The Ex-Wife's Billion Dollar Comeback - Chapter 35: Chapter 35

~ Soraya ~
“I meant well. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Jacob said. “I thought that by—”
“It’s okay. You did nothing wrong,” Soraya said, turning to him. She had just collected her laptop when Jacob followed her into the room. He was concerned about how she had wound up crying after being reminded of Sage.
Soraya had seen that look of worry on his face before, but only when it came to Angela. That’s why it surprised her to see it directed at her.
Jacob heaved a sigh. He leaned on the doorframe and suggested, “Maybe you can fight Calum for Sage’s custody. I can secretly help you get a good lawyer.”
“No,” Soraya said. “The last thing I want is for Sage to hate me. She prefers Rose over me because she’s someone successful, dresses well, and the one her father prefers as company.”
Soraya paused, thinking. “I think Sage wants a complete family—one that, technically, I can’t give her, because Calum will never love me.”
“And I’m done pretending everything is okay. I want to move on,” Soraya concluded. “I’ll always be her mother, but right now, I need to be away from it all—focus on myself.”
“I want to be successful in my career, to achieve the things I had left behind to be with Calum and to be Sage’s mother. Now, I can finally do it,” she added.
Jacob’s brows met after hearing that. His mouth opened but closed again. He took a deep breath—twice. “If that’s your decision.”
“I need to go. It’s getting late,” Soraya said.
“What about dinner?” Jacob asked.
It was already six in the evening. Soraya still had to drop by her uncle’s house. She explained, “I’m eating with my Uncle and Aunt."
Heartbeats later.
At the Azar residence, Soraya discussed with her uncle the idea of using part of the investment money to buy land. Either that, or she could loan some of the money from her uncle’s firm, with interest.
If the plan was to earn double from real estate, her divorce alimony wouldn’t be enough. As a family, they agreed on the latter. Soraya would borrow fifty million dollars from the Azar Investment Firm. That way, all the properties would be under her name.
Soraya left early the next morning for Cedar Heights. From her apartment, they drove off in Silas’ car. In every town impacted by the upcoming expressway construction, Silas had a contact waiting. They met with one family after another, negotiating prices and finalizing agreements on how much land to acquire. They barely had any sleep. They were either on the road or having late-night talks about how to handle their future investment.
By Sunday evening, Soraya and Silas had finalized the list of properties they intended to acquire. In total, Soraya was aiming to purchase about 40,000 acres of land, while Silas could afford around 10,000 acres.
All that remained was to have their lawyers draft the contracts and handle the payments—something they had already agreed to leave in their legal team’s hands.
Both Soraya and Silas were using the Sharma couple’s lawyers, so they were trustworthy and efficient. When Monday came, they met with the lawyers in one of Aegis Core Systems’ conference rooms.
Their lawyers suggested, “Miss Azar, it’s best that we create a limited liability company. This way, you can keep your name private. At the same time, an LLC can shield your assets from lawsuits, debts, or accidents that happen on the property.”
A lot was covered about the advantages of creating a real estate company. So, by nine in the morning, Soraya agreed.
Silas was unsure if he wanted to play a bigger role managing another company. Aegis Core Systems was already a handful. Thus, they agreed to keep the properties Silas would buy under his name, but Soraya would manage them.
When the meeting was done and the lawyers had left, Silas turned to Soraya and said, “Damn, I wish I was also getting divorced and my wife would give me an alimony!”
Soraya rolled her eyes and laughed. “Well, if you knew the amount of humiliation I endured being Mrs. Montclair, you’d eat up your words.”
She yawned and added, “Let’s go. I have things to do.”
Soraya had bags under her eyes. She and Silas had returned from Cedar Heights past midnight, and both came to Aegis Core Systems by eight in the morning to meet the lawyers. Needless to say, she was tired.
“Not yet,” Silas said. “Mr. and Mrs. Sharma will be here to discuss something with us. Let’s wait a bit.”
They had coffee and some pastries brought into the conference room. It only took half an hour of waiting before the founders of Aegis Core Systems arrived.
“Soraya,” Elizabeth Sharma greeted, hugging her warmly.
Mr. Sharma shook Soraya’s hand and said, “We have good news.”
They all settled down. Mr. Sharma took out an envelope from his bag and handed it to Soraya. “So, remember how you helped the City Planning and Land Use Authority office last week? Well, the office wanted to extend their thanks to you… in the form of a check.”
Soraya took the envelope and opened it. Her eyes rounded when she saw the check was for five million dollars!
“Andrew also got a check, but the department head clearly remembers you as the one taking the lead. So, he got a hundred thousand dollars, while you got the bigger payout,” Mr. Sharma revealed.
“Wow, I did not expect this,” Soraya muttered.
"Well, they usually give a thank-you reward," Silas admitted. "Even during the last breach at the capital—when I had to stay up until 3 AM—I got three million dollars."
“You protected a government department from being hacked. Of course, they felt grateful,” Mr. Sharma explained. “The support included in the NeuroSentinel license only covers system-related failures. But since the breach was caused by their own internal mistakes, it’s only right that they reward the engineer who saved them.”
Their chat didn’t end there. After Soraya grinned just by looking at the check, Mr. Sharma added, “And my wife and I have talked about this.”
Soraya looked up at the couple, waiting.
“After Silas told us you wanted to become business partners, we’ve given it much thought,” Elizabeth said. She reached for Soraya’s hand and held it. “We don’t want to lose you again, Soraya. We want you to be just as responsible for the company—to take ownership.”
“So, we agreed,” Arvind Sharma said. “We will sell to you 10% of our shares.”
“The shares are worth forty million dollars, but we don’t expect you to pay us upfront,” Mr. Sharma explained. “We can slowly deduct it from your NeuroSentinel profit shares, or you can gradually pay us with your own money until the entire forty million has been covered.”
“How does that sound, Soraya?” Elizabeth Sharma asked, smiling.
Soraya nearly cried for joy. Truth be told, with her land purchase plans, she would be using up all of the alimony Calum had given her, plus the money her uncle would lend her. So, there was no way she could pay up forty million dollars upfront.
“I have always wanted to be part of your company,” Soraya expressed. Handing back the check, she added, “You can have this as my initial payment, and I might have five million more to give—”
“Don’t rush,” Mrs. Sharma said, chuckling. “We’re not in a hurry. We just have one request.”
“Anything!” Soraya exclaimed, too overjoyed.
“Would you mind meeting our son for dinner when he returns from abroad? Just once. No commitments, just a friendly dinner,” Elizabeth said, her eyes sparkling and her smile stretching wide.
“What?” Silas reacted, and Soraya was about to refuse, but Mr. Sharma cut in.
“Just a friendly dinner. That’s all, Soraya. That’s all we’re asking,” Arvind Sharma added. “And our son won't be back until next month. So, there’s no rush either.”
Soraya faked a laugh. She clarified, “Just a friendly dinner.”
When the Sharma couple nodded, Soraya said, “Okay. Just one… dinner.”
Later, as the Sharmas left the room with smiles on their faces, Soraya stared down at the check still in her hand, then at Silas, who was raising a brow at her.
“What?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.
He shrugged. “You just agreed to dinner. You think it’s going to end with one meal?”
“Why wouldn’t it?” Soraya asked back.
“I have a feeling it won’t end with just one dinner,” Silas hissed.