My Ex Husband Treated My Son Without Knowing He Was His Chapter 13

My Ex Husband Treated My Son Without Knowing He Was His Chapter 13

Another month passed.

The company held its annual gala.

Over two hundred employees joined. We booked the ballroom at a five-star hotel.

I wore a red gown onstage for my speech.

The applause was thunderous.

“Sterling MedTech was founded three years ago. Year one revenue was one million. Year two was

a fifteen million. This year we’re projecting forty million. Next year’s target is eighty million dollars.

We’re not here to be the fastest company. We’re here to be the most solid one.”

The speech ended. Time to make the rounds.

I moved from table to table, glass in hand.

At the last table, Elaine caught my arm.

“Someone’s here. At the entrance. Asking for you.”

I walked to the ballroom doors.

Claire.

She was dressed down. Jeans. Sneakers. No makeup.

A completely different person from the polished future Hayes daughter-in-law I’d seen before.

“Ms. Sterling. A word?”

We stepped into the hallway.

“Nathan and I are done.”

“I know. Two months ago.”

“He ended it.”

“I know that too.”

“Because of the article. I did something I shouldn’t have.”

I leaned against the wall and looked at her.

“You came here to tell me that?”

“I came to apologize.”

“Apologize.”

“Ms. Sterling-no. Evelyn.” Her voice dropped. “I was jealous of you. From the moment I knew you existed. You’re his ex-wife. You gave him a child. Those two things I could never compete.”

“Claire. This isn’t about competition.”

“I know. But emotions aren’t rational. I thought if I pushed you out, if I exposed the child, you’d

disappear for good. Instead, you didn’t vanish. You got stronger.”

She gave a bitter smile.

“I did the stupidest thing possible. I didn’t drive you away. I drove Nathan toward you”

“He wasn’t driven toward me.”

“His heart never left you. Evelyn, believe me or not. Two years I was with him. Not once did he look

at me the way he looks at you. Not once.”

I said nothing.

“I didn’t come for forgiveness. I know I won’t get it. just wanted you to know I posted that article. Cheap tactics, I admit it. If you want to pursue legal action, I’ll accept it.”

She pulled an envelope from her pocket.

“This is a letter. Handwritten. Read it or throw it away.”

She set it on the edge of a planter.

“Goodbye, Ms. Sterling.”

She turned and walked off.

I picked up the envelope.

Instead of throwing it away, I put it in my pocket.

As the year drew to a close, the big news landed.

Sterling MedTech’s diagnostic Al device received FDA clearance.

The product could now enter the North American market.

Only three domestic companies had that qualification, and we were the youngest.

The day the announcement went public, the company’s valuation hit two hundred fifty million

dollars.

Elaine stared at the financials in my office and laughed out loud.

“Evelyn. Do you know what this means? What your personal stake is worth?”

“Two hundred million.”

“Yeah. Two hundred million.”

“And? We still work late.”

“Can you at least react?”

“React to what? Money isn’t the goal. It’s a tool.”

That same day, something else happened.

VitalCore Solutions was exposed for falsifying product data.

The former tech lead who’d jumped ship from my company-the patents he’d taken were built on secondary development of Sterling MedTech’s original work. And the new product he’d launched at VitalCore used fabricated clinical trial data.

The regulatory agency launched an investigation.

VitalCore was ordered to suspend operations.

The leverage Apex Health Group had used to pressure me on valuation-comparing us to VitalCore-evaporated completely.

Arthur called personally.

“Ms. Sterling. I heard about VitalCore. Using them as a benchmark was an error in judgment on my

part.”