For ten years, Arthur Sterling taught me everything I know about mechanical engineering. He treated me like a son. But when Sterling Motors was on the brink of collapse, I walked away without a backward glance. I even watched, cold and distant, as creditors circled and the family lost everything, eventually ending up on the street. I did it because, in another life, I’d already lived this nightmare. In that life, Ava’s childhood sweetheart, Caleb, in a desperate bid to beat me out for a partnership with a German tech firm, rushed a new battery prototype into live testing. He hid it from everyone. The battery exploded, the lab went up in flames, and Sterling Motors was ruined overnight. I, stupidly, unconditionally, married Ava and took on the disaster Caleb had left behind. I poured my soul into developing a new generation of electric vehicles, dragging Sterling Motors back from the abyss and onto the peak of the industry. And on the day of our IPO, at the bell-ringing ceremony, Ava stood before the world and publicly accused me of murdering Caleb and stealing his technology. The entire Sterling family called me a heartless, ungrateful monster. Ava had me thrown in prison, where she let me rot, watching from afar as I was tormented to death. When I opened my eyes again, I was back. Back on the day Arthur Sterling was set to announce the new project lead. At the head of the long boardroom table, Arthur’s brow was deeply furrowed. “Leo,” he said, his voice heavy. “You and Caleb… I’ve watched you both grow up.” He sighed, his gaze sweeping over the tense faces in the room. “But there can only be one lead for the new project.” I rose slightly from my chair, a gesture of polite refusal. “Mr. Sterling,” I began, my voice even. “With all due respect, I don’t believe I have the capabilities to handle a project of this magnitude. Caleb, however, is one of a kind. He has the vision to lead this company out of its current difficulties.” 1 A flush of anger colored Arthur’s face. He raised his voice, a rare occurrence. “Leo, do you have any idea what you’re saying?” I stood up fully, my gaze finding Ava’s across the table. “Mr. Sterling,” I repeated calmly. “I’m not the right person to lead Project Velocity. Caleb is brilliant, his concepts are ahead of their time. He’s a better fit than I am.” I paused, letting my eyes linger on Ava. “And I’m sure Ava would agree with me.” Seeing me fold so easily, her expression remained glacial, but a flicker of something—relief? triumph?—passed through her eyes. “It’s about time you recognized your own limits,” she said, her voice sharp. Everyone in that room knew it was a lie. In terms of technical skill, experience, and sheer dedication, I was the obvious choice. Before today, it had been a foregone conclusion: I would lead the project, and my engagement to Ava would be officially announced. But in that moment, as Ava’s cold stare bore into me, I understood everything. She was back, too. A bitter smile threatened to form on my lips. So, you want to save your precious childhood sweetheart? Fine. I won’t stand in your way. Without another word, Ava pushed her chair back and strode out of the conference room. I knew exactly where she was going. At this time of day, Caleb would be in the auxiliary lab, running his reckless tests on the battery prototype. The explosion that would have killed him was imminent. She was going to save him. There was still time. I remained where I was, a frozen calm spreading through my chest. Ten years of marriage in another life, all of it worthless against the ghost of the boy she grew up with. “Leo, what in God’s name are you thinking?” Arthur’s cane slammed against the floor, the sound echoing in the silent room. I met his disappointed gaze. This man, who had personally mentored me, who had shaped my entire career, was looking at me as if I were a stranger. “Mr. Sterling,” I said softly, “Ava’s heart is with Caleb. I won’t fight a battle I can’t win.” Arthur exchanged a look with his wife, Ava’s mother. The fight went out of him. He remembered the fierce, determined look on his daughter’s face as she’d left, and the words of reprimand died on his lips. I silently excused myself and went back to my room in the Sterling estate. I packed only a few changes of clothes and a single external hard drive—the one containing the true core of the project. The next morning, an all-company email announced the new appointment. Caleb Thorne was officially the head of Project Velocity. The email included a photo of him, beaming with ambition. I slipped the hard drive into my backpack, my face a mask of indifference. Just before noon, a shouting match erupted from the office downstairs. I stood