Rebirth: Snatching Back My Stolen Luck
Betrayed by the two people she trusted most - her husband and her foster sister-turned-best friend - Lilith dies with regrets.
But fate has other plans.
Granted a second chance by a mysterious system, she wakes up in the past.
This time...
She won't be naive.
This time, she'll rewrite her destiny.
On the first day of her rebirth, she crosses paths with Dean: a disarmingly gorgeous, silver-haired man who proposes a fake engagement to help her.
But the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to draw the line between real and pretend.
With the past betrayal still fresh in her mind, Lilith must decide-
Will she risk her heart again... or keep her eyes on the prize?
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Chapter 3
LILITH
Maybe it was because everything had been laid out so plainly, but I felt more comfortable with the mechanical voice in my head.
"By the way, do you have an actual name besides 'system'? Calling you that every time feels too impersonal."
"We're stuck together for the foreseeable future, so I'd prefer something... less formal."
[I don't have one.]
It replied matter-of-factly.
"Then I'll give you one," I decided.
It made a mechanical hum, as if agreeing.
I pursed my lips thoughtfully, brows furrowed. Moments later, my frown smoothed out and I clapped my hands together in delight.
"Got it! I'll call you May."
[Why May?]
"Because thanks to you, I was reborn in the month of May. Coincidentally, it also happens to be my birthday month. It feels... meaningful and significant."
[Understood. The choice is yours.]
"It's settled then."
With that, I straightened my back, letting my voice take on a sharper edge.
"Now, let's get down to business."
[What business?]
My eyes glinted with coldness.
"The business of stopping my engagement with Brandon, of course."
[But it's already scheduled for tonight. How do you plan to stop it from happening?]
May paused, then added thoughtfully,
[Just so you know, revealing my existence or disclosing future events is strictly prohibited. Both actions violate system regulations.]
I chuckled good-naturedly. "Don't worry. None of those were ever within my consideration."
[Then what's your plan? Sweet-talking your parents into annulling the engagement?]
[Actually, I think it'll be better to go along with it first and then think of countermeasures later on. That'll give you enough time to prepare.]
I couldn't help but smile faintly.
It was clear that although May had told me to make different choices, it still thought of me as the same person I used to be-passive, powerless, and prone to compromise.
Although the second part was still very much true, I would never again allow the other two to define me.
From now on-
My eyes blazed with confidence and determination.
I wouldn't compromise. Not even an inch.
[I'm sorry.]
May said suddenly.
Confusion flashed in my eyes. "What are you sorry for?"
[You're right. I still don't understand you.]
In that instant, realization struck me, making a chill crawl up my spine. "Wait... can you read my thoughts?"
[Yes.]
May admitted, then quickly added.
[But I don't do it unless necessary. I only heard you just now because your emotions spiked.]
Even with the explanation, I felt unsettled. Uneasy.
"Then let's make the first ground rule: in the future, you're not allowed to read or pry into my thoughts without my explicit permission. Do you agree?"
[Yes.]
I exhaled in relief. The idea of someone having free access to my mind and thoughts felt absolutely horrifying and suffocating.
My voice softened. "Don't hold it against me for reacting this way. I don't think there's a single human alive who would be comfortable knowing their thoughts were laid bare."
[It's fine. I understand.]
With that, I finally relaxed.
"You said you could provide me with helpful information. Does that still stand?"
There was a brief pause.
[Yes. As long as it's within controllable limits.]
My tone turned razor-sharp.
"Then tell me-when did Brandon and Claire's affair begin?"
I had married Brandon one year after our engagement. Around the same time, I got pregnant. For the baby switch to go unnoticed, Claire's child had to be of similar age. If the baby were older, no matter how dumb I was, I would've sensed something off.
Which meant those two snakes had been together for far longer than I realized.
[They've been involved for five years now.]
My fingers curled into tight fists.
Five years? That meant the affair started during our first year of college.
My eyes widened in disbelief.
"That was just one year after Claire came to live with us."
How could I have been so blind? That for over thirty years, I hadn't suspected a thing?
