Reborn to Expose the Billionaire's Fake Heiress

I was born with a natural colostrum scent. Any baby brought near me stops crying.

The owner of a postpartum care center was so amazed she offered me fifty thousand a month on the spot.

I refused and crossed the ocean to study the hardest discipline there isfinance.

Because in my last life, I'd entered the richest family in Grandborough as their top-rated maternity nanny, hired to care for the tycoon's only daughter and her newborn.

At the baby's one-month celebration, a piece of women's underwear reeking of scent suddenly fell from the tycoon's live-in son-in-law's arms.

Confronted, that bastard swore I'd thrown myself at him, been rejected, and planted my own underwear on him to frame him.

I explained desperately. But the scent on the underwear was identical to mine, and the tycoon's daughter had me dragged out and set the dog on me until I was dead.

My parents came to the Walker estate demanding justice. They were butchered and fed to the fish.

When I opened my eyes again, I forced myself to refuse the fifty-thousand-a-month salary, crossed the ocean, and ground myself into a chief securities analyst.

I landed a position at Oceanic International on a seven-figure packageand got invited to the baby's one-month celebration for a business partner's grandson. A chance to size the family up in person.

At the banquet, a piece of underwear fell from the same son-in-law's arms again.

Facing the tycoon's interrogation, Samuel Weiss didn't flinch. His gaze swept past the crowd, found me, and he pointed.

"She crawled into my bed and tried to seduce me. When I refused, she stuffed her own underwear on me to set me up!"

"I swear to God, I have never done anything to betray Effie!"

The lace was stained. The generous cup size clearly did not belong to Effie Walker's slight frame.

She was staring at me like she wanted to carve me apart with her bare hands. I set my wine glass down without hurrying.

No panic this time. Not like the last life. I looked straight at Samuel Weiss and spoke.

"Samuel Weiss, you can eat whatever garbage you want, but watch what comes out of your mouth."

"I left Arden to study abroad when I was eighteen. I only returned today."

"You, on the other hand, have never set foot outside this country in your life."

"Today is the first time we've ever met. How exactly would I have slipped underwear into your jacket?"

"Seems more like you cheated on your wife and couldn't get enough, so you kept her underwear tucked against your chest to sniff whenever you felt like it."

The words were so blunt the entire table went silent. Every guest turned to stare at him.

Samuel's face went scarlet, but he kept talking, fighting to save himself.

"Nonsense! You're one of the maternity nannies in my household!"

"From the very first day you wouldn't stop making eyes at me. When I ignored you, you got bolder!"

"Last night I wasn't paying attention for one momentyou pushed my door open, crawled under the covers, and threw yourself at me!"

"If I hadn't threatened to call my wife in from right outside that door and have you fired on the spot, you never would have stopped!"

His words made Effie's brow crease.

Since the birth, the professional nanny team had advised her and Samuel to sleep in separate rooms.

Last night she'd gotten up thirsty for water, and passing his door, she had heard something.

Her sharp gaze landed on me.

Effie was starting to believe him, and Samuel saw itso he put on a show and kept smearing me.

"I saw you were a woman out here earning a living as a maternity nannynot easy workso I did you a favor and kept quiet."

"But I never imagined you could be this vicious. You couldn't seduce me, so now you frame me instead? What a poisonous woman."

"Effie, Mr. Walker, there is no way our daughter can be left in the hands of a woman like this. She needs to be fired immediately!"

His words hit Effie right in her weakest spot.

That newborn girl was the most precious thing in Effie's world. She turned to her father at once.

"Dad, a nanny this viciouswho knows what she's already done to the baby."

"Bring Brutus out. Let him drag the truth out of her!"

Eric nodded. A second later, an enormous iron cage was wheeled to the center of the banquet hall.

The black cloth was pulled away. Inside, a mastiff the height of a grown man locked its eyes on me and let out a low, eager growl.

The bodyguards unlocked the cage and moved toward me, ready to shove me inside.

The memory of being torn apart by that same beast flashed before my eyes, and I spoke immediately.

"That underwear reeks of breast milkI'm not even nursing. It's not mine!"

Samuel's face went dark on the spot. He lunged for the underwear in a panic, clearly about to hurl it into the swimming pool nearby.

But Effie was faster. She snatched it away and had someone inspect it.

One look at the stains and her face went livid.

Her eyes dropped to my flat chest, and she backhanded Samuel across the face.

"I know every woman who's nursed my daughter. She is not one of them!"

"Who is this other woman?"

The ring on Effie's hand left a bloody scratch across Samuel's cheek, but he didn't dare show even a flicker of anger.

All he could do was fix me with a venomous stare and keep piling the filth onto me.

"Who says a woman has to be nursing to smell like that?"

"Some women are just born with itmilk in their bodies whether they've had a baby or not, and this sweet, strange scent coming off their skin."

"Doesn't matter how fussy the kid is. The second it gets close to a woman like her, it stops crying. Can't help but cling to her."

"She's barely out of her twenties and she walked in here pulling fifty thousand a month as a maternity nanny. Maybe that's exactly the edge she has."

"That underwear is hers."

Samuel laid it out so convincingly that Effie demanded I strip on the spot for inspection.

I refused outright and pulled out my phone to call the police.

Samuel snatched it from my hand and smashed it on the ground.

"You say it isn't you? Then let someone check. Simple. Why all the resistance? Because you know you're guilty!"

I wasn't about to back down.

"Didn't do it. Period. You want me to strip over some baseless accusation? Finethen I say you can't get it up."

"Why don't you drop your pants and prove it to everyone here?"

That shut Samuel up. Effie, though, was frowning hard.

She told me, "Samuel would never accuse someone without reason. If you say that underwear isn't yours, find a way to prove it."

"Or step inside and have a conversation with Brutus."

"I find that facing those fangs has a way of making liars honest."

Effie was boxing me in. Strip naked in front of everyone to prove my innocenceor climb into that cage and feed the dog.

The bodyguards had already closed in around me.

The moment I tried to run, they would swarm me, seize me, and stuff me into that cagea wrongful corpse under the mastiff's claws.

I took a deep breath and made my choice right there.

I reached into my bag and let the documents do the talking.

A diploma from a top university in Westbridge State. A doctorate in economics.

I also had an employment letter from Oceanic International naming me chief securities analystbut that stayed in the bag. I wasn't about to drag professional business into this.

I held up the two credentials and looked Effie dead in the eye.

"Ms. Walker, I went to school in Westbridge State. Everyone knows what it takes to survive there."

"Six years I bled for a finance doctorate at one of the best institutions on the planet. I pull a seven-figure salary."

"Do you really think I'd take fifty thousand a month to look after a screaming infant around the clock while watching my back for men in the household with wandering hands?"

I said that last part on purposeto make sure Effie understood exactly how little her nanny job was worth to me.

A man like Samuel Weiss, who lied as easily as he breathed? Only someone born rich and raised brainless would actually believe him.

Sure enough, Effie's eyes softened the moment she saw my two certificates.

Stupid as she was, even she had to understand what a Westbridge State doctorate was worth.

Her sharp gaze was swinging back toward Samuel when a woman burst through the crowd, slapped me three times across the face in rapid succession, and shrieked:

"June Delgado, have you lost your mind? Forging documents to con a tycoon's daughter!"

"When they catch you out, you'll drag our whole family straight to helldo you even care?"

My cheek swelled instantly from the blows.

Five clear fingerprints stood out against the skin.

I looked hard at the woman in front of me and realized I had never seen her before in my life.

Holding my injured cheek, I kept my expression cold and gave her one warning.

"I don't know you. Apologize and compensate me right now, or my legal team will sue you into the ground."

The woman threw herself into hysterics.

"Heaven strike me down! How did I give birth to a wretch like you?"

"She'll lie to anyone! She won't even acknowledge her own mother!"

"Effie, SamuelI'm so sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't raise her right, this is my fault."

"However you want to punish her, go right ahead. I won't stop you. Better that than letting her keep running scams everywhere she goes!"

The room erupted. Sharp intakes of breath cut through the crowd on every side.

"She's a professional con artist?"

"Her own mother just said so. That settles it!"

"Good thing she showed up in time. We almost fell for it!"

Effie's jaw clenched so hard I could see the muscles work. She turned to me.

"Having fun playing me for a fool?"

"Lock her in with Brutus. Let her have all the fun she wants."

The instant I caught the flash of triumph in the woman's eyesand in Samuel'sI raised my voice.

"I'm not lying! This woman is not my mother! And my name isn't June Delgado."

"My name is Juliana Perry. She doesn't even know my real name. How could she possibly be my mother?"

That was when Effie noticed: the name printed on the diploma and degree certificate in my hands was, in fact, Juliana Perry.

The moment doubt flickered in her eyes, Samuel stepped forward to close the gap.

"What mother doesn't know her own daughter? She's June Delgado!"

"She'll forge documents if that's what it takes to con you."

"One name? Who knows if she just made it up because she's run too many scams and needed to cover her tracks."

I told Effie to send someone to the police records office and check for herself.

My name was Juliana Perry, and the parents listed on my household registration were absolutely not this woman.

Half-believing, half-doubting, Effie called the records office. The answer came back quickly.

My name was indeed Juliana Perry, and the woman standing before us was not my mother.

But even under Effie's razor-sharp stare, the woman insisted she was my birth mother.

"Sweetheart, I divorced your abusive, cheating father when you were three. I raised you all by myself."

"You can't change your surname just because that bastard promised to buy you a car and a houseyou can't just throw your own mother away!"

"He's lying to you! Nobody in this world loves you more than your mother does!"

The woman sobbed through every word, then pulled out a DNA testand it confirmed she really was my biological mother.

Only then did I remember. When I was little, my father had told me the woman living with us wasn't my real mother.

My birth mother was a gambling addict who'd gotten so desperate at the card table she tried to wager me as her stake.

My father couldn't stomach that kind of depravity. He divorced her, packed us up overnight, and cut her off completely.

We didn't keep a single photograph of her. No wonder I hadn't recognized her.

But no one believed my explanation.

Even Eric Walker, who had been silent until now, rose to his feet.

"Juliana Perry, I'd like to believe you."

"But your mother has been with my household for twenty years. I know what kind of person she is."

"I will not allow a woman who tried to destroy my daughter's marriage and lies with every breath to go on living."

He raised his hand, and the bodyguards moved to shove me into the dog cage.

My gaze caught Effie beside himthe relief on her face plain as dayand something locked into place. I lunged and grabbed the hem of Eric's trousers.

"Mr. Walker, I know who's been sleeping with your son-in-law!"

"It's her!"

Every head in the room turned to follow where my finger was pointing.

When they saw I was pointing at Effie, they all looked at me like I'd lost my mind.

Even Effie herself laughed in disbelief at the accusation.

"Juliana, do you hear yourself?"

"I'm Samuel's wife! You're saying I committed adultery with my own husband? How does that even work?"

Eric stared down at me, eyes full of disgust.

"If I'd known you were such a stupid fraud, I would've had Brutus rip you apart before you ever opened your mouth."

"Drag her to the private beast arena. Tell the fireworks crew the show's cancelledtonight I'm inviting my guests to watch a woman fight wild animals instead."

Eric's voice didn't waver. The bodyguards seized me and hauled me toward the private beast arena.

I thrashed and screamed explanations, but someone shoved a cloth into my mouth to shut me up.

Just as I was about to be dragged out of the banquet hall, a business card slipped from my jacket pocket and hit the marble with a sharp crack.

One of the bodyguards looked down. His face went white. Hands shaking, he picked it up and carried it straight to Eric.

I straightened my clothes and faced him.

"I'm the chief securities analyst at Oceanic International."

"I came tonight to assess whether the Walker family qualifies for Oceanic International's first domestic investment allocation."

"Ha haha!" Before I could finish, Samuel doubled over, laughing so hard tears ran down his face.

He clutched his stomach and pointed at me.

"Juliana, your cons are garbage, but I'll give you thisyou've got nerve."

"First you're some elite graduate back from overseas, now you're Oceanic International's chief securities analyst."

"Do you even know what those four words are worth?"

"The biggest financial firm on the planet. A janitor there makes more in a month than you earn in a year."

"You're a nanny who wipes up shit and pissstop putting gold on your face and go perform in the arena."

Effie wore the same sneer. She snatched the business card, tore it in half, and flicked the pieces into the air.

"I've seen this trick a hundred times. You can't just print a few cards and expect people to fall for it."

"You've got a hard mouth, though. I'm worried Brutus alone won't be enough to break you."

"Dad, didn't you just bring back a few lions and tigers from Africa as gifts for the baby's one-month celebration? Why not let them out tonight and give everyone a real show?"

Eric's gaze dropped to the gold-embossed business card on the ground. The watermark caught the sunlight, sharp enough to make him squint.

He still nodded. His men dragged me into the arena.

Lions and tigers that hadn't eaten in days surged to their feet, throwing themselves at the bars, snarling.

Samuel grabbed a fistful of my hair and forced my face toward them.

Then he leaned close, his voice dropping to a whisper only I could hear.

"Juliana, you're clever. You almost got there. Almost touched the truth."

"Too bad you're just a little short on luck. Be a good girl and let the beasts tear you apart, and nobody will ever find out my secret."

He laughedmanic, triumphantand raised his hand to signal the guards to lift the gate.

I watched it rise, inch by inch.

Death was one step away.

The gate was almost open when a booming laugh cut through from the doorway.

"Mr. Walker! Congratulations on the new grandchild!"

Eric saw who it wasOceanic Group's representative in Ardenand his whole demeanor flipped. He was on his feet instantly, ushering the man toward a seat, eager to show off the spectacle.

But when Edward's gaze found me in the arena, disheveled and cornered, his face changed completely.

He threw himself past the bars and planted himself in front of me.

"Chief... Chief Analyst Perry!"