Sweet Fake Heiress Called Me Spy; Reborn, I Jailed Her

The family's sickly little darling, their real daughter, was barely back in the door before she used her own recognition banquet to brand me, the adopted one, a corporate spy.

Faced with a screen full of evidence, Carly Gilbert pleaded for me, her eyes red:

Mom, Dad, don't blame my sister. It's my fault for coming home so suddenly. And please make Dad give the shares back to me.

"My sister was just so afraid of losing this family that she lost her head for a moment and sold company secrets to a rival."

Two sentences. That was all it took for her to nail the crime to me, right down to a motive that left no gap.

In my last life, when my adoptive father demanded answers, I fought desperately to deny that I had sold out the company.

But the tech department quickly proved that the files really had been exported from my account, and the emails really had gone out under my name.

My adoptive father stripped me of my position. My fianc broke off our engagement in front of everyone.

After I was thrown out of the Gilbert house, my birth mother received an anonymous notice that I was going to prison, and died of a heart attack that same night.

By the time I dug up proof that Carly was moving assets and falsifying the books,

she lured me to the old warehouse to fetch what she called the original ledgers.

When the fire went up, she stood on the other side of the iron door and smiled, innocent as anything.

"Once my sister's nothing but ash, she can never steal my family again."

When I opened my eyes, I was back at the recognition banquet.

Watching Carly huddle in our adoptive mother's arms, sobbing and pretending to faint, I turned on the voice recorder on my phone.

"Don't rush to pass out. First tell everyone which company I sold the files to, and how much I got for them."

""

Carly clutched the stuffed rabbit in her arms, tears rolling down one after another.

"Sister, how can you ask me that? Company names, money, all of it, it sounds so scary."

"I only know what the tech uncle said, that you sent the files to someone outside. And Dad said doing that would destroy the company."

She spoke as if frightened, but with those soft words she pinned the most damning charge squarely on me.

I looked up at the big screen. This time I didn't scramble to deny it the way I had before.

To make the leak of trade secrets stick, they had deliberately displayed the records of me sending the formula and the client list.

But no one noticed that the emails also carried the original quality-inspection reports, along with several sets of internal financial books.

I swept my eyes over the room and spoke clearly.

"Which one of the tech staff told Carly the recipient was a rival company?"

Tech Director Leon Lawrence stood beside the screen, a film of cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.

"What we can confirm at this point is that the relevant files were exported from Lesley Gilbert's internal account and sent through an encrypted mailbox."

"But the emails were processed with special technical methods, so for now we can't confirm the actual recipient."

"If you can't confirm it, then on what grounds do you say it was a rival company?"

I stepped forward, my gaze fixed on him.

"Or did someone brief you ahead of time and tell you to keep the story going?"

Leon's lips trembled. His eyes flicked to Carly on instinct, then darted away again.

The next second, the children's health monitor on Carly's wrist suddenly began beeping.

She clapped her hands over her ears at once and shrank into our adoptive mother's arms like a startled thing.

"Mommy, my head is so dizzy, I can't breathe"

Our adoptive mother pulled her close in a hurry, patting her back with practiced ease.

My fianc, Silas Delgado, quickly moved to shield Carly.

"Lesley, the evidence is already up on the screen. You're cornering a sick girl with your questions. What's the point?"

It was like this in my last life too.

Whenever Carly ran into a question she couldn't answer, her body would conveniently have an episode.

Everyone rushed to comfort her, and my questions were never pressed again.

This time I picked up the laser pointer on the table and aimed it at the big screen.

"Of course there's a point. Illegally exporting company files and selling trade secrets to a competitor are two completely different things."

"For the first, you have operation logs. For the second, all Carly has is her mouth."

My adoptive father slammed a hand down on the table.

"Lesley! Are you saying you didn't export these files?"

The whole room went silent all at once.

Carly lifted her face from our adoptive mother's arms too, watching me through blurred tears.

They were all waiting for me to deny it.

The moment I denied it, the tech department could throw the logs in my face.

But I met my adoptive father's eyes and spoke calmly.

"I did export the files. And I sent the emails, too."

Carly's expression shifted just slightly. She probably hadn't expected me to admit it so readily.

"But that doesn't mean I admit to selling anything to a competitor, and it certainly doesn't mean I profited from it."

I pointed at the screen.

"You have no money trail. On the strength of one email, you're willing to convict me in public."

"Mr. Gilbert, has Gilbert Group's legal team really sunk this low?"

Carly held the stuffed rabbit up in front of her and looked at me, all wounded.

"Baby doesn't understand all those legal words my sister is using."

"Baby only knows that a little kid who does something wrong should say sorry first, not go around scaring people."

The legal manager came back quickly with a confirmation of misconduct.

Beyond admitting to the leak, I'd have to compensate the company thirty million and promise never to disclose any information connected to Gilbert Group.

