Reborn to Watch My Husband's Secret Baby Destroy Him

1: 1

At the party for our tenth wedding anniversary, I caught my husband, Hubert Delgado, with his assistant in the back garden.

Hubert knelt on the ground and begged me to forgive him, while Winifred Galloway stood there half-dressed, cursed and mocked by everyone present.

With both families pleading without end, and for the sake of ten years as husband and wife, my heart softened and I forgave him.

Hubert got up, pulled me into his arms, and thanked me over and over.

After that, he was even more attentive and tender, giving in to me on everything.

Until the day he finally got his hands on my Gilbert family shares. Then, under the excuse of taking me abroad to recover, he had me sent into the Maine underground prison.

He stood in front of the iron cage, his eyes cold and cruel.

"You killed Winifred and the baby both. What right do you have to keep living in luxury?"

"For the rest of your life, you'll stay here and serve these men, and rot to death in this place."

Only then did I learn that after Winifred was disgraced, she had no choice but to go back to her hometown and marry. On her wedding day she hemorrhaged and died.

When she died, she was three months pregnant.

So all along, he had hated me for killing the woman he loved, and he wanted me to die drowning in suffering.

The moment they stripped my clothes off and the crowd closed in, I threw myself headfirst against the iron cage and died with hatred in my heart.

When I opened my eyes again, I was somehow back on the day of the party.

This time, I watched Hubert signal Winifred with his eyes, watched them slip away one after the other toward the back garden, and I did not rush after them.

I turned instead, lifted my glass, and walked toward a few of the Delgado family's business partners, cold ice spreading at the bottom of my eyes.

Hubert Delgado, this life, it's your turn to go to hell.

In the grand hall, lights blazing, the instant our glasses clinked, Bertram James laughed and teased,

"Ms. Gilbert, with the Gilberts and the Delgados joining hands, you've swallowed up half of New York. The rest of us can barely scrape by anymore."

"Ms. Gilbert, you and Mr. Delgado are so devoted, a harvest in both love and business. You really make old men like us green with envy."

Kieran Cannon laughed and joined in ribbing me too.

I forced down the sharp ache running through my nerves, held up my most gracious smile, and traded pleasantries with them.

My best friend, Carissa Winfield, carried the hem of her gown and strode over to me, murmuring quickly,

"Polly Gilbert, I just saw your Hubert go out back with that little tramp. Something is definitely going on. You'd better go check."

My fingernails dug into my palm. I smiled and pressed the glass into her hand.

"Carissa, haven't you always admired the great Expert Finch? He's here today. Let me take you to meet him."

Carissa flushed at once and protested shyly,

"That's not true. Don't talk nonsense."

I smiled and took her warm, soft hand, leading her toward Mike Finch in the corner.

Slowly my heart quieted. It was good. They were all still here.

In my last life, when Carissa learned I had gone missing in Maine, she was the first to suspect Hubert. She started investigating everywhere and pulling every connection she could, and in the end the Winfield family was crushed into bankruptcy by Hubert, and Carissa was driven by creditors to sell her body and died of depression.

This life, I would not let her suffer even a little more. I would help her get what her heart wanted.

It was also the first move I set down on the board for myself.

Carissa came back to herself and started tugging at me to go to the back garden.

"Polly, I really did see it. We can't let that shameless pair off today. With this many people here, we'll strip them bare in front of everyone."

I raised a finger, gave a soft shush, and shook my head with a smile.

"Carissa, if a dog wants to eat filth, just let it. Why get yourself stinking over it?"

"The great Expert Finch is watching you. Don't get distracted."

Carissa stared at me in surprise, but in the end I pulled her over to stand in front of Mike Finch.

Watching the two of them smile at each other, I smiled too.

No one knew that a year from now Mike Finch would develop the embedded ultra-thin chip, and no one knew that he actually cared for Carissa too.

It was only that her nouveau-riche father looked down on a poor scholar, and the poor scholar, ashamed, played mute.

I deliberately kept feeding the two of them things to talk about, and twenty minutes later, Hubert came back looking perfectly proper.

His face was bright with pleasure. He strode up to me and slid an arm around my waist.

"Polly, I just stepped out to take a call. We closed the redevelopment project for the South Side old district. Today really is double happiness."

I smiled, quietly pushed his arm away, and swallowed the fury churning inside me.

"Wonderful, honey. I'll back you all the way. Tomorrow I'll have Dad put another billion into us. We have to finish this government project beautifully."

Wild joy flashed through Hubert's eyes. He grabbed me at once and kissed me on the forehead with a smack.

"Sweetheart, thank you. I always knew you were the best wife a man could have."

All the guests crowded around, showering Hubert with compliments and fawning over him.