Something so absurd could only be a side-effect of the corrupted system Claire possessed. I had been manipulated.
A new thought struck me.
"When did that corrupted system bind with her?"
[Around the same time she joined your household. That's why I said your family was her starting point.]
"No wonder I never noticed anything," I muttered. Then my face paled.
"So... she's been stealing my luck for close to six years now?"
[Yes.] May's voice sounded heavy.
[Fortunately, her system's absorption rate is slow, so she's only taken a quarter so far.]
[But as long as you do as I instructed, you'll gradually reclaim everything she's stolen from you.]
My gaze darkened.
A quarter might not sound like much to others, but after the life I'd lived... I knew better.
Even a single strand of luck could change everything.
This new life of mine-there's no way I'd allow anyone to ruin it again, I thought, my jaw clenched tightly.
Perhaps May felt sorry for me, because it chimed in with something unexpected.
[Today is one of the days Brandon and Claire meet in private. Do you want to catch them in the act?]
My eyes sparkled. This was exactly the kind of information I needed.
For a second, I was tempted to go personally. To catch them red-handed.
But I quickly shook off the thought.
In my previous life, I'd learned the hard way: getting directly involved with those two always ended badly-especially when it came to Claire.
Better to send someone else. Someone skilled. Someone professional.
A private investigator, for example.
But...
I frowned. I had no idea how to find one.
Whether in my past life or this one, I'd never been exposed to that sort of profession. And asking my family?
No way.
Though I'd told myself I didn't blame them for being deceived, pretending I held no resentment would be a lie.
I... couldn't fully trust them anymore. Or anyone else, really.
I closed my eyes, heart heavy. When I opened them again, they were calm. Cold.
"May, I have a question. Would giving me the contact info of a reliable private investigator fall under 'controllable limits'?"
[...I think so. Probably?]
A small smile tugged at my lips. It probably never expected to be used as a phone book.
Not that I gave it time to reconsider.
A moment later, a message appeared on my phone from an unknown number, containing the contact information for a Langston Consulting Services.
"Thanks, May. You just saved me a lot of trouble." I flattered it sweetly.
[You're welcome. It's what I should do.]
The sly smile at the corner of my lips deepened.
I didn't waste time. After saving the number, I opened my messaging app and reached out.
I forwarded Brandon and Claire's names, along with other relevant details and the meeting place May had revealed.
Shortly after, I received a response requesting a million deposit, with the balance due upon delivery of the results.
I wired the money without blinking.
{I need the information before 6 PM today. The more detailed, the better. Can you deliver?}
{Don't worry, ma'am. Our agency's reputation is built on discretion and speed. With the details you've provided, this case will be easy.}
{Then I look forward to your good news.}
{Happy to be of service.}
With the chat coming to an end, I leaned back and smiled, satisfaction gleaming in my eyes.
"Brandon. Claire," I whispered.
"I'm coming for you. Are you ready?"
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7.7
Married off to him to pay a debt that was never mine, my only purpose was to give him an heir.
Year after year, my foolish heart fell harder while he shattered it without mercy.
When my service ended, my debt paid, and no child to bind us, I chose freedom through divorce.
But just when I thought I was free...
I was bound to him again.
Bound by his child.
9.7
I ran through the freezing rain, desperate to escape the Pennington estate. My adoptive family had raised me for one purpose: to be sold off as a bargaining chip in a wealthy arranged marriage.
But before I could reach the highway, I was cornered. Not just by my family's cruel guards, but by Hollis Wall—a terrifying, ruthless billionaire who snapped my tormentor's wrist and dragged me into his car. He didn't want a ransom. He threw a prenuptial agreement in my lap.
I thought he was insane until he took a scalpel to his own arm, and a burning agony ripped across my flawless skin. Because of a near-drowning accident three years ago, our nervous systems were linked. Every time I bled, he felt the agony. He locked me in his fortress to keep me safe, but when I finally escaped back to my adoptive parents, they didn't protect me. Instead, my adoptive father smiled and showed me a live video of my biological father on life support, a guard's hand hovering over the plug.
