Theater: NovelMaster | Language: English | NEW
Synopsis
Tags: Rebirth, Revenge, Silent Retaliation, Marrying the Ex's Older Brother, Career Comeback, Power Couple
In my past life, I gave up my career for him, took the fall for his crimes, and went to prison in his place.
My mother died of sheer heartbreak right outside the courtroom.
Meanwhile, he wrapped his arms around his secretary, stripped my name from the company, and took everything.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day he brought his secretary home for the very first time.
This time, I didn't cry. I didn't scream. I just smiled and poured her a cup of tea.
Three months later, he fell to his knees before me, begging for mercy.
"Chloe, I was wrong! That secretary is a lying snake!"
"In my last life, she stole all my assets and fled the country!"
"I swear, I'll never hurt you again in this lifetime."
I let out a cold laugh, linked my arm through his older brother’s, and said,
"Sorry, Ethan. You have to call me your sister-in-law now."
When the front door lock clicked, I was kneeling on the balcony, gently wiping down the leaves of my monstera plant.
Digging my fingernails into my palms, I slowly stood up.
Ethan Hayes walked in, his arm draped around Valerie Reed's waist.
His hand rested firmly against her hip, and Valerie tilted her head, giggling.
"Chloe?"
Ethan saw me, but he didn't pull his hand away. "You're home today?"
"Yeah, it's the weekend."
I smiled, walked over, and took his suit jacket.
"Have you eaten? I saved some dinner for you."
Valerie tilted her head, looking at me with faux admiration. "Chloe, you're so domestic. Unlike me, I can't even boil water."
"You're too modest, Valerie."
I turned toward the kitchen. "Make yourselves comfortable. I'll dish it out."
At the table, Valerie 'accidentally' tipped her soup bowl, spilling it all over my white dress.
"Oh no!"
Valerie gasped, covering her mouth.
"I'm so sorry! My hand slipped... Chloe, you're not mad at me, right?"
In my previous life, she had pulled the exact same trick. Back then, I lost my temper, only to be ruthlessly shouted down by Ethan.
This time, I didn't say a word.
"Look at you!"
Ethan snapped, glaring at me with raw irritation.
"Why are you wearing a white dress around the house anyway? You knew we had a guest over. Can't you be a little more mindful?"
Valerie looked down, a tiny smirk darting across her lips.
"It's my fault,"
I said mildly. "It's just a dress. I can wash it."
I turned and walked back into the kitchen.
"Chloe?"
Valerie's voice drifted in from the doorway. "Do you need a hand?"
"No, I'm good."
I turned around with a warm smile, pulled a clean porcelain cup from the cabinet, and brewed a fresh pot of hot tea.
Carrying the cup out, I handed it to her with both hands.
"You work so hard, Valerie."
My eyes crinkled into a gentle crescent. "Feel free to drop by more often. I'll make sure you're well fed."
Valerie seemed caught off guard. "You're too kind."
"It's the least I can do."
"You're Ethan's most trusted right hand. Taking care of you is my job."
Ethan leaned back on the sofa, finally breaking into a satisfied grin.
"See? I told you she knows her place."
"Ethan is right."
I nodded. I picked up the stained white dress from the coffee table, folded it neatly, and dropped it straight into the trash can.
"People who don't know their place always get what's coming to them. Right?"
Valerie's hand froze as she lifted the teacup.
"Are you implying something, Chloe?"
Ethan frowned instantly.
I chuckled softly. "Valerie deals with so much at work every day. Having to overanalyze every little sentence must be exhausting."
Valerie's eyes welled with instant tears. "Does Chloe secretly hate me?"
Ethan glared at me. "Chloe! I literally just praised you, and you're already back to being petty?"
"Valerie is innocent. Drop the passive-aggressive act!"
I looked at his scowling face, let out a tiny laugh, and put on an impeccably docile attitude.
"Understood. Won't happen again."
"That's more like it!"
Valerie shot me a covert, triumphant look.
I looked away, turning my back on them.
In my past life, they destroyed both me and my mother. In this life, I won't spare a single one of them.The next day, I started working in the administrative department at Ethan's company, Apex Tech.
Admin was on the seventeenth floor. Accounting was on the sixteenth.
Every morning, I arrived forty minutes early, taking the quiet stairwell down with a coffee in hand.
The copy machine sat around the corner from the finance room. Whenever no one was watching, I plugged in a flash drive, downloading quarterly financial reports one by one.
With my phone hidden beneath a manila folder, I recorded every phone call the chief financial officer made.
On the afternoon of the fifth day, as I was slipping the flash drive back into my purse, Valerie stepped out from the corner.
"Chloe?"
She tilted her head, eyeing the documents in my hands. "Taking an interest in our balance sheets?"
"Ethan asked me to help organize some expense receipts."
I smiled, holding the folder out toward her.
"Do you want to double-check them?"
She didn't take it. Her gaze slid from my face down to my bag, then back up.
"You're so hardworking. But these are internal finance files. It's really not good for an outsider to touch them."