I praised him too, smiling, and watched the smugness flicker at the corner of his eye.

Hubert Delgado, go ahead, laugh. The South Side project will be the knock on the door to your hell.

2: 2

The day after the banquet, Hubert threw himself into work.

I drove straight back to the Gilbert house.

In my last life, I ached for how hard he worked. I not only handed him a billion dollars of Gilbert money to use for free, I took over every tedious detail of the company so he could pour himself into the engineering.

And he came home on time every day, told me not to wear myself out, doting on me, washing my feet, rubbing my shoulders.

I thought he truly felt guilty. I thought that affair was just a drunken mistake, and that the occasional self-reproach in him was real, that he regretted letting the whole world find out.

I never imagined he was that vicious underneath, scheming over everything I had the whole time, taking revenge for the woman he loved.

Seeing me back so early, my father laughed and teased me fondly.

"Now that's taking their side over mine. I only agreed yesterday, and here you are collecting the debt today."

Looking at that indulgent, tender smile, my eyes stung red all at once.

The day he learned I had gone missing, my father, seized by fury and panic, had a stroke, and died wretchedly in a hospital bed.

That morning, it was Hubert who came with the news. What happened in between, no one ever knew.

But my father took his medicine and had his checkups on schedule all year round. How could he have had a stroke?

I grabbed my father's hand and pulled him in long strides into the study.

The moment I sat him down in the chair, I dropped to my knees in front of him and said, gravely,

"Dad, I want to divorce Hubert."

"What I'm about to say sounds insane. You have to promise me you won't get worked up or angry."

I knew my father would believe me, because he loved me more than his own life.

In my last life, I grew up wrapped in exactly that kind of happiness, believing everyone was good at heart, and that even the ones who schemed only did it because they had no choice.

So when Hubert courted me, gentle and attentive, cherishing me in every way, I thought he was like my father, a good man, a devoted husband who valued what we had.

My father's face turned grave, and as my choked account went on, it slowly darkened into something terrible.

When I reached the part about dying, my body against a pillar, the study shook with a crack.

My father's palm slammed down on the desk, his whole body trembling.

"That animal. I'll cut him to pieces today, daring to plot against my daughter."

I caught his hand and gritted my teeth.

"Dad, killing him would let him off easy. I want him worse than dead, tortured a little more every single day, made to suffer through all of it."

My father stared at me, bewildered and shaken.

I gave a bitter smile. The Polly Gilbert who was simple and kind, who believed in love, had died long ago, in despair and humiliation and hatred.

The Polly standing here now was someone else entirely.

Right then I laid out my plan, and produced the evidence of the last few years, Hubert colluding with officials, funneling benefits back and forth.

My father didn't hesitate. He picked up the phone at once, hired the best private detective in the city, and, on my instructions, put both Winifred and Hubert under full surveillance.

At the same time he summoned the company's lawyers and had them start combing through the flow of money between the Delgados and the Gilberts, unwinding the joint projects, and quietly moving to cover the gaps the split would open up.

Detective Mercer earned his reputation as the city's finest. He moved fast.

That very night, as I walked through my own front door carrying the billion dollars, the file landed on my phone.

It went all the way back, from Winifred's college tuition that we had funded, to the fact that the two of them fell into bed together the very day she graduated.

The two of them using business trips and vacations as cover, holed up in a hotel room for three days without coming out.

Right down to her promising to give Hubert a son so the boy could inherit the Delgado empire, and Hubert bending every rule to bring her on as his assistant to make it convenient.

I thought of the day Winifred knelt begging me to let her work at the company, to repay our kindness, of Hubert looking at me, troubled, saying the company's rules weren't easy to break.

So this was her service, warming my husband's bed, giving him a son, so the boy could inherit what was mine.

In my last life, Hubert played the part too well, put on too good a show. Every time I sensed how close the two of them were, he brushed it aside with the same line, "I only think of her as a little sister. A country nobody like that, how could I ever want her?" and I let it go, again and again.

The moment I stepped inside, Hubert hurried over to meet me, anxious.

"Polly, you said your father had a condition. He isn't backing out of lending it to us, is he?"

Smiling, I took out an agreement.

"Dad loves me most. How could he not lend it?"

"He does have one condition, though. If you can't repay it down the line, you gift me ten percent of the company's shares."

Hubert froze, staring at the agreement, hesitating.

I hooked my arm through his at once and, swallowing my disgust, put on a coax.

"Silly. You get a billion dollars for nothing and you're still not happy? The shares are with me. Aren't they yours anyway?"

"Once the project hits phase two, I'll come home and work on him a few more times. When Dad's in a good mood, that's another billion."

It clicked for Hubert instantly, and he lit up with delight, picked up the pen, and briskly signed the notarized agreement.

