Half the Fortune, All My Freedom

More than suffocated. It was stupid.

In my last life, I single-handedly turned the nearly bankrupt Prescott Group into a national industry leader.

Because of that, the Prescott family became the richest family in the country.

But I, the Prescott Group vice president who had worked myself to the bone, earned less than a thousand dollars a month.

The trillion-dollar fortune I had spent my life building ultimately benefited Mason Clark and his children.

Before I died, I couldn't even afford a two-dollar hot dog. I died cold, hungry, and destitute.

This life, I wanted to see whether the Prescott family could still shine without me, Caleb Warren.

Haircut, styling, full-body spa.

After the full treatment, I looked like a completely different person.

The hollow-eyed, gray-haired middle-aged man was gone.

In his place stood a young man with neat black hair and a tall, straight frame.

Miles walked around me, clicking his tongue in amazement.

"That's more like it. Back when you were at Franklin, you were definitely one of the better-looking guys.

"The way you looked before was so shabby I could barely stand to see it."

In the past, to please Serena's parents, I had barely spent a penny on myself.

Even if I had only a thousand dollars in hand, nine hundred had to go toward the Prescott household's daily expenses.

Even then, they still thought I was after their money, an insatiable parasite.

Now, I didn't care anymore.

I snapped my fingers, ordered several bottles of the most expensive liquor in the club, and smiled at Miles.

"Tonight, we drink until we drop."

News that I was preparing to start a company spread quickly, and the market was soon full of gossip columns predicting my failure.

A few people who truly understood my abilities quietly asked whether they could invest.

More people called me overconfident and waited to watch me become a joke.

Even Serena called me personally.

"Caleb Warren, you think you can start a company just because you have some money now?

"If you want to work, come back to Prescott Group. Don't embarrass the Prescott family out there."

It was the same old belittling tactic.

I calmly reminded her, "Miss Prescott, we're already divorced. What I do has nothing to do with the Prescott family."

Her breathing sharpened, but she still suppressed her anger.

"Enough. Stop acting out. Come back. That project with the Bennett family last time..."

"Not my problem."

I cut her off directly. "You've got the wrong person."

So that was why she had remembered me. There was a project she couldn't handle.

I had secured several highly profitable international deals for Prescott Group.

Without me, the people at Prescott couldn't manage the follow-up at all.

She was enraged and shouted, "Caleb Warren! When you squander all the money in your hands, don't come crying back to me."

I rolled my eyes and hung up.

Who would be begging whom was still undecided.

Serena stared at the disconnected call and flung the phone aside in fury.

She was used to my obedience and had never seen me this out of her control.

A restless sense that things were slipping beyond her grasp rose in her chest.

The marketing director beside her asked nervously, "Ms. Prescott, is Mr. Warren willing to come back?"

"Get out!"

Serena shouted in humiliation and anger.

Mason hurried over and wrapped his arms around her from behind, soothing her softly.

"Don't get so angry. You're pregnant."

He helped her calm her breathing with a pained expression, though something else flashed in his eyes.

"Serena, it hurts me so much to see you this tired. Why don't I come into the company and help you?"

Serena frowned, not quite approving.

"You don't have any experience. Why don't you rotate through a few departments first and get familiar with things?"

Mason immediately became unhappy, his mouth turning down in grievance.

"Why did Caleb get to become vice president as soon as he arrived? Am I worse than him?"

Serena instinctively wanted to retort that Caleb was a top finance prodigy from a famous university, so what did Mason have to compare with?

But when the words reached her lips, she saw Mason looking like he was about to cry, and her heart softened again.