Reborn to Reign: Call Me Auntie

The night before I was supposed to marry Carter, Clara shoved an ultrasound strip against my chest. She was pregnant. With my fiancé's baby.

When I refused to call off the wedding, she left a suicide note and threw herself off a roof. Two bodies, gone in an instant. Carter blamed me.

He kept me trapped until I gave birth, only to wrap his hands around my newborn's neck right in the crib. His fingers dug into my jawbone, his eyes bloodshot. "Vivienne.

Her baby never got to breathe. Yours doesn't get to, either." Then, my eyes snapped open. I was back. The day before the wedding.

I stared at the hidden smirk pulling at the corner of Clara's mouth. I smiled back. "Fine. The wedding is off." Chapter 1 I died of an amniotic fluid embolism.

The blood soaked straight through the hospital mattress, turning the sterile white sheets into a dark, heavy swamp.

I clawed at the empty air, suffocating, begging Carter to save me.

Instead, his fingers locked around my throat, cutting off my last bit of oxygen. "So what if you got the ring first?" His grip tightened against my windpipe. "Clara and I loved each other.

You forced us apart. You killed her and my baby!" My lungs burned. "You never deserved to wear my ring.

You never deserved to be my wife." He leaned in closer, his breath hot against my face. "Go straight to hell and beg Clara for forgiveness." They were the ones screwing around behind my back, yet I was the one paying the price with my life.

Clara was my dad’s mistake—the product of an affair.

I’d felt sick with pity for her, watching her bounce between foster homes and cheap motels, so I convinced my dad to let her move into the estate.

That single moment of pity ruined my entire life. She played the grateful, sweet sister to my face, then slipped into my fiancé’s bed the second I turned around.

By the time I caught on, she was already knocked up with Carter’s kid. The memory of her standing in my bedroom, holding that positive test, burned the back of my eyelids.

Her chin tilted up. A winner’s smirk. "We share the same blood, Vivienne," she had said. "Everything you want, I want too.

Carter belongs to me now." She thought the pregnancy was her golden ticket. She thought it would automatically lock down the billionaire lifestyle.

But Carter's family wasn't having it. They publicly stated I was the only daughterinlaw they would ever accept. They shut Clara out. Overnight, the scandal blew up.

Clara became the punchline of the city—the desperate halfsister trying to steal the groom. And somehow, she twisted that into being my fault.

On the morning of my wedding, she stepped off the roof of the Plaza Hotel.

She died right at the peak of Carter's obsession with her, ensuring her ghost would haunt my marriage forever. When Carter's family empire was bleeding cash, I bailed them out.

I drained my own trust fund to secure his seat as CEO. And this was my reward.

My cracked lips pulled up into a bitter, broken smile. "They say love doesn't care who got there first…" Carter's jaw twitched. "Love might not care, but people are supposed to have basic human decency." I forced the words out past my ruined throat. "I saved your company.

I saved you. And you repaid me by screwing my sister in our bed." Hot tears slipped down my temples, pooling in my ears. "You want me to beg for forgiveness? Fine. I repent.

I repent for ever bailing you out. I repent for ever putting your ring on my finger." My vision started going black at the edges. "I'm going to watch from hell.

Let's see how long you keep that corner office without my family's money backing you. I'll be waiting for you to burn." My lungs finally gave out.

The heart monitors flatlined into a solid, highpitched ring, and the darkness swallowed me whole.

If I ever got another chance, I wouldn't waste a single second on these parasites. "Vivienne. Viv, wake up!

Clara's using the pregnancy to back your parents into a corner!" Hands shook my shoulders. My skull throbbed like it had been split open. I dragged my heavy eyelids up.

Tessa, my best friend, was leaning over me, her face pale and frantic. I sucked in a sharp, tearing breath of clean air. The metallic hospital smell was gone.

I felt the soft silk of my own duvet under my trembling fingers. I was back. The day before the wedding.

Chapter 2 "That bitch has no shame," Tessa fumed, pacing across my bedroom rug. "If you hadn't taken pity on her, she'd still be rotting in some trailer park!

