Reborn, I Let His Childhood Sweetheart Pay for Her Crimes

“Serena, must you act like this every time Ella is around? I’m warning you—don’t cause trouble. Ella is pregnant. She will sit here.”

Cassio’s low, impatient voice snapped me back.

I froze.

My hand was already halfway raised—just like last time.

The same moment. The same choice.

My gaze drifted to the middle-aged woman standing beside the seat.

Plain clothes. Worn leather bag. Slight discomfort in her posture.

A chill crept up my spine. I had really come back.

Last time, this was the moment I stopped Cassio.

I let that woman keep her seat all the way to Las Vegas.

When we got off the plane, I discovered the truth.

This plain-looking woman wasn’t just anybody. She was the wife of Domenico Accardo, the Don of the most powerful crime family in the city.

Because I stopped Cassio from stealing her seat that day, he avoided drawing the Accardo family’s wrath.

Later, he even leveraged that accidental connection. With the family’s indirect influence, his business ventures took off.

He became the celebrated new star of the business world.

But his childhood friend, Ella, had been stubborn. Pouting, she refused to sit in Cassio’s offered seat.

She stood for the entire flight.

The prolonged strain caused a miscarriage. She hemorrhaged, fought for a day and a night in the hospital, and died.

Cassio quietly arranged her funeral. Then he married me.

But on the day I went into labor, he bought the cheapest possible tickets.

He put me on a long-haul flight with multiple connections.

Then, as I lay bleeding on the floor of a cramped airport bathroom, he looked at me with pure hatred before locking the door.

“Serena, if you hadn’t stopped me back then, Ella would never have died! You’re just a jealous, vindictive bitch! Today, you and your brat will pay for Ella and her child! Die!”

My baby and I died right there, with the baby stuck breech, no midwife to help, and the floor covered in filth.

The memory sent a violent chill through me, my face turning pale.

“My friend is pregnant. Just give her the seat. You look healthy enough to stand for a bit. Don’t be selfish.”

Cassio’s voice pulled me partly back.

Ella, who had been silent, shot me a glance.

Then she gently tugged on Cassio’s sleeve.

“Cass, don’t. Serena looks upset. I don’t want to cause trouble between you two. Really, I can just stand.”

There it was. Ella’s classic performance from my last life.

The act of rising, the false sacrifice.

Cassio had a seat. If she was truly unwell, she could sit there.

But no. She had to frame it as my fault, to stoke Cassio’s anger toward me.

Not this time.

I remembered the Don’s evident, fierce devotion to his wife I’d witnessed at the airport last time.

A faint smile touched my lips. I met Cassio’s glare calmly.

“I’m not upset. You two do whatever you want. It’s got nothing to do with me.”

I finished speaking, sat back down in my own aisle seat in economy, and shoved my noise-canceling headphones in.