All Chapters of Reborn to Ruin Him: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

“What video, Brittany? Say it plainly this time.”I stood in the same office where she’d first approached me weeks ago, Xavier beside me, my patience for her games finally, completely exhausted.“The night you were drugged.” Brittany’s composure had cracked further since I’d last seen her, something desperate and unraveling in her posture now. “I told you I filmed part of it. I told you the truth then. I’m telling you again now because I need something from you, and I’m done pretending politeness gets me anywhere with either of you.”“You already gave that footage to Ashford,” Xavier said, his voice hard. “It’s part of the case record now.”“I gave him part of it.” Brittany’s hands twisted together. “There’s more. Footage from before that night, from the actual planning stage. Jeremy and I discussing exactly how to stage everything, weeks in advance, in detail that makes it very clear he wasn’t simply a passive participant caught up in his mother’s scheme.”My stomach turned cold. “Yo

“I’ll pay you. On one condition.”I stood in Brittany’s small hotel room, suitcases already half packed against the wall, her expression shifting from desperate to cautiously hopeful as I spoke.“What condition?” she asked.“You testify. Not just hand over footage secondhand through Ashford’s office. You take the stand, under oath, and tell the court exactly what you told me, exactly what that footage shows, with your own voice and your own name attached to it.” I kept mine steady despite the exhaustion still sitting heavy in my chest from the conversation with Jeremy hours earlier. “I’m not interested in buying silence anymore, Brittany. I’ve had enough of people paying for other people’s silence to last several lifetimes.”She studied me a long moment, something calculating and afraid tangling together behind her eyes.“That could mean charges against me too,” she said slowly. “Conspiracy. Fraud. Everything I helped Jeremy and his mother orchestrate.”“Probably,” I agreed. “But it a

“What did she find, Jeremy? Say it plainly.”I stood in my kitchen, phone pressed hard against my ear, Xavier watching my face with growing concern from across the room.“She had someone investigate Xavier’s background thoroughly, weeks ago, before she was arrested.” Jeremy’s voice carried real unease. “She’s planning to argue that your relationship with him began while you were still legally married to me, that it undermines your credibility as a witness, that your testimony against my mother is motivated by wanting to protect a man you were already involved with before our divorce was finalized.”My stomach twisted cold. “That’s not true. Xavier and I never crossed that line while I was still married to you.”“I know that,” Jeremy said quickly. “I’m not accusing you of anything, Kara. I’m warning you because I think her legal team intends to twist the timeline, make it look worse than it actually was, anything to distract the jury from the actual evidence against her.”Xavier crosse

“Why would I agree to see her again?”I stood in Ashford’s office, exhaustion and old wariness tangling together in my chest, Xavier close beside me.“You don’t have to,” Ashford said carefully. “I want to be clear about that. But her attorney indicated she has something specific she wants to say before the trial, something she claims will matter to the outcome.”“After everything she’s already tried?” Xavier’s jaw tightened. “The witness, the timeline manipulation, every single manipulation stacked on top of the last?”“I know how it looks,” Ashford said. “I’m not advising you to trust her. I’m simply relaying the request, because ultimately this decision belongs to you, Kara.”I thought about it a long moment, old exhaustion warring with the same stubborn curiosity that had carried me through every single revelation these past weeks.“I’ll see her,” I said finally. “One more time. Then this is over, whatever she says.”Xavier’s hand found mine, steady despite his obvious reluctance.

“A file with my name on it. From months before any of this started?”I stood frozen in my kitchen, phone pressed hard against my ear, Xavier watching my face with growing alarm.“Dated three months before you woke up in this life,” Jeremy confirmed, his voice tight with urgency. “Before the divorce, before the party, before any of it. Someone at this firm was already building a file on you, Kara, likely coordinating with David Chen’s network on his behalf before Mrs. Devonte’s arrest ever happened.”My mind raced, trying to fit this into what we already understood. “That’s the same network, then. Not something new. Just an earlier piece of the same conspiracy we’ve already been tracing.”“That’s my read too,” Jeremy said. “The senior partner here has been quietly consulting for David Chen for at least a year. This firm was likely a fallback plan, a place to keep resources and information flowing even after Mrs. Devonte’s arrest cut off her direct control.”Xavier exhaled slowly, some