And how does she repay you?

By screwing your fiancé." Tessa spun around. "A literal bastard child thinking she can just steal a billionaire husband!" Tessa had said those exact words to me in my past life.

Back then, they had sent me into a blind rage. Now? My chest felt completely hollow. I let out a dry, breathy laugh.

Clara really thought opening her legs for Carter and getting knocked up was her VIP pass into the family. She was delusional.

Carter was a pretty face who couldn't keep it in his pants, but his grandmother, the matriarch? She had eyes like a hawk. She spotted the golddigger in Clara from a mile away.

She had already called my father, making it crystal clear: the only daughterinlaw crossing their threshold was Vivienne.

Clara had lost her virginity and her reputation for absolutely nothing. That was why she was downstairs right now, the night before my wedding, sobbing her eyes out.

I adjusted my posture, smoothing down the front of my silk robe. "Don't worry," I said, my voice dead flat. "She's not getting the ring." My family still had a reputation to protect, even if Clara didn't care about hers.

The second my foot hit the top of the stairs, a porcelain teacup shattered against the hardwood floor below. "You little homewrecker!

You pull a stunt like this and still have the nerve to crawl to me for help?" My grandmother stood over the wreckage.

Clara was on her knees among the ceramic shards, tears streaking her perfectly applied makeup. "Grandma, you're close with Carter's grandmother!" Clara pleaded, her voice trembling. "Who else can I go to?

The press just knows our family is marrying into theirs.

We share the same last name!" Clara reached out desperately. "Why does Vivienne get the billionaire while I get left with nothing?

You can't play favorites!" My grandmother’s jaw clamped tight enough to crack a tooth. "You still have the nerve to open your mouth?

You slept with your sister's fiancé, and you expect me to throw you a parade?

If I knew you were this cheap, I would have left you on the streets!" She pointed a trembling finger at the maids. "Grab her. Lock her in the guest room.

I don't want to see her face until the wedding is over." I stood at the top of the stairs, looking down at Clara. My face felt like carved stone. A maid grabbed Clara's arm.

Clara violently jerked away.

She lunged toward the bottom of the staircase, glaring up at me. "Carter loves me!" she screamed, her sweet facade completely melting off. "You can buy his last name, but you'll never have him!

I'm carrying his baby! He's going to bring me into that estate, Vivienne!

You'll never take my place!" My grandmother’s face turned a dangerous shade of red, her hand shaking violently as she pointed at Clara.

Right then, heavy footsteps echoed from the front foyer. Carter. The second the sound registered, Clara’s face morphed. The venom vanished.

She collapsed onto the steps below me, tears welling up. "Vivienne, please!" she wailed, her voice cracking perfectly. "I know I messed up, I'll do anything!

Just please don't force me to get an abortion, please…" Suddenly, she let out a sharp shriek and threw her weight backward, tumbling down a few steps. Her eyes locked on mine.

A triumphant smirk flashed across her face. I hadn't even grazed her shoulder. My frozen pulse instantly hammered into a war drum.

In my last life, she played the weak victim to destroy me.

Did she really think that same cheap trick would work twice? "Clara, why did you push me?!" I ripped a scream from my throat, louder and more desperate than hers.

I locked my knees, twisted my weight, and threw myself backward down the steep wooden staircase. "Vivienne!" "Clara!" The world spun into a blur of frantic shouting before the heavy thud of my own skull against the hardwood pulled me into the dark.

Chapter 3 The sharp scent of rubbing alcohol hit me before I fully opened my eyes. Through the thin privacy curtain, Carter's voice sliced through the quiet hospital room. "Mrs.

Su, Clara has bent over backward for her. Vivienne is a bully. How is a woman like that fit to carry my last name?" The muscles in my forehead tightened, then slowly smoothed out.

My father might play favorites between his two daughters, but my grandmother was a steel wall. She never wavered. "The only one bending over backward is my granddaughter.