at the end of the hallway, listening to Caleb’s enraged voice. “Ava! You promised me! You said as soon as I was project lead, you’d hand over the Bosch partnership!” he roared. “So why the hell is Leo’s name still on all the primary documents?” Ava’s voice was strained, placating. “Caleb, Leo handled all the preliminary technical briefings. We can’t just swap him out now. Bosch will have questions, they’ll object!” “I don’t care!” Caleb shot back. “I’m the future of this company! Are you telling me you trust an outsider more than you trust me, Ava?” The Bosch partnership was everything. It was the key to acquiring their next-generation battery management system, the very technology that, in my previous life, I had optimized to make Sterling’s new car a monumental success. Ava knew this. She knew it down to her bones. A few minutes later, my phone rang. It was Arthur. He was sitting in his office, looking a decade older. “Leo,” he said, his voice ragged with fatigue. “About this… I’m sorry. I owe you an apology.” The truth hit me. She’d done it. Ava had gone over her own father’s head and forced him to give the Bosch liaison position to Caleb. “Mr. Sterling, you don’t have to say anything,” I said, my tone flat. “I understand.” He looked up at me, his eyes a complex mixture of guilt and regret. He had always treated me like a grandson. But faced with a choice between his actual granddaughter and his chosen successor, he had folded. I pulled the hard drive from my backpack. It was my entire life’s work. I placed it on the polished mahogany desk in front of him. “This drive has all the data and technical schematics for Project Velocity,” I explained. “Including all the handover materials for the Bosch integration.” Every file on that drive represented countless sleepless nights, a piece of my very soul. Arthur’s lips parted, but no words came out. He just stared at the small black rectangle, then at my impassive face. I stood and gave him a deep, formal bow. “Mr. Sterling, for your years of guidance, I will be forever grateful.” Just then, the door swung open and Ava and Caleb walked in. “Did he agree?” Ava asked, her eyes fixed on her grandfather, completely ignoring my presence. Arthur gave a slow, defeated nod. Caleb’s face lit up as he reached for the hard drive. But I spoke first. “Wait a second.” Caleb’s hand froze. He eyed me with suspicion. “What is it now, Leo? What other tricks do you have up your sleeve?” I shook my head and pulled a folded document from my pocket. “This is the most critical component of the Bosch deal. The Battery Safety Protocol. I finished collating the final data yesterday. It’s not on the drive yet.” Caleb snatched the document from my hand. As he scanned the brutally strict technical requirements and performance benchmarks, the color drained from his face. “These standards are incredibly high,” I said plainly. “If any single parameter isn’t met, Bosch will revoke their technical license immediately. We’ll be on the hook for the tens of millions we’ve already invested.” My gaze was steady. “But with your design, meeting these standards shouldn’t be a problem for you, right?” Caleb’s face turned crimson, but his arrogance wouldn’t let him back down. He scoffed. “Stop trying to scare me. It’s a safety protocol, not rocket science. I’ll have it handled in five minutes.” I said nothing more. He had no idea. His entire design philosophy—sacrificing safety for performance—was a ticking time bomb. 2 Ava’s voice cut through the tension, cold and final. “You can go now.” She looked at me, her eyes devoid of any warmth. “From this day forward, Sterling Motors and you, Leo, have nothing to do with each other.” I was about to turn and leave, but Caleb stopped me. “Hold on a minute!” He wore a smug, triumphant grin. “Since Leo is no longer the project lead, he’s not really part of the family, is he?” He gestured around the opulent office. “By my count, everything he has, everything he is, came from the Sterlings. Before he leaves, shouldn’t he leave all that behind?” He turned his charming smile on Ava. “Right, Ava?” I turned back, ignoring Caleb’s gloating face, and looked directly at Ava. “Is that what you want?” She stood there, her gaze faltering for just a fraction of a second. But in the end, her silence was my answer. A crash echoed through the room. Arthur, his face purple with rage, had swept his porcelain teacup to the floor. “You little bastard!” he roared at Caleb. “Leo has been in this family for eight years! If he’s not my grandson-in-law, he’s still half a grandson to me!” “Grandpa!” Ava finally spoke, but it was to defend Caleb. “Caleb’s right. If he’s leaving, it’s better to make a clean break. It