Chapter 5 5

Justina Andrews's POV

I never imagined I'd be preparing to face the woman who once called me "family." Yet, here I was, standing in front of the gilded elevator doors of Elizabeth Kane's private estate - the woman who had watched me walk down the aisle to her son, who had once held Emma like she was her own blood... and who now had the blood of betrayal staining her hands.

Oliver stood beside me, silent, tall, and composed - but I could feel the war raging inside him. The clenched jaw, the tight fists. It wasn't just business anymore. This was personal.

The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open.

"I'm ready," I said softly.

Oliver looked at me, pain flickering through his eyes. "No. I should be saying that. I dragged you into this mess again."

I touched his arm. "No, Oliver. I walked in willingly. And I'll walk through hell itself if it means keeping Emma safe."

His gaze lingered on mine for a moment - a silent promise passing between us - then we stepped inside.

Elizabeth Kane's penthouse was exactly as I remembered - pristine, cold, and elegant to the point of lifelessness. But today, it felt darker. Not in the way shadows fell, but in the energy that clung to the air.

She waited in the sitting room, dressed in a steel-gray silk suit, a diamond brooch on her collar, and a glass of wine in her hand - as if she weren't the puppeteer of a silent war.

Her smile was slight, smug. "Oliver. Justina. To what do I owe this... dramatic appearance?"

Oliver didn't return the greeting. "We know what you've done."

She raised a brow. "You'll have to be more specific. I've done many things, most of which built the empire you're now so desperate to protect."

"You tried to burn it down," I snapped before I could stop myself. "You used Vance to sabotage the company. You sent men to follow me. You threatened our daughter."

Elizabeth's smile didn't waver. "Ah, so the little spy spoke to you. Victor Reed never could keep his conscience out of business."

"This isn't business!" Oliver shouted, stepping forward. "This is betrayal. You went after Emma."

Her glass hit the table with a clink. "Emma is the unfortunate product of a poor decision. You married a woman beneath you. I gave you time to correct it - you chose love over legacy. And now you're both paying for that mistake."

For a moment, silence swallowed the room... Then I stepped forward.

"You can insult me. Undermine me. Even try to destroy me. But if you ever lay a hand on my daughter again-"

"What?" she interrupted, her voice eerily calm. "You'll expose me?"

"I'll ruin you," I said, voice cold and steady. "And this time, I won't stop until your name is carved in shame across every headline in the country."

Elizabeth's eyes darkened. "You think threats scare me? You're a single mother with nothing but fire in your voice. I've crushed stronger women than you."

"And yet I'm still standing," I whispered. "And that terrifies you."

Oliver stepped between us, his voice low with fury. "This ends now. Stay away from my family. Resign from the board. If you don't, we'll go public. With everything."

"You'd ruin your own mother?"

"You're not my mother anymore," he said quietly. "Not after this."

Her face twisted - in fury or heartbreak, I couldn't tell - but we didn't give her a chance to respond.

We turned and walked out, leaving her glass of wine trembling on the table.

Back in the car, the silence was heavy.

"I didn't want it to be her," Oliver said after a while, staring out the window. "A part of me kept hoping..."

"I know," I said. "I'm sorry."

He turned to look at me. "You're incredible, you know that?"

I smiled faintly. "I'm just a mother protecting her cub."

"No," he said. "You're a lioness."

The next few days blurred into motion. Oliver worked with his legal team to file official charges against Vance, and Elizabeth's resignation from the board was secured with minimal public exposure - for now. But the real storm brewed in the court of public opinion. Whispers circulated in the business world. Investors got skittish. News outlets caught the scent of a scandal.

I watched Oliver in those days - as a CEO, as a father, and slowly, as a man trying to reconnect with the woman he had lost. And I found myself asking questions I wasn't ready to answer.

Did I still love him?

Could we ever be more than allies for Emma?

One afternoon, I was in the garden of the estate with Emma. She was chasing butterflies while I reviewed a list of vetted tutors Oliver had recommended. A soft rustle behind me made me turn.

It was Oliver.

"Mind if I sit?" he asked.

I nodded.

We watched Emma run through the flowers, her laughter carrying on the wind.

"She's so much like you," he said quietly. "Brave. Unapologetically herself."

"She's like both of us," I said. "Strong and stubborn."

He chuckled. Then silence.

"I miss you," he said suddenly.

I stiffened.

"Not just as Emma's mother," he continued. "I miss you as... you."

"Oliver," I began, but he shook his head.

"I know I don't deserve forgiveness. I know I broke us. But if this past month has shown me anything, it's that I never stopped loving you."

The world paused. I searched his face, every line, every scar of the past three years laid bare. And I realized something terrifying - I still loved him too. But love wasn't the only thing that mattered. Trust did.

"You can't just say that and expect everything to go back," I said. "We're not the same people."

"I know," he whispered. "But maybe that's a good thing."

That night, I lay awake in bed, watching the moonlight spill across the floor. My heart warred with my head. Could we rebuild what was broken?

Or would the cracks always show?

The next morning, chaos erupted again. Marissa called in a panic.

"Turn on the news," she said.

I grabbed the remote. The headline hit me like a punch:

BREAKING: ELIZABETH KANE LAUNCHES HOSTILE TAKEOVER BID THROUGH SHELL COMPANY

Oliver stormed into the room, eyes blazing. "She didn't resign. She went underground."

"She's not letting go of the company," I said. "She's coming for everything."

He nodded grimly. "Then we fight."

And just like that, the war we thought we'd ended flared up again - fiercer, dirtier, more personal than ever. But this time, we weren't walking in blind. This time, she was the one who didn't know what we had up our sleeves.

My hands trembled as I set the remote down. The news anchor's voice still echoed in my mind like a storm siren.

