYTHING IN THE DIVORCE. CONGRATULATIONS. YOU HAVE EXACTLY WHAT YOU EARNED: NOTHING..... DON'T CONTACT ME AGAIN. DON'T CONTACT MY FAMILY FAMILY. DON'T CONTACT MY COMPANY. WE ARE DONE!"

Emma sat on the expensive couch in the luxury apartment she'd taken for granted, holding the documents that proved she'd destroyed her own life, and finally—finally—began to understand what she'd lost.

But understanding came too late.

Alex Chen was gone, and he wasn't coming back.