She patted my shoulder, her long acrylic nails scratching against my collarbone.
"I'm only telling you this for your own good."
That night, Ethan came home earlier than usual.
He slammed his keys onto the entryway table and smashed a glass against the tiled floor, sending shards flying past my ankles.
"Chloe, have you lost your damn mind?"
He jabbed a finger in my face.
"The CFO called me directly! He said you're hanging around the finance department every single day! What the hell do you even know about accounting?"
I crouched down to pick up the shattered glass. A sharp edge sliced my finger, and a bead of blood welled up.
"I just wanted to learn."
"Learn? Learn what? You can't even read a basic spreadsheet!"
He snatched the glass shard from my hand and threw it into the bin.
"I gave you an admin desk so you wouldn't embarrass me in public, and you think you can audit my books?"
"Valerie was right. You're just bored out of your mind and looking for trouble!"
"Valerie told you that?"
"I would've figured it out even if she didn't!"
He breathed heavily, furious. "Keep your head down and stay in your lane. If I hear about you stepping foot into finance again, you're fired, and you can rot at home."
I stood up, hiding my bloody hand behind my back.
"Okay," I whispered softly. "I won't go down there anymore."
He froze, clearly taken aback by how easily I surrendered.
He scoffed, turned around, and stormed into the study, slamming the door shut behind him.
Through the door, I heard his voice turn instantly tender on the phone.
"Hey, Valerie, it's fine now. She's just a clueless homemaker..."
I stood in the dark hallway for a long time.
Then I walked into the bathroom, rinsed the blood from my finger, and wrapped a bandage around the cut.
My phone screen lit up, displaying a contact I had saved two weeks ago.
Alexander Hayes. Label: "CEO of Hayes Enterprises."
In my previous life, while I was rotting in prison, I received an anonymous care package every single month.
A few books, a tube of soothing hand cream, some nourishing dried fruits.
It was only much later that I found out he was the one sending them.
I dialed the number.
It rang twice before connecting.
"Who is this?"
"Mr. Hayes."
I tightened my grip on the phone. "This is Chloe Vance. Ethan's girlfriend."
Silence on the other end.
"I know what happened to your mother,"
I said, my voice rock-solid. "I know who was behind it."
His breath hitched slightly through the receiver.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I want to meet."
I looked out the window into the night. Far in the distance, the city skyline flickered out, one tower at a time.
"Tomorrow morning at ten. The coffee shop right beneath your headquarters."When Ethan slammed the legal contract onto the dining table, Valerie was sitting across from me, eating an omelet.
"Sign it."
He tapped his knuckles against the paper.
"It's a proxy equity agreement. Five percent of my shares will be held under your name. Strictly for compliance purposes."
I glanced down at it.
Dense legal jargon filled the pages. When I flipped to the final signature page, the designated ultimate beneficiary was Valerie Reed.
"About this..."
I closed the document and pushed it to the edge of the table.
"Can I have a lawyer friend look it over first? I don't really understand corporate law."
Ethan slammed his fork onto the table with a deafening clatter.
"Don't understand? If you don't understand, I'll explain it to you! You just don't trust me!"
He shoved his chair back, the legs screeching across the tile.
"I ask you to sign a simple document, and you give me excuses? What the hell goes on in that head of yours?"
Valerie set down her fork and dabbed her mouth with a napkin.
"Ethan, don't be mad. It's completely normal for Chloe to be cautious..."
"Normal, my ass!"
Ethan snatched the contract and threw it straight at my face.
"Chloe, search your damn conscience! Have I ever mistreated you?"
"You live under my roof on my dime, and you dare give me attitude over a signature?"
The sharp edge of the paper grazed the bridge of my nose, leaving a faint white scratch.
I didn't flinch.
"I didn't say I wouldn't sign it."
I offered a faint smile, gathering the scattered pages one by one.
"I'm just afraid my ignorance might cause you legal trouble. The day after tomorrow. I'll let my friend look it over, and I'll sign it right away."
He glared at me for three long seconds, his chest heaving.
"The day after tomorrow,"
he warned, tossing the papers back down. "If you don't sign it by then, get the hell out of my house."
I nodded and slipped the document into my bag.
Valerie stood up, strolled over, and gave my shoulder a patronizing squeeze.
"Don't take it to heart, Chloe. Ethan just has a bit of a temper."
"I know."
I looked up and smiled back at her. "Take your time with breakfast, Valerie. I need to head to the office."
That afternoon, as I was walking past the breakroom carrying a freshly printed quarterly summary, Valerie walked out holding an iced Americano. She took an exaggerated stumble right beside me.
The entire cup of dark coffee splashed across my papers.
"Oops—"
Valerie covered her mouth dramatically. Half a dozen employees in the breakroom turned their heads at once.
"Chloe, you can't even handle a simple printing task."
Her voice was just loud enough for everyone to hear.
"How do you expect to ease Ethan's burden?"