"Elizabeth Kane, former board chair of Smith Global Holdings, is allegedly funding a hostile takeover through a network of offshore shell corporations, with intent to seize full control after her recent resignation under mysterious circumstances..."

She never gave up control. She just shifted the battlefield.

"Who are the shell companies registered to?" I asked, my voice sharp as I followed Oliver into the war room - his study.

"Marissa's tracing them now," Oliver said, pulling up financial data on the massive screen mounted behind his desk. "They're registered across the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, Dubai... all fronts. But the money trails back to Kane Holdings - her private empire."

Ethan, already seated and typing furiously, looked up. "She's smart. She's buying up shares using proxies. If she hits thirty percent, she'll force a shareholders' vote. With the right leverage, she could oust Oliver as CEO."

I felt sick. "You have twenty-eight percent, right?"

Oliver nodded. "My shares are the largest single block, but they aren't enough. If she flips the rest of the board, we're done."

"And if she wins... she controls the company and wipes us from the inside," I whispered.

Ethan grimaced. "It's not just corporate. It's personal revenge. And she's willing to destroy her son's legacy to get it."

I stood tall, though my heart felt like it was sliding down a cliff. "Then we beat her at her own game."

Oliver turned to me. "How?"

I looked him square in the eye. "You said once that we fight with leverage. So we use what we have. The files from Victor, the evidence. But we do it smart. We leak what we need, and we rally the board. Make this about protecting the company, not family drama."

Ethan nodded slowly. "She wants a board vote? Let's make sure the board votes her out - not you."

The next seventy-two hours were a blur.

I barely saw Emma. She stayed at the estate under heavy security while I lived in the shadow of boardrooms, strategy sessions, and phone calls. Oliver's world - once a fortress I was cast out of - was now my battleground too.

I hadn't worn heels this long in years. But I didn't falter.

Marissa, Ethan, and I became a trio of silent assassins behind Oliver. We identified board members sympathetic to the family name, those swayed by legacy and image. I hosted private meetings at luxury lounges and high-rise restaurants, reminding them that Oliver Smith, for all his flaws, had built something worth preserving. That we, together, were the future - not Elizabeth Kane's ruthless ambition.

One evening, as the sun dipped behind the skyline, I found myself alone with Marissa in a parked town car, waiting outside a director's home.

"You've changed," she said quietly, watching me from the corner of her eye.

I raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"You're no longer afraid to own the power you always had. You used to shrink back. Now you command."

I paused. "Maybe I needed to be broken first. Or maybe I just needed something worth fighting for."

She smiled faintly. "Oliver doesn't deserve you. But he needs you."

By the end of the week, we had ten solid votes - enough to block Elizabeth's takeover. We needed two more to turn the tide completely.

But Elizabeth wasn't done playing.

She struck next with the kind of precision only a seasoned queen could wield.

Friday morning.

I was sipping coffee in the penthouse kitchen when my phone buzzed with a barrage of messages. Then Marissa called.

"Justina, turn on Channel Five. Now."

The anchor's voice was grim.

"Breaking: Unsealed documents suggest that Justina Andrews, former wife of Oliver Smith, was involved in financial misconduct during her tenure at the non-profit subsidiary of Smith Global Holdings. The allegations raise concerns about her involvement in the company's ongoing internal battle..."

My breath caught.

I sank into a chair as the screen displayed images of me - in boardrooms, smiling beside Oliver, working with children. And then, the word: FRAUD?

I blinked. "No... This is fake. I never-"

Oliver stormed in. "I saw it. We're already shutting it down."

Marissa's voice was tight. "This is a coordinated hit. She's trying to assassinate your credibility before the board vote."

I laughed bitterly. "She's trying to paint me as a manipulative gold digger who wormed her way back into Oliver's life."

Oliver crouched beside me. "Justina, listen to me. None of them will believe it."

"I don't care what they believe," I snapped. "Emma will see this one day."

He reached for my hand. "Then let's make sure the story she remembers... is that her parents fought back."

That night, we held a press conference.

Oliver stood at the podium, flanked by me, Ethan, and his legal team.

He cleared his throat and began.

"My mother, Elizabeth Kane, has spent her life building empires. But somewhere along the way, she forgot that empires are built on trust - not fear. Today, she crossed a line."

He turned slightly, gesturing to me.

"The woman beside me is not just my former wife. She is the mother of my daughter. She is a leader in her own right. And she is being smeared by someone terrified of losing power."

He paused. "I made mistakes. We both did. But if there's one truth that remains, it's this: I trust her. With my name, my company, and my daughter's future."

I saw the Oliver I once married. Not the billionaire. Not the strategist. But the man who fought like hell for the people he loved. And somehow, in the wreckage, I loved him a little more. Two days later, the final board vote was held in a sealed executive meeting. Elizabeth didn't attend in person. She sent a proxy. But when the votes were counted, the result echoed through the room like a thunderclap.

Oliver Smith retained his position as CEO.

Elizabeth Kane was permanently removed from the board. There was no applause. Just stunned silence. Then the quiet breathing of victory.

Oliver stood. "This company is entering a new era - one defined by integrity, not manipulation."

And I knew... it was over. We had won.

Later that evening, I sat on the terrace of the estate with a glass of wine in hand. The war was behind us, but the wounds lingered like bruises beneath the skin. Emma was asleep upstairs. The moon was full. The world had slowed. Oliver stepped out, his shirt sleeves rolled up, tie loosened. He joined me without a word. We sat in silence. And then he asked the question I knew was coming.

"Do you think there's still something left for us, Justina?"

I didn't answer right away. I looked at the stars, then at him. The man who had once broken my heart and had now bled beside me in battle.

"We've burned a lot," I said softly. "But maybe... from the ashes... something new can grow."

He took my hand. We didn't kiss. Not yet. But we didn't let go either.