The one lying unconscious after being pushed down a flight of stairs is my granddaughter." Grandma didn't even shift in her chair.

Her cane tapped once against the linoleum floor. "Carter. I might be old, but my eyes work just fine." She had ruled our family empire with an iron fist for decades.

When she spoke, the room listened. Carter's jaw visibly clicked shut. But he recovered fast. "Fine. Let's skip the drama. The merger and the wedding happen tomorrow.

If you don't authorize Clara to take her place at the altar, I'll walk." He leaned forward, his shadow stretching across the curtain. "I'd rather cancel the entire event than marry a toxic bitch like Vivienne.

You really want your legitimate granddaughter to be the laughingstock of the city? The bride dumped the night before her wedding?" My grandmother’s breathing hitched.

She hadn't expected him to play this dirty over a mistress. In my last life, she tore him to shreds right here in this room, triggering a chain reaction that destroyed us both.

Not this time. I slid my hand across the rough hospital blanket and hooked my finger around her cashmere sleeve. She was sharp.

She felt my tug, glanced down, and saw my chest rising in a steady, waking rhythm.

She didn't miss a beat. "Get out," she snapped. "I need a minute to think." Through my halfshut eyelids, I saw Carter straighten his jacket.

He smirked, fully convinced he had her cornered, and strutted out into the hall to check on Clara.

The heavy door clicked shut. "Vivienne." Grandma leaned over the bed, the hard lines of her face melting into sheer relief. She grabbed my hand. "I know you heard him.

Don't you worry about that little parasite. As long as I have breath in my lungs, Clara isn't taking your place.

You are marrying into that family tomorrow." A massive lump lodged in my throat. I stared at the deep wrinkles around her eyes.

In my past life, my nightmare of a marriage drained the life out of her. When she got the phone call that Carter had strangled my newborn, her heart gave out completely.

She died alone in her study. I gripped her wrinkled hand, my fingernails digging lightly into my own palms.

I wasn't going to bury her again. "Grandma," I rasped, my voice dry. "I don't want to marry him. Call off the wedding." Her grip on my hand loosened.

She stared at me like I had lost my mind. "What did you just say?" I shifted my gaze to the blinding fluorescent lights above us.

The phantom sensation of blood soaking my sheets crept up my spine. I forced the memory down. "Cancel the wedding.

You can't build a life with a man who has ice in his veins." "But you bled for this engagement," she whispered, her eyes softening.

Only she knew the humiliating lengths I had gone to for his family's approval. Carter's grandmother was a devout, oldschool Catholic elitist.

I flew to Rome, fought through a bidding war to secure a 16thcentury Vatican rosary, and when she needed emergency surgery last year, I sat by her bed for a month, literally donating my own blood for her transfusions.

That was how I secured the matriarch's favor. But all the matriarch's favor in the world couldn't thaw Carter's dead heart.

I was done setting myself on fire to keep him warm. "Maybe hitting my head knocked some sense into me." A hollow, selfdeprecating laugh scraped up my throat. "He slept with his fiancé's sister under our own roof.

He's leveraging a scandal to blackmail you. What exactly am I fighting to keep?

You don't hand your life over to a snake." Chapter 4 Carter’s hand gripped Clara’s elbow as they stepped out of the adjacent hospital room.

His eyes locked onto me sitting up in bed. "You're awake. Good." He stepped closer to the foot of my bed. "Listen to me, Vivienne.

Unless you want the press tearing you apart tomorrow, you'll step aside and let Clara wear the veil.

Don't push me." Grandma sat perfectly still, her hands resting on the silver head of her cane. "We don't do baitandswitch weddings in this family.

If you insist on swapping the bride, the merger is off. The wedding is canceled." A muscle in Carter's jaw twitched. His gaze darted to the door.

He wanted Clara at the altar, but he couldn't afford to burn my family to the ground. The merger between our families was the biggest news of the quarter.

His company was hemorrhaging cash, relying entirely on my multimillion dollar bailout. Cancel the wedding? The matriarch of his family would skin him alive.