"Apex Tech may not be a Fortune 500 company yet, but every role comes with real responsibilities, wouldn't you agree?"
I rolled up the ruined, coffee-soaked papers and dropped them into the recycling bin.
"You're right, Valerie."
I looked up, my lips curving into an unfazed smile. "I really do need to learn more."
"Why don't you mentor me?"
"You're always so efficient. If I shadow you for a couple of days, I'm sure I'll improve fast."
The smirk on her face froze.
In the breakroom, several people immediately looked down at their phones, while others quietly picked up their mugs and slipped away.
I gave her a polite nod and walked out.
Right before clocking out, my phone buzzed.
The screen flashed: *Mom*.
I ducked into the stairwell before answering.
"Chloe..."
My mother's voice came through, thick with tears.
"Mom had a terrible nightmare last night. I was terrified."
"I dreamed... I dreamed you were locked away in prison."
I leaned my back against the cold concrete wall and closed my eyes.
"I dreamed I went to the courtroom to see you, and then everything went black..."
"Chloe, please come home for a couple of days. Let Mom see you, just to make sure you're okay..."
"Mom."
My throat felt parched and tight. "I'm fine."
"Work has just been busy since I started. I'll come visit you in two weeks."
"Take care of yourself. Don't forget to take your heart medication on time."
I hung up.
I sank down onto the stairwell steps, resting my forehead against my knees.
Not in this life. I will never let anyone hurt my mother again.Ethan came home very late that night.
When he pushed the door open, the stench of bourbon hit me instantly. His tie was crooked, and his eyes were bloodshot.
Valerie followed closely behind him, her eyes red and puffy as if she had just cried her heart out.
"Chloe Vance."
He stormed into the living room, his shoes thumping heavily on the floor. "Get over here."
I set my book aside and stood up.
"What the hell did you say to Valerie at the office today?"
He grabbed my wrist, his fingers digging into my skin.
"What did you call her?"
"I didn't—"
"She said you cursed at her!"
He shoved me backward.
"Did you call her a cheap little whore? Who the hell do you think you are to talk down to her?"
"She's my secretary! She's the person I trust most in this world! You're nothing compared to her!"
Valerie stood behind him, sniffling softly and dabbing at her eyes, her shoulders trembling with practiced vulnerability.
"Ethan, please, just drop it... Chloe was probably just in a bad mood..."
"A bad mood?"
Ethan swung back toward me, raising his hand.
"Being in a bad mood gives her the right to insult you? You don't know how petty she is!"
"I've supported her for three years, and all she does is cause trouble!"
*Slap!*
The metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth. A warm trickle ran down the corner of my lip.
"I'm sorry,"
I said, my voice completely flat, devoid of any emotion. "I shouldn't have said those things."
Ethan stopped dead in his tracks.
His hand hung frozen in mid-air. He clearly hadn't expected me to back down so easily.
Valerie's fake sobs stopped instantly as she peered at me in shock.
"Good. At least you know when you're wrong,"
Ethan muttered, slowly lowering his hand as his bluster faded.
"Just... don't let it happen again."
"Okay."
I nodded, lifting the back of my hand to wipe the blood from my chin.
Leaving a red smear across my skin, I turned toward the bathroom.
As I passed Valerie, I paused for a second.
Turning my head, blood still clinging to my lips, I smiled at her.
It was a slight, chilling curve. The movement tore the split on my lip wider, letting another drop of blood seep out.
Valerie instinctively recoiled half a step.
I walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind me.
In the mirror, the left side of my face was swollen, and my lip was split open.
I splashed cold water over it and pressed a bandage against the cut.
The following evening, while Ethan was in the shower, I walked barefoot into the study.
I nestled a tiny pinhole camera behind the potted plant on the second shelf of the bookcase, pointing the lens directly at his desk.
In the master bedroom, I mounted another on the top ledge of a framed painting, angled to capture the entire bed.
On the third night, Ethan brought Valerie home again.
They headed straight for the study.
I went into the bedroom, pulled on a pair of noise-canceling headphones, and tuned in.
"We just need one final signature for the project funding release," Valerie's voice came through clearly.
"Since Chloe signs off as the head of administration, any fallout lands entirely on her shoulders."
"Does she suspect anything?" Ethan asked.
"What could she possibly suspect? She doesn't even know how to balance an account."
Valerie chuckled softly.
"When the funds vanish and the investors demand an audit, her signature and her official stamp are on every single paper. All we have to say is that we were completely in the dark..."
"She'll go to prison for this, won't she?"
"Seven years minimum."
Valerie paused. "What's the matter, Ethan? Having second thoughts?"
Ethan stayed silent for a couple of seconds.
"Second thoughts? Don't be ridiculous,"
his voice turned icy.
"Once she takes the fall, transfer that five percent back under your name.
The company has to survive, no matter what."
I took off the headphones and let out a silent laugh.
Then, I pulled up my phone and sent a single text message:
*Evidence secured. Move the plan forward.*
Chapters (4)
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Watch & Promotions
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