This wasn't a confirmation. It was a gag order.

In my last life, terrified my adoptive parents would really cut ties with me, I signed it on Silas's urging.

Afterward Gilbert Group used the agreement to announce publicly that I had confessed to leaking trade secrets over an inheritance dispute.

From then on, no matter what evidence I produced, it was just a business criminal taking revenge on the Gilberts.

"I won't sign."

Carly seemed not to have expected me to refuse. She froze for a couple of seconds.

"Sister, you didn't go through any company approval process when you sent that email."

"This time, even if those grown-ups outside show up, they won't protect a sister who won't behave."

Her voice was still soft and sweet as she said it, but the certainty in her eyes was completely undisguised.

She'd already moved part of Gilbert Group's assets overseas long ago. Even if the company really went down, she had a way out.

That was why she dared to blow this up across the whole internet.

She thought that as long as she nailed me down, the Gilbert family's dirty books would never see daylight.

I didn't press the point any further. I just pushed the agreement back across the table to the legal manager.

"Until the trading party and the profits are properly investigated, I won't sign any confession document."

My adoptive father slammed his palm on the table.

"Lesley Gilbert, the Gilberts raised you for twenty-four years, and now you won't even sign a simple confirmation of the facts?"

He knew better than anyone that hidden inside those so-called business files was the thing Gilbert Group could least afford to have exposed.

Over the past few years, to keep costs down, Gilbert Group had spent a long time buying near-expired raw ingredients, then extending the shelf life by relabeling them.

The financial books had been split into two sets as well.

My adoptive father wasn't simply playing favorites with Carly.

He was afraid that if I stayed at the company, sooner or later I'd find these secrets.

Now that Carly was handing him the knife herself, of course he couldn't wait to kick me out of Gilbert Group.

"Daddy, let's just call the police officers in."

Carly gave the rabbit-ear cup in her hand a little shake, as if she'd finally made up her mind.

"Baby doesn't want to watch my sister make one mistake after another."

Just as she urged them to call the police for the third time, a message came in from my lawyer.

The report materials have been submitted as planned. Your mother has been moved to the confidential ward. The costs and security have both been arranged.

In my last life, I pinned every hope I had on the Gilberts.

And in the end, all it earned me was a brutal death.

So this time, I had my lawyer, my notarizations, my hospital arrangements, and my report materials ready in advance.

I was only waiting for them to make their move.

When Fabian saw I wouldn't sign, he called the finance department on the spot.

"Freeze Lesley Gilbert's position, her dividends, and every access right she has. As of today, Lesley Gilbert has nothing to do with this family."

"And the Gilberts will no longer cover a single cent of her biological mother's treatment!"

My phone buzzed a second later with a notice from the hospital.

The hospitalization guarantee account has been frozen. Please deposit the outstanding 150,000 by 6:00 p.m. today, or portions of the treatment plan will be suspended.

In my last life, it was this exact message that dropped me to my knees begging him.

For my mother, I signed a thirty-million confession, handed over everything, and still couldn't save her life.

But this time, I had already arranged everything for her.

I switched off the voice recorder on my phone, photographed the agreement and the board appointment letter side by side, and typed out a post.

Gilbert Group has publicly determined that I sold trade secrets to a competitor. Please release the buyer's name, the transaction amount, and the full money trail.

My finger hovered over the publish button. Before I could tap it, the legal manager panicked.

"Miss Gilbert, you can't post that! The company is going public. This kind of negative press will affect the review!"

Fabian ground his teeth.

"Lesley Gilbert, this family raised you for twenty-four years, and you insist on airing our dirty laundry? What is it you actually want?"

I pressed the lock button without posting.

"Hold a public press conference tomorrow. Lay out your complete evidence, and I'll answer every question the media throws at me."

"Prove I sold the files, and I'll confess on the spot. If you can't, Gilbert Group retracts the statement and apologizes publicly to me and my mother."

The head of the brand department jumped in:

"Chairman Gilbert, pulling the statement now would only make us look guilty. A press conference at least lets us keep control of the narrative."

I watched the alarm on his face and let a small smile settle inside me.

This was exactly what I wanted.

The more the Gilberts feared a public backlash, the less they'd dare retract the statement.

They could only keep inflating the lie, until everyone saw it.

Carly took the opening and slumped weakly into Sibyl's arms, her voice soft as cotton.

"Say yes to her, sis. My body isn't strong, but I can still go in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank."

"Once she admits her mistake, I'd still be glad to bring her home."

Sibyl's eyes went red at once. She stroked Carly's hair and sighed that the girl was too kind.

Seeing it, Fabian finally made the call.

"Tomorrow, ten a.m. We hold the press conference."

I turned and left.

My mother had already been moved to the confidential ward, but I still needed to see with my own eyes that she was safe.

The elevator doors had barely opened when Carly hurried after me.