I watched him walk out to the balcony, slide the door shut, and make his call, thrilled, while I turned and faxed the agreement to the lawyer to be filed and kept.

Add the twenty percent he'd given me when we married, and it came to thirty.

Enough to make my move.

In the days that followed, Winifred was everywhere in the South Side project office in her role as his assistant.

The two of them came and went together as if it were only natural, and even went to the hospital in the open.

Until a month later, when Detective Mercer sent through a report. Winifred was pregnant.

3: 3

Detective Mercer still sounded a little put out, so I gave him a quick explanation. The mood on the other end shot up at once.

"Ms. Gilbert, no one plays this smarter than you. Anyone who calls you a lovestruck fool is a pig."

I hung up and let a small curve settle on my lips.

Nobody in these old-money families is actually a fool. They simply prefer to believe someone is sincere.

Maybe because they'd learned a grandson was on the way, my in-laws had come to New York too, moving into the estate over at Cloud Lake.

Hubert lied to me that his parents were getting on in years and wanted to see us often, so they'd relocated from back home.

He didn't feel easy leaving them alone, so he'd sent Winifred over to look after them.

He even went out and bought me a gift, and that night he was trying his best to get on my good side.

I only kept calmly patting my skincare in.

"That's good. Winifred's a country girl, gentle by nature. I feel fine leaving Mom and Dad in her care."

Then I used my period as an excuse and sent him off to the study.

A cucumber rotten from the inside out. Forget using it, one look is enough to turn your stomach for three days.

The next day, I made myself up nice and pretty on purpose and went to the Cloud Lake estate.

The instant the door opened, my in-laws froze on the spot, stammering.

"Polly, what are you doing here?"

I breezed in, tossed my bag onto the sofa.

"Mom, Dad, weren't you the ones saying you missed us? I came to see you."

My mother-in-law awkwardly untied her apron and immediately took my hand, warm as anything.

"Polly, Mom really did miss you both, but we were afraid of intruding on you newlyweds, so we didn't dare come over."

Gone from her face was the old sneering, the jabs about my useless womb.

"We're family. How could that ever be intruding? Mom, from now on I'll come see you often"

I was still speaking when Winifred came out of the bedroom in her pajamas, eyes bleary. The moment she saw me she went rigid, her voice catching.

"Polly, youhow are you here?"

I stood up at once, my face darkening, and scolded her low.

"Winifred, Hubert and I sent you here to take care of Mom and Dad. How are you only getting up now? Someone who didn't know better would think you were the lady of the house."

Winifred's face flushed red instantly. She looked over at my in-laws, flustered.

"It's not like that. Momno, Auntie said I'd worked hard at the site yesterday and told me to sleep in a while."

I gave a string of cold laughs, my eyes fixed on her, then slowly sliding down to her belly.

Panic flickered in Winifred's eyes, and her hands moved to shield her stomach on their own.

My in-laws stood up nervously too, hurrying to catch my arm.

Looking at all their pale, tense faces, I suddenly burst out laughing.

"All right, I'm only teasing."

"Winifred, my dad's coming today. Go buy some groceries. Remember to peel the shrimp before you stir-fry them, and get fresh fish and gut it yourself. I don't trust how clean other people do it, and also"

I ticked off more than a dozen dishes on my fingers. Now that I'd been reborn, of course I meant to eat and drink well. Otherwise where would I find the strength to take down a cheating man and a shameless woman?

Winifred's face grew uglier and uglier, and in the end she picked up her bag and headed out into the blazing sun.

An hour later she came back, out of breath. Watching the sweat pour off her, I curled my lip.

"Winifred, your constitution just won't do. You need more exercise. If it comes to it, I'll sign you up for a gym class later so you can really train."

"No."

The word was barely out when Hubert's voice came from outside.

He quickly took the groceries and carried them into the kitchen.

He was about to speak, his face already dark, but I got there first.

"Honey, the second phase of the project is about to start. I invited Dad over today so we can all get together. Spend the evening drinking with him. When he's in a good mood he'll throw in another billion."

Hubert's face stiffened for a moment, then flashed with wild delight.

Government project payments came back slowly these days, and the second phase couldn't be delayed. This was exactly when he was desperate for cash.

"Winifred, hurry and go peel the shrimp and gut the fish. Remember, wash them well. Dad's a clean freak."

I turned and hurried Winifred along, then looped my arm through Hubert's and sat with him on the sofa, chatting about the company's partnership, about how his parents were keeping.

The three of them agreed with me as though they were sitting on pins and needles, their eyes darting constantly toward the kitchen. Too bad I'd had Winifred shut the glass door, so all they could do was fret in silence.

They half wished they were the ones being smoked out over the stove.