Carter shifted his weight, his posture losing a fraction of its arrogance. "Let's not overreact." He forced a diplomatic tone. "The merger is a done deal.

Clara carries your last name too. Does it really matter which daughter stands up there?

If we pull the plug now, our stock prices will tank before noon." A bead of cold sweat slid down Clara's temple.

If my grandmother pulled the plug, Clara's one and only shortcut into the one percent vanished forever. Without my family's backing, she would never set foot inside Carter's estate.

Clara dropped straight to her knees, clutching the hem of Carter's slacks. "Carter, it's all my fault," she sobbed, burying her face against his leg. "I can't ruin your family's reputation.

I'll just leave. I'll take the baby and disappear…" It was the most obvious, manipulative guilt trip on the planet. But Carter swallowed it whole.

He knelt down, gripping her shoulders. "Clara, stop. Why are you always so selfless? You're pregnant.

I'm not letting you sacrifice yourself." Grandma's cane slammed into the linoleum floor. "If she was selfless, she wouldn't have spread her legs for her sister's fiancé.

Some people have perfect vision and are still completely blind." Carter hesitated. He glanced down at Clara, a tiny fraction of doubt creeping into his expression. Clara panicked.

Her eyes widened, tears spilling over her lashes in perfect, photogenic tracks. "No, Carter, it wasn't like that!

I didn't know you were engaged to her back then… I just… I fell in love with you!" She scrambled to her feet, pretending to bolt for the door. "Fine! I'll get rid of the baby.

I'll get an abortion so you and Vivienne can be happy!" The tears worked. Carter's doubt vanished instantly.

He snagged her wrist, pulling her back against his chest like she was made of glass. "Don't say that. Nobody is touching my kid." His head snapped toward me.

The hostility in his eyes was raw. "You're a sociopath, Vivienne. She's already terrified.

Are you really going to push her until she kills herself?" A sharp, dry laugh slipped past my lips. Push her?

They were the ones screwing in my bed, and somehow I was the villain holding the knife. If this was really true love, why hadn't he confronted the matriarch himself?

He could have slapped his company shares on her mahogany desk, renounced his inheritance, and walked away a free man.

If he was willing to lose his billionaire status, no one could stop him from being with Clara. But he wouldn't do that. He wanted the crown, but he refused to give up the mistress.

He wanted my family's money, and he wanted her body. Chapter 5 I held Carter’s gaze.

I let my eyelashes flutter down, faking a perfect picture of defeat. "If you two are really that in love… I guess there's nothing else I can say." Clara’s shoulders instantly dropped.

A victorious smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

But before it could fully form, I let out a heavy, conflicted sigh. "But pulling a baitandswitch at the altar isn't my call to make.

The matriarch has to approve it." I looked up at Carter. "If you two are literally willing to die for each other, go tell Carter's grandmother.

If she signs off on Clara wearing my dress, my family won't say another word." Grandma stiffened.

Her grip on her cane tightened, her knuckles turning white, ready to explode at the very idea of that parasite getting the ring.

Under the blanket, I pressed my fingers firmly against her wrist. Just once. A silent command to hold her fire. I had spent five years married into that family in my last life.

I knew the matriarch better than anyone. She would rather burn the estate to the ground than let a homewrecker like Clara cross the threshold.

That was exactly why Carter was wasting time trying to bully me into stepping down. But why should I make it easy for them?

If he wanted the mistress, he could face the firing squad himself.

Carter’s face hardened. "You think I won't?" he snapped. "Watch me." He turned on his heel, dragging Clara out of the room by her elbow. I watched the heavy door swing shut.

A cold, hollow laugh vibrated in my chest. In my past life, I refused to cancel the wedding because I wanted to save his reputation. This time, I was handing him the loaded gun.

I couldn't wait to see the bloodbath when he walked into the matriarch's study the night before his own wedding to demand a bride swap. "My poor girl." Grandma exhaled, her shoulders slumping.

The fierce armor she wore melted into pure, crushing guilt. "Don't you worry. I'll find you a better match.