The girl who'd needed two people to prop her up moments ago now walked light and steady.

The doors slid slowly shut.

She pulled off the children's health chart, wiped away her tears, and rose on her toes to whisper against my ear.

"Sis, do you think that as long as no money changed hands, they can't pin the crime on you?"

I held down the door-open button and looked at her sideways.

Carly curved her eyes into a smile, sweet as a child who knew nothing of the world.

"But I've already got a payment record ready for you."

I looked at her and said nothing.

She took it for fear, and her smile grew more pleased with itself.

"Daddy says with a transfer record on file, sis won't be able to talk her way out. At the press conference tomorrow, I'll personally urge you to confess."

"And then the whole world will know that I'm the real daughter of the Gilberts."

The elevator doors closed again.

I glanced down at my phone. Another message had come in from my lawyer:

The regulators have confirmed the materials.

The Gilberts wanted to use a livestream to the whole internet to nail me to the pillory.

So I would use their livestream to tear away every last one of Gilbert Group's covers, one layer at a time.

The next morning, Gilbert Group's largest conference hall was packed with reporters.

The live stream had gone up early.

In five minutes flat, the viewer count blew past a million.

On the big screen, Gilbert's brand promo played on a loop.

In a spotless production floor, workers in masks walked the camera through each quality-control step.

Carly, in a puff dress, cradled a can of infant food, smiling sweetly.

"Baby eats without a worry, so Mama has peace of mind."

Only I knew that off camera, the warehouse was stacked with near-expired ingredients that had been relabeled.

The moment I stepped into the hall, reporters surged forward.

"Lesley Gilbert, do you admit to leaking trade secrets?"

"There's a rumor that you did this to get back at the Gilberts because the real daughter came home and your shares were taken away. Is that true?"

"Was your mother also involved in funneling out the money?"

Security held the reporters back.

Then the Gilberts filed in one by one.

Carly, in a white dress, sat in a wheelchair.

The second she reached the front, she struggled to her feet and bowed deeply to the press.

"Please don't blame my sister. She just couldn't accept that Baby came home, so she did something wrong."

"If you have to scold anyone, scold Baby for not finding Mama and Papa sooner. Baby only begs my sister to stop hurting the company."

My adoptive father signaled the tech director to present the evidence.

One after another, my account login records, the USB copy logs, and the encrypted emails came up on the screen.

In the footage, I copied the formulas, the client list, the quality-control reports, and the financial books with my own hands, then packaged it all and sent it out.

The last thing to appear was a screenshot of a payment into an offshore account.

A complete chain of evidence. The hall broke into an uproar.

In front of every reporter there, Silas Delgado slid a notice of annulment across the table to me.

"Lesley Gilbert, I misjudged you. As of today, our engagement is formally off."

My adoptive mother pressed me too, her eyes red.

"The Gilberts raised you for twenty-four years, and we never treated you badly."

"After Carly came home, she was the one who asked us to keep you at the company. And you sold generations of this family's hard work for five million?"

Carly sat between her parents and stretched a hand toward me.

"Sister, tell them the buyer's name, and give the money back to the company."

"Baby's got a come-home pass ready for you. Just admit what you did, and Baby will give it to you."

I didn't look at her. I kept my eyes on the transfer screenshot on the screen.

"A screenshot with the account name blacked out, and you call that a complete chain of evidence?"

Seeing that I still wouldn't confess, Carly suddenly clutched her chest and started gasping.

The family doctor rushed to fit an oxygen mask over her face.

She gazed at me through the mask, wounded.

"All the evidence is right there. Why does my sister still have to bully Baby?"

My adoptive father slammed the table.

"Enough!"

He turned to the cameras and declared it word by word.

"Gilbert will shield no one. Whether or not Lesley Gilbert was ever my daughter, we will pursue this to the end."

A reporter thrust a microphone at me at once.

"The video, the logs, and the emails already form a chain of evidence. Are you still going to deny it?"

"Did you or did you not copy and send these materials?"

Carly pulled off the oxygen mask and reached out to me.

"Sister, stop making excuses. Just admit it, and Baby's still willing to forgive you."

I glanced at the time. Ten o'clock sharp, exactly the time I'd set with them.

"I copied the materials, and I sent the emails. Weren't you asking me who I sent them to? They're here."

The next second, the doors of the conference hall crashed open.

More than a dozen uniformed officers walked straight in.

The one in front held up his credentials, swept his eyes over the room, and asked in a low voice.

"Joint inspection, market regulator and inspection bureau."

"We've received a signed report that Gilbert Group is suspected of using expired ingredients to produce infant food and of falsifying its financial books. Please cooperate with the investigation."

Across a hall full of stunned cameras, I looked at Carly's face, drained of all color.

"The crime you schemed so hard to pin on me. Now it's your turn to catch it."