avoids complications down the road.” I looked at her, and a humorless laugh escaped my lips. “Mr. Sterling, if that’s Ava’s decision, I’ll respect it.” I paused, letting the silence hang in the air. “But if we’re settling accounts, then let’s settle all of them.” “I came to the Sterling family when I was twenty years old. I studied under you, learned from you, for eight years.” Caleb let out a dismissive snort. “And you think that gives you some kind of claim?” I shot him a brief, cutting glance before continuing. “In my second year with the company, I redesigned the production line workflow. The cost savings to the group, per year, exceeded three million dollars.” “In my fourth year, the chassis tuning solution I developed won Sterling Motors its largest-ever municipal contract.” “In my sixth year, to solve the engine overheating issue…” I listed them out, one by one. Milestone after milestone. With every achievement I named, Ava’s face grew paler. “All told,” I concluded, “over eight years, the profit I generated for Sterling Motors far exceeds the value of anything the family has given me.” Ava’s lips were pressed into a thin, white line. She knew the weight of my words. In our past life, it was this foundation, this legacy of my work, that allowed the company to rise from the ashes under my leadership. “The Sterlings gave me a home for eight years, and I gave Sterling Motors eight years of my life.” My voice was devoid of emotion. “The work I’ve done, the blood and sweat I’ve poured into this company, is more than enough to repay Mr. Sterling’s kindness.” “From this day forward, we owe each other nothing.” Caleb, however, couldn’t resist twisting the knife. He laughed, a nasty, grating sound. “Nice speech. But the car you drive, the roof over your head… which one of those is actually yours?” He stepped forward, pointing at the key fob peeking out of my pocket. “That Mercedes. Company car, isn’t it?” He then pointed to my wrist. “That Vacheron Constantin… worth a pretty penny, right? Close to a hundred grand? Could a poor kid like you ever afford that?” Finally, his finger jabbed towards the documents on the desk. “And that condo in the Marina… a gift from Grandpa, wasn’t it?” He leaned in, his voice a venomous whisper. “Which of these things doesn’t belong to the Sterlings?” I let his taunts wash over me, my eyes fixed on Ava. She remained silent, a statue carved from ice. “Ava,” I finally asked, my voice strained. “That promise you whispered to me on your birthday last year… have you forgotten it already?” Her answer was forced through clenched teeth, two small, devastating words. “I forgot.” I thought, coming back to this life, that my heart had already died. I was wrong. Those two words were a shard of ice in my chest, finding a place that could still feel pain. I forced down the dull ache and began to unclasp the watch from my wrist. Arthur shot to his feet. “Leo! Don’t!” “Mr. Sterling,” I interrupted him gently, placing the heavy timepiece on the desk. “Rules are rules.” The car key. The condo key. One by one, I pulled them from my pockets and laid them next to the watch. Finally, I slipped off the expensive, custom-tailored suit jacket, folded it neatly, and placed it on the desk. I was left in a simple, thin white button-down shirt. Caleb’s face was alight with the pure, ugly joy of revenge. Ava finally broke. “That’s enough! Stop it!” I looked at her, my expression serene. “From now on, I am only myself.” “I am Leo. Not the Sterlings’ kept man. Not the son-in-law in waiting.” I shouldered my backpack and walked out of the office. The hallway was crowded with employees, drawn by the commotion. They were all pretending to work, but their eyes followed me. On the company’s internal forum, the news of my dismissal was already the top post. Their whispers were like needles on my skin. “Look, it’s him. They finally kicked the freeloader out.” “Did he really think he could marry into the family? He should have looked in a mirror.” “Without the Sterlings, what is he? He’s nothing.” I walked through the gauntlet, my steps heavy, each one an effort. As I stepped out of the main entrance of the Sterling Motors headquarters, a black Lincoln Navigator pulled up silently to the curb in front of me. The tinted rear window slid down, revealing the serious face of a middle-aged man in a suit. “Are you Mr. Leo Vance?” he asked, his tone formal. My name wasn't Vance. That was a small, intentional error to confirm my identity without being overheard. I gave a slight nod. “We’re from the National Automotive Research Institute,” he said. “Our director would like to have a word with you.”
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