###Chapter 95: The Ga Is Over
Maxine Rhodes turned at the sound of his voice. Seeing who it was, her face showed no surprise, only a calm indifference.
"President Sterling," Maxine Rhodes said, her voice steady and emotionless. "What can I do for you? As I recall, there shouldn’t be anything left for us to discuss, business or personal."
"Maxine! Let’s talk. Let’s talk alone!"
Benjamin Sterling lunged forward, trying to grab her arm, but Maxine Rhodes deftly sidestepped him.
"We can talk right here. My ti is limited," Maxine Rhodes said, glancing at her watch with a distant air.
Benjamin Sterling looked at the stunning, self-possessed woman before him, forced himself to calm down, and began reciting the lines he had rehearsed on the way over.
"Maxine, I was wrong about what happened before! I was a complete idiot! I listened to that bitch Lydia Thorne’s vicious slander! And Rose Joyce, she was fanning the flas the whole ti! I was confused. I shouldn’t have doubted you, and I definitely shouldn’t have signed that damn docunt to push you away!"
He grew more agitated as he spoke, even trying to squeeze out a few tears of remorse. "You know you’ve always been the one in my heart! Five years, Maxine! We were together for five years! How could all those feelings just disappear?
I was just temporarily bewitched by them! I regret it, I truly regret it! Maxine, please give one more chance. Can we start over?
Co back. Co back to The Sterlings. I’ll give you shares, I’ll give you the general manager position. We’ll be just like before—no, even better than before! We’ll make the company bigger and stronger together..."
His words were urgent and chaotic, filled with self-righteous affection and empty promises. But they failed to touch on the heart of the matter. He had never truly respected her abilities or her independence, always seeing her as an accessory.
Maxine Rhodes listened quietly, her expression unwavering.
When he finally finished, looking at her with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety, Maxine Rhodes slowly spoke. "Are you done?"
Benjamin Sterling froze.
With a sharp SMACK, Maxine Rhodes tossed the docunt she had prepared onto the coffee table in front of Benjamin Sterling.
"This is a preliminary letter of intent for the acquisition of Sterling Enterprises’ remaining viable assets and a portion of its debts."
Maxine Rhodes’s voice was devoid of emotion. "Based on the current financial situation and market valuation of The Sterlings, this is the most rational and dignified exit for you and your shareholders."
Benjamin Sterling looked as if he’d been struck by lightning.
"No... Maxine, you can’t do this..."
He looked up, his eyes filled with disbelief and pleading. "The Sterlings—it was our life’s blood! Does our five-year relationship an less than these cold, hard profits? I know I was wrong, I really do! I love you, Maxine! It’s always been you I’ve loved!"
"Love?" Maxine Rhodes finally let out a soft laugh, a sound filled with endless mockery and ice.
"Benjamin Sterling, is this your ’love’? After I worked myself to the bone for you for five years, you so easily believed those flimsy accusations and threw out as a scapegoat without a second thought? Is your ’love’ trying to get back under your thumb the mont I might be useful again, so you can keep manipulating , making feel grateful and obedient?"
She took a step forward. "Don’t bring up those five years again. For those five years, I was blind. I fed your ego and ambition with my talent, my sweat and blood, and my dignity. Now, my eyes are open."
She paused, her gaze as sharp as a knife, piercing straight into his eyes. "As for The Sterlings, it was never ’ours.’ It was yours, Benjamin Sterling. A tool for you to display your power and satisfy your need for control. And now, it’s worth next to nothing."
"It’s all over, Benjamin Sterling."
Maxine Rhodes gave him one last look, her eyes holding no lingering affection, only complete indifference and relief.
Benjamin Sterling stood frozen, clutching the cold acquisition contract, Maxine Rhodes’s decisive words echoing in his ears.
Only then did a tidal wave of devastating regret, long overdue, finally crash over him and swallow him whole.
Benjamin Sterling didn’t know how he left the office building.
The letter of intent in his hand felt as scorching as a branding iron and as chilling as a block of ice.
He sat in his car, not starting the engine for a long ti, just staring blankly at the river of traffic and the brilliant city lights outside.
Maxine Rhodes’s cold gaze, her final words, and the image of her leaving side-by-side with Ethan Hawthorne replayed endlessly in his mind, tearing apart his remaining pride and delusions.
Pain, regret, hatred, and a ridiculous, flickering delusion all tangled together.
’She’s just angry...’
Benjamin Sterling scrubbed a hand over his face, trying to convince himself.
’That’s right. She’s such a sentintal person. Five years... how could she just let go so easily? She has Ethan Hawthorne backing her now, a new career... she’s just lashing out in anger. That’s why she’s being so cruel...’
’As long as I sincerely repent, as long as I show her I’ve changed and let her calm down, she’ll definitely co back to !’
He clung to this idea like it was his last, desperate straw, and a paranoid light rekindled in his eyes.
’Signing the acquisition contract is the only way to stabilize the situation for now, and it will let keep a little bit of dignity.’
’Then I’ll start over. I’ll do whatever it takes to win her back!’
’Whatever Ethan Hawthorne can give her, I’ll be able to give her in the future too!’
’I knew her before Ethan Hawthorne did! We have five years of history together. Ethan Hawthorne can’t compete with that!’
He automatically ignored Maxine Rhodes’s heart-piercing analysis, stubbornly imrsing himself in the script he had written in his mind about winning back his old fla.
Just as he was dazedly preparing to drive away, the passenger door was suddenly pulled open. A gust of cold wind rushed in, and with it ca a tearful female voice. "Benjamin!"
Rose Joyce squeezed inside. Her eyes were red and swollen, and her hair was a ss. She had clearly been chasing after him.
She grabbed Benjamin Sterling’s arm, her voice choked with sobs. "Benjamin, I finally found you! Don’t be too sad. The company is gone, but we can figure sothing out. As long as you’re okay..."
In the past, her weak, pitiful, and devoted act might have stirred pity in Benjamin Sterling’s heart.
But now, Rose Joyce’s appearance and her words were like a fuse, instantly igniting his suppressed rage.
He violently threw off Rose Joyce’s hand, the force of it slamming her against the car door.
"Don’t touch !"
Benjamin Sterling whipped his head around, his bloodshot eyes glaring at her, filled with unconcealed disgust and misplaced anger. "Rose Joyce, you have the nerve to co find ? If it weren’t for you! If it weren’t for you and that other idiot, Lydia Thorne, constantly whispering poison in my ear, fanning the flas and driving a wedge between us, why would Maxine have given up on completely? Why would she have left ?!"
He grew more and more agitated, his finger nearly poking Rose Joyce in the face. "Look at you! What can you do besides cry and play the victim? What use are you?! At least Lydia Thorne had so crooked cunning and the ability to get things done! And you? What skills do you have besides clinging to n and holding them back?!
Maxine Rhodes could help run the company, she could land a partnership with the Hawthorne Group! What can you do? You’re not even fit to touch the dirt on her shoes!"
*****
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