Sober Rebirth

To test his loyalty, my stepsister, Wendy Lidell, drugged my childhood friend. Then, she shoved me into his room. Unable to watch Connor Gordon suffer, I willingly helped him through the night.

In a fit of pique, Wendy ran off and married a cruel mafia don.

I got pregnant, and Connor was forced to marry me. At that point, he started to despise me.

During the ten long years of marriage, he treated me and our son coldly. But during a flood overseas, he sacrificed his life to get me and our son back on solid land.

I failed to keep my grip on him. As he sank into the depths, he looked at me and said, “If we could redo everything, make sure you don’t help me that night.”

Those words stung me greatly, and I fainted right away.

When I next opened my eyes, I found that I had gone back in time. I had traveled back to the night when Wendy had drugged Connor and locked me in his room.

To test Connor Gordon’s loyalty, Wendy Lidell had drugged him and then shoved me into his room.

“Willow…” Connor was panting slightly as he looked at me in a daze.

I knew that he had always loved Wendy. However, since they were unmarried, he could not bear to touch her yet.

To survive, he would pick the lesser evil; he would sacrifice me.

In the previous timeline, I could not control the feelings I had had for him since I was younger. Thus, I spent the night with him.

The next morning, Wendy spotted the hickies on my neck and started throwing a tantrum about becoming a nun.

After we stopped her from doing that, she married a mafia don in Hurac in a fit of pique. Soon after that, she had passed away in an accident, becoming that mafia don’s fourth dead wife.

After I got pregnant, Connor married me out of a sense of responsibility. However, he treated me and our son as though we were strangers.

I knew that he resented me for letting Wendy discover what happened between us that night.

If Wendy had remained clueless about us, she would never have left.

At that point, I broke off from my thoughts. I brought Connor the antidote to the drug and some cold water. After helping him with the pill, I put a cold compress on him.

After all, in the previous timeline, he had sacrificed himself to save me. I had to pay him back for that.

“Where’s Wendy?”

The antidote and cold water had helped him regain some of his senses.

He no longer yelled out my name while panting. Instead, his first instinct was to wonder about Wendy.

“Don’t worry. The driver has sent her home.”

“Good. About tonight…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone what happened. Besides, we didn’t do anything, right?”

Connor stared at me in surprise because I was acting differently.

From the time I was a child, I loved chasing after him and calling his name. I was his biggest admirer.

Twenty years had passed in a flash, though, and we all grew up.

Still, I never once hid the love I felt for him.

The self-control and distant aloofness I presented were clearly out of his expectations.

Since I was not as enthusiastic and proactive as before, he angrily turned away.

I left the room and contacted Connor’s executive assistant to come and take care of him.

Back at home, Wendy was picking through the newest dresses of the season.

When I returned, she beamed. “Didn’t Connor ask you to stay, Sis?”

“Don’t call me that,” I said icily.

As if she had expected my combative response, Wendy walked to stand before me.

She said in a low voice, “I’m only calling you that because I pity you. So what if you’re the oldest daughter of the Lidell family? Your mother’s dead, and Dad doesn’t love you. My mother and I are the mistresses of this family.

“And let’s not forget Connor. You really like him, don’t you? You were practically wrapped up in a bow and presented before him tonight. But you weren’t even worth being his outlet for release. You can’t beat me.”

I smiled slightly in the face of Wendy’s haughtiness.

“I’m not interested in beating you at anything. Everything you have, you got from me.”

There was some noise at the door. Dad was home.

The vicious expression on Wendy’s face immediately disappeared. She slapped herself hard and fell to the floor.

Dad walked in on the scene. Instantly, he assumed that I had been bullying Wendy.

“Willow, how long will you act so petulantly? All these years, you’ve never given me a day of peace!”

“Peace? Ever since she and her mother came into this house and forced my mother to her death, this family was never destined for peace!”

Dad ignored my tears and helped Wendy up from the floor.

“I’ll fulfill the marriage agreement with that mafia don in Hurac.” I passed the agreement to my father. “I’ve already written my name on the document. You don’t have to think up ways to get me to go.”

Dad looked at me in surprise. He could not hide his joy.

The mafia in Hurac was very powerful, so Dad did not dare to go against the marriage agreement. However, he was unwilling to let his precious