Divorcing The Female CEO: Leon's Revenge

3. Look Up, Selena

The ballroom at the Empire Business Awards was a vision of wealth and status.

Crystal chandeliers spilled light like diamonds. Velvet banners of the city’s most powerful corporations draped across golden columns. 

Power brokers, tycoons, and media moguls moved with polished ease, every handshake a deal, every toast a silent war.

And yet, Selena Hart stood there like a crumbling pillar amidst a kingdom that once bowed to her.

Her dress was impeccable, midnight blue silk, slit high to her thigh. Her hair was a waterfall of waves. But no one lingered in her presence. No cameras followed. No CEOs approached.

The red carpet had grown cold beneath her heels. 

Mia, her assistant, stepped beside her with quiet urgency. “Ms. Hart… Mr. Chen canceled the dinner appointment.”

“What?” Selena’s voice was sharp. “He confirmed it just yesterday.”

“I know, but… apparently Vanguard Capital bought out his logistics partner this morning. Their loyalties shifted.”

Selena’s fingers tightened around her clutch. “Vanguard Capital again…”

She turned toward the press corner, where a crowd had begun to gather with flashing cameras and murmurs of excitement.

Selena peered past the bodies, trying to see who had just arrived. The noise rose, reporters lifting mics, assistants scrambling to clear space.

Then she saw him. Leon. Wearing a black tailored tuxedo, his hair swept back, he walked with silent command. His jaw was firm, his eyes sharp. Every inch of him radiated control, undeniable and terrifying. 

He moved with ease, nodding at executives, shaking hands with board members, smiling calmly at reporters like he had walked this carpet for a decade, but he never had.

Not while he was with her. Selena’s breath hitched. People didn’t just see him now. They admired him. Feared him. Wanted him, and he didn’t even glance her way.

Flashback to Four Years Ago, Selena had thrown her phone across the couch, groaning.

“No one will invest in a woman CEO under thirty,” she spat. “These pigs want me to flirt my way through dinner meetings.”

Leon knelt in front of her, holding her hand. “Then we’ll do it ourselves,” he said.

“We?”

He smiled. “You’ll be the face. I’ll handle the strings.”

…

Present day, at the Empire Ballroom. Selena took a deep breath and forced her expression back to indifference.

She walked forward, heels clicking confidently on the marble floor. She timed her step carefully to intercept Leon at the edge of the press circle.

“Leon,” she said, her voice poised but cold.

He turned toward her, with an expression unreadable. Selena smiled faintly. “Didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I could say the same,” he replied coolly. “But then again… you never miss a room full of power.”

Her smile tightened. “Looks like you’ve been busy.”

Leon nodded. “Always was. You just didn’t notice.”

Mia hovered behind her nervously, holding her phone. “Ms. Hart,” she whispered, “Starline’s market cap just dropped another 5%. We’re below our valuation floor.”

Selena’s eye twitched, but she didn’t flinch. “Leave us.”

Mia backed away. Leon glanced at her for a long second. “Problems?”

“Temporary,” she said through gritted teeth. “But I’m more interested in your… rebranding. Vanguard Capital? Since when did you have billions in asset control?”

He gave a faint smile. “Since before you wore your first power suit.”

Her mask cracked. “So all this time… the contacts, the silent partners, the investors I thought I charmed.”

Leon cut her off. “I gave you everything. Every single thing. And you stood there and said I was irrelevant.”

His voice was calm, but there was steel in it.

Selena stepped closer, keeping her tone low. “Why now, Leon? Why tear everything down?”

“You built your empire on me, then spat on the foundation.”

“I didn’t know!” she hissed.

“That’s the problem.” His gaze was ice. “You never cared to.”

Right there it was time for the Stage Announcement. A pure moment of truth. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our final speaker for the evening, the man behind three of this year’s fastest-growing companies, founder and CEO of Vanguard Capital: Mr. Leon Grant!”

The crowd erupted in applause. Selena stood frozen as Leon walked past her, without a backward glance, and ascended the grand staircase to the stage.

Under the lights, he looked larger than life. Selena had watched hundreds of men give speeches at galas like this, but she had never seen anyone silence a room the way Leon just had.

Leon took the podium and gave his speech. “I wasn’t born into wealth,” he began, voice calm and steady. “I didn’t inherit a family name or a corporate seat. I built my network in the dark, helped others shine while remaining a shadow. Sometimes… to support people I believed in more than myself.”

A pause. Selena’s lips parted slightly. 

“But belief, when one-sided, becomes blindness. And sometimes, in order to become who you were meant to be… you must let go of who you were holding up.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd. A few turned to glance at Selena, connecting dots faster than she could spin excuses.

Leon’s smile was sharp. “To those who once thought I was beneath them…” He looked directly at her, “Look up now.”

The room exploded in applause, and Selena Hart, former queen of the city, stood in a puddle of spotlight she could no longer claim.

After the Speech, Selena escaped to the restroom, her chest heaving.

Her reflection mocked her, perfect makeup hiding the cracks. She pulled out her phone, dialed his number. Voicemail. She texted instead: “Can we talk? I didn’t know… Please.” No reply.

Seconds later, a new news headline appeared, “Starline Corporation to be investigated for funding irregularities. Whistleblower remains anonymous.”

Her phone slid from her hands. She staggered back. Her world was collapsing, one secret at a time, and now, she knew who held the detonator.

…

Leon stood at the parking garage, his black car idling as Jason steps beside him.

“She reached out again,” Jason says. “Three calls. One text.”

Leon doesn’t even look at the phone. “Delete it.”

Jason hesitates. “That’s it?”

Leon gets in the car. “That was her last free fall. Now she learns to land on her knees.”

The car drives off, leaving the queen without her crown.