Someone who actually deserves you." I smiled, a small, selfdeprecating curve of my lips. The image of the bloodsoaked hospital bed flashed behind my eyes.

Men were all built from the same defective mold. What difference did it make whose name I took?

This time around, I just wanted to breathe on my own terms. "Why are you in such a rush to get rid of me?" I leaned over, wrapping my arms around her shoulder, resting my head against her silk blouse. "Don't you want me around a little longer?" "Don't be ridiculous.

I'd keep you forever if I could, but I'm not letting you rot alone." She patted my hand, her rings cold and heavy against my skin. "You're the brightest thing in this city.

Carter is an idiot for choosing trash over treasure.

You really going to let one bad investment ruin the whole market for you?" She smoothed my hair back from my forehead. "You're young.

If you fold the second you hit a roadblock, how are you going to survive? You've got a brilliant mind, Vivienne. I never worry about your competence.

But your heart…" She tapped my chest. "You care too much. You burn too hot. If you pour everything you have into someone else, there's nothing left when they walk away.

You have to learn how to love without emptying your own bank account. Do you understand?" Love without emptying your own bank account. The words hit my chest like a defibrillator.

It was exactly what I had failed to grasp in my last life, completely spelled out in two sentences.

The dead, frozen wasteland inside me suddenly felt a tiny, agonizing spark of warmth. She was right. If those two sociopaths felt entitled to a happy ending, why shouldn't I?

Why should I let a cheap betrayal permanently lock me out of the game? Doing that would just be spitting in my grandmother's face. My father only had daughters.

Grandma had raised me like a firstborn son, grooming me to be ruthless.

That training was the only reason I had managed to slaughter Carter’s competition and hand him the CEO seat in the first place. I had a second chance at life.

There was no way I was going to spend it playing the tragic victim. I had just been incredibly stupid the first time around.

I honestly believed that if I bled enough for him, he would eventually love me back. And that delusion got me strangled in a hospital bed.

Chapter 6 "Besides…" Grandma’s tone shifted. A cunning, dangerous smile touched her lips. "I said you were going to marry into that family.

And you are." "Grandma, what are you…" I blinked, thrown off balance.

She smoothed the front of her silk shawl, exuding pure, calculated power. "Carter isn't the only heir in that bloodline.

If my granddaughter is walking down the aisle, it's going to be a spectacle." Another heir?

My mind raced, sifting through the family tree until a chillingly cold, untouchable figure materialized in my head. My breath hitched. "You mean Carter's uncle?

Donovan?" Truth was, I had history with that man.

In my past life, when Carter dragged me to a clinic to terminate my first pregnancy out of pure spite, the rest of the estate followed his lead. They froze me out.

I couldn't even get the kitchen staff to serve me a hot meal.

But Donovan… that impossibly aloof man had the head chef send a bowl of hot, nutrientrich soup to my room every single night for a month.

It was just a bowl of soup, but in the five years I spent trapped in that mansion, it was the only real warmth I ever felt. But Carter was terrified of his uncle's influence.

He secretly poisoned Donovan, pushing him to the brink of death. Tracing the timeline back, Carter had probably just started slipping the toxins into Donovan's drinks.

If I had a second chance, could I pull him out of the grave too? Grandma’s eyes gleamed with approval. "Exactly. He might be seven years older than you, but he's solid.

The Matriarch hasn't officially named her successor yet.

That CEO seat is still entirely up for grabs." She patted my hand. "Play your cards right, Vivienne." The dead, heavy fog in my eyes burned away. The inheritance.

How could I forget? The board hadn't voted yet. In my last life, I practically spoonfed Carter the CEO position.

This time around, I was going to sit back and watch him crash and burn without my money backing him.

The next morning, a joint press release hit the wires: The wedding between Carter and Vivienne was officially canceled. Ten minutes later, a second, nuclearlevel headline dropped.

I was engaged to Donovan. The bride hadn't left the family—she just moved a generation up. The entire city's elite circles went into a complete meltdown