"Just sign it, Ester. No questions, and definitely no drama." Xavier Blackwood said, sliding a black leather folder across the marble coffee table.
Ester Wijaya frozed. She was still wearing the elegant navy-blue evening gown she had carefully chosen for tonight, a night that was supposed to be the greatest celebration of Blackwood Corp's history. In her hand, she held a crystal glass of champagne she hadn't even had the chance to sip.
"What is this, Xavier? We just got home from the Emerald City victory gala. Why are you handing me a folder?" Ester tried to force a small laugh, though her heart began to beat with a sickening rhythm.
Xavier loosened his silk tie with a sharp tug and sat back in his armchair, crossing his legs. His handsome face, defined by a sharp, aristocratic jawline, was chillingly cold. There was no trace of the charming smile he had flashed at investors only an hour ago.
"Open it. I'm sure you're smart enough to read the title of the document." He replied flatly.
With trembling hands, Ester set her glass down and opened the folder. Her eyes narrowed, trying to process the rows of crisp black ink on the white paper. The words seemed to dance and stab at her eyes.
"Divorce papers?" Ester whispered. Her voice caught in her throat. "Are you joking? Xavier, this is the happiest day for our company. The design I created, it won! We secured a multi-billion dollar project! Why on earth would you give me divorce papers now?"
Xavier snorted, lighting a cigarette. A thin veil of smoke drifted between them. "Our company? Ester, let's not be delusional. Blackwood Corp belongs to me. You are just a housewife with a hobby for drawing. Don't go thinking tonight's victory happened because of you."
Ester felt as if a massive weight had crashed into her chest. "A hobby for drawing? Xavier, I stayed up for three months straight finishing those blueprints and proposals! I researched the materials, I calculated the structural costs so we could underbid the Sterling Group. You didn't even touch the draft until the day of the presentation!"
"And that's exactly the problem." Xavier interrupted, looking at her with pure disdain. "You've become too dominant behind the scenes. You think I don't hear the whispers? People are saying Xavier Blackwood is only successful because his wife is a genius. I don't need your shadow looming over me anymore, Ester. The tender is won. The contract is signed. My position is solidified."
"So, you just used me until the deal was closed?" Ester asked, her voice shaking. Tears began to well in her eyes, threatening to ruin the makeup she had spent hours perfecting.
Xavier shrugged nonchalantly. "Think what you want. Regardless, you're no longer fit to stand by my side. Blackwood Corp needs a glamorous Public Relations figure, someone who can navigate the high society of the world. Not a homebody who smells like draft paper and stale coffee every day."
Ester stared at the man she had stood by for five years, the man who had promised to protect her when they started with nothing. "You're a monster, Xavier. A devil in a CEO's suit."
"Save the melodrama. I've prepared a compensation package large enough for you to go back to your hometown or open some little studio. But the mansion, the cars, and the shares? They stay with me." Xavier said, pulling a fountain pen from his breast pocket. "Come on. Sign it. Don't waste my time. I have an appointment to keep."
"An appointment with whom?" Ester asked, though she already knew the answer.
Before Xavier could respond, the front door of the mansion swung open. The sharp click of stilettos echoed against the granite floor. A woman with platinum blonde hair and a tight red dress strutted in without knocking.
"Hi, honey. Are you done with the business yet? I've already booked a table at the most expensive restaurant in the city to celebrate," the woman said, wrapping her arms around Xavier's neck from behind.
Ester stood frozen. "Chloe? You ... you're Xavier's secretary."
Chloe let out a melodious, insulting laugh. "I was, Ester. But now, I'm the future Mrs. Blackwood. Oops, was I not supposed to say that yet? Oh well, you're practically an ex anyway."
"How long?" Ester asked, her voice barely audible.
Xavier stroked Chloe's hand on his shoulder. "It doesn't matter how long. What matters is that Chloe was the one who helped me present in front of the board today. She has the aura of a winner. You? You belong in a dark back office, Ester."
Ester looked at the divorce papers again. Her heart was in pieces, but amidst the pain, a spark of fury began to ignite. She remembered ignoring her health, skipping sleep, and pouring her soul into every detail of the Emerald City project just to make him proud. That pride was now the dagger killing her marriage.
"What if I refuse to sign?" Ester challenged, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.
Xavier stood up, towering over her with eyes that held no remnant of warmth. "If you don't sign amicably, I will make sure you never work in the architectural industry in this country again. I have the power to destroy your reputation overnight. Your choice, leave with the money or leave with a ruined name."
Ester clenched her fists. She felt so small against Xavier's arrogance. In the vast, luxurious living room, she felt like a stranger in her own home.
"You really think I can't survive without you, Xavier?"
"That's the reality, isn't it? You have no one. Your parents are gone, and your only friends are my employees. You are nothing without the Blackwood name behind yours." Xavier jeered, thrusting the pen toward her.
Ester snatched the pen. With a hand that still shook slightly, she scrawled her signature across the paper. Every stroke of ink felt like she was signing away her own soul. When she finished, she threw the pen at Xavier's chest.
"Get out of this house by tomorrow morning. Take your cheap belongings with you. I don't want to see your face when I wake up." Xavier ordered coldly.
Ester didn't answer. She turned and walked up the stairs, head held high despite the blood weeping from her heart. Once inside her room, she locked the door and sank to the floor. She couldn't believe five years of marriage had ended exactly two hours after she gave him his greatest victory.
Suddenly, Ester's phone, lying on the bed, vibrated. A message arrived from an unknown number.
Ester opened it listlessly. Her eyes widened as she read the content.
"Don't cry for a man who doesn't even know his victory was merely a gift from me to you. Get out of there, Ester. I've been waiting for you for seven years."
Ester frowned. "Who is this?" she murmured.
She tried to call the number, but it went straight to voicemail. A few seconds later, a voice message arrived. Ester pressed the phone to her ear. A deep, masculine, and hauntingly familiar baritone voice filled the line.
"Ester, it's me, Dominic. Can you hear me? Don't take a single thing from that wretched house. Stand at the front gate. Now."
Ester covered her mouth with her hand. "Dominic Sterling? The head of the Sterling Group? It can't be ...."
Ester rushed to the balcony window. Below, parked right in front of the Blackwood estate's massive gates, was a midnight-black Rolls-Royce. A tall, imposing man in a suit worth thousands stood leaning against the car door, looking directly up at her balcony as if he knew she was watching.
Her phone rang again. This time, it was a video call. Ester answered it, her mind in a whirl.
Dominic Sterling's face appeared on the screen. He was breathtakingly handsome, with piercing blue eyes that held an intensity that could melt glaciers. He offered a faint, thin smile, very different from Xavier's cruel smirk.
"Xavier divorced me, Dominic. I have nothing left." Ester whispered into the camera.
Dominic gazed at her with unwavering authority. His voice was calm yet heavy with power.
"It is precisely because that fool let you go that you can finally be the queen of my empire, Ester. Did you really think Xavier won that tender because of his own merit? You are sadly mistaken."
Ester gasped. "What do you mean?"
Dominic let out a low, dark chuckle, his eyes flashing with a predatory triumph.
"I am the one who ensured that project fell into your husband's hands, solely so you wouldn't have to weep over his failure. But now, I am taking back everything I gave him, including you."
Ester's breath hitched as Dominic glanced at the front door of her mansion.
"Walk down those stairs now or should I come in there myself and drag you out of that man's pathetic history?"