"You will marry Douglas Cherry tomorrow, or your father dies," he sneered.
My own family was willing to murder my only real flesh and blood just to secure their wealth. I collapsed onto the cold marble floor, my heart crushed in a vice of absolute, suffocating despair.
"I'll marry him," I sobbed, surrendering to the darkness.
But miles away, in his dark study, the ruthless Hollis Wall violently collapsed to the floor, gasping for air as my severe panic attack bled directly into his chest. Our twisted bond was killing him, and I knew he would tear the city apart to find me.
8.2
They were my Ex-husband's enemies: Arlo and Kael, powerful alpha kings that ruled everything and everyone. For as long as I've known my now ex-husband, he has always hated and obsessed over them. I inherited his hatred or so I thought until a night of rebellion against my husband who treated me like scorn and publicly divorced me, pushed me on their bed and fastened their tongues against my wetness. It's supposed to be a one night stand and a secret I'd take to my grave but turns out these powerful alphas have not only known who I was, they've always wanted me, and they've always hated that I belonged to a worthless alpha.
Now that they've finally had a taste, they're not willing to let go. And the worst part? I don't want them to either but if only it could be that simple... If only another alpha, enemy to them, hasn't always marked me as his.
7.7
CONTENT WARNING ⚠️🔞
This book is strictly for a mature audience only. Reader's discretion is advised.
On her eighteenth birthday, Sabrina's life is stolen from her. She was sold into marriage to Scott Wendell, a ruthless and powerful billionaire more than twice her age. A man she's never met. A man who claimed her as payment for a debt she never owed
But the real problem wasn't the vows she took or the marriage document she signed.
It's his son. The revelation that Ace Wendell, the one boy in school that she's always fantasized about, the boy she's secretly loved from afar, is now her stepson.
Now living under the same roof, Sabrina finds herself torn between duty to her marriage and the dangerous pull toward the stepson who has wanted her just as desperately.
9.1
He postponed putting my name on the deed 18 times.
Each time, his mentee Ciera had an “emergency.” Each time, he ran to her.
I watched him give her his prized Montblanc pen—the one he wouldn’t even let me borrow. I saw her post their late nights on Instagram. I ate anniversary dinners alone while he “mentored” her.
Then he bought me a necklace—identical to the one she just flaunted online.
That was when I stopped feeling anything.
I didn’t cry. I didn’t fight. I simply packed two suitcases, resigned from our firm, and booked a one-way ticket to London.
He thinks I’m coming back in a week.
He has no idea I’m gone for good.
Nineteen broken promises. One silent goodbye. And a new life waiting across the ocean.
8.8
I spun the dial on the hidden wall safe, expecting to find the Glock 19 Aiden insisted I keep.
Instead, I found a ledger proving my husband, the Mafia's most feared Enforcer, was funding a secret family with my dead father's money.
For seven years, I had been his obedient doll. I cleaned the blood off his knuckles and justified his violence.
But the ledger showed he had siphoned my entire inheritance into a trust for a child he had with his brother's wife.
When I tried to leave, his mistress framed me as a spy.
Aiden didn't ask for proof. He didn't hesitate.
He dragged me to a damp warehouse, hooded me, and beat me until my ribs cracked.
He left me to rot in the dark, ignoring the diamond bracelet on my wrist—the very one he had gifted me the day before as a symbol of his "ownership."
He thought he had broken me. He thought I would die in that basement, a silent collateral of his rage.
But he made a fatal mistake. He left me alive.
I escaped through a ventilation grate and ran straight to the one man Aiden feared most: his sworn enemy, Jensen Levy.
"Make me a weapon," I told him.
Two years later, I walked back into Aiden's office.
Not as his battered wife, but as the CEO of the corporation that had just bought his empire's debt.
He looked at me with horror, realizing the ghost he created had come back to burn him down.
"Hello, Aiden," I said, pressing a high-voltage tactical pen against his chest.
"You're trespassing."