At noon Winifred had put together twelve dishes, soaked in sweat as she carried out plate after plate.

I sat calmly at the table, picked up my chopsticks, and ate the shrimp.

"Honey, Dad's got something come up, he's not coming. Let's just eat ourselves."

"He says he'll come by tonight instead."

"Winifred, go buy a few more dishes this afternoon and make it all fresh again, so Hubert can have a good few drinks with Dad tonight."

Every face at the table stiffened. Winifred retched, clapped a hand over her mouth, and ran into the kitchen.

I curled my lip, gave a mocking little smile. Raised too soft and precious.

The instant Hubert rose to go after her, I threw a chopstick straight at his face.

"Hubert, I trust your feelings for me. I trust you'd never pull any of that filthy business. But that doesn't mean my father trusts you."

"Or would you rather he look into all those rumors floating around out there?"

Hubert slowly sat back down, slowly squeezed that doting smile back onto his face, and eagerly started putting food into my bowl.

That evening my father arrived as planned and fell into warm conversation with his in-laws.

Winifred, naturally, cooked another full table, shelled the crab with her own hands, and made a bowl of oatmeal exactly as I'd asked.

Being the mistress isn't easy either. It takes stamina.

The next day Detective Mercer messaged me: Winifred had been hospitalized. Overexhaustion, with signs of a miscarriage.

4: 4

Maybe they were afraid I'd drag their precious girl back to Cloud Lake Estate to work herself ragged again, because my father-in-law and mother-in-law were shipped back to their hometown overnight.

Winifred also claimed she had family matters to attend to, spent a single day in the hospital, and hurried off to her hometown.

Carissa and I sat there calmly savoring red wine and top-grade steak at the five-star hotel.

I swallowed the last bite of grilled red snapper, dabbed the corner of my mouth, and looked at Mike Finch, my tone easy.

"Expert Finch, any interest in working together?"

"I'll invest five billion in your research and development. If it succeeds, half the rights are mine. And if you're willing, the Gilbert family can keep funding the production and launch too."

Mike nearly sprayed his mouthful of wine. He managed to swallow it, coughed a few times, and stared at me in disbelief.

"Ms. Gilbert, you're not joking? You'd invest five billion?"

I smiled.

"What, no confidence in yourself?"

The truth was, I already knew from Carissa that their research had hit a wall. It wasn't only the funding. They'd run into a technical bottleneck too.

In my last life, I never knew how much of themselves Mike and his team poured in, how much pressure they endured, before the research finally paid off.

But right now, he was truly at the end of his rope, sunk into the lowest point.

This life, I meant to lift him to success as fast as I could. Not only for Carissa's happiness, but because I wanted my own solid ground to stand on.

I wanted to stand at the highest point and crush Hubert Delgado until he had nothing left to fight back with, not fall into a war that wounded us both and dragged the Gilberts down with it.

Because the embedded ultra-thin chip, with its later breakthroughs, didn't just shatter the foreign monopoly. It vaulted straight to fourth in the world's new-tech rankings.

A single share impossible to come by, the whole thing worth a hundred billion.

Mike would rise overnight to become one of New York's new elite, a diamond bachelor. A pity that by then Carissa was long gone, and Mike only stood silent at her grave for a whole day.

I was getting a bargain off them, and a big one.

I said, almost sheepishly,

"Expert Finch, if you think it's too little, I can add more. Another five billion."

I wiped my forehead and murmured to myself,

"Dad, I'm pouring out everything you own this time. Hold on for me."

Mike shot to his feet at once and gripped my hand, shaking with excitement.

"It's not too little. Thank you, thank you so much, Ms. Gilbert. You really are our savior. Thank you, thank you."

He tipped his head back and downed a full glass of red wine, his face flushed red. I laughed and clapped his shoulder. "I have one more condition. When you make it big someday, you'd better treat Carissa well. If you ever dare mistreat her, I'll be the first one who won't let it slide."

Mike caught Carissa's hand in his and spoke to me with grave seriousness.

"Ms. Gilbert, you have my word. If I ever wrong Carissa, do with me whatever you want."

Then he looked at Carissa, his eyes full of feeling.

"Carissa is the kindest, sweetest girl I've ever known. I'd sooner wrong myself than ever wrong her."

Watching the two of them hold each other so tenderly, something in me warmed.

Good. This was good.

Detective Mercer sent over Hubert's movements right on schedule, but I stopped watching Hubert and instead followed the development of the embedded ultra-thin chip myself.

I even flew abroad to bring in international experts to advise.

Time flew. Before I knew it, half a year had passed.

That day, Detective Mercer sent me a message.

"Winifred's had the baby. A seven-pound boy. The test is back. Paternity with Hubert Delgado, ninety-nine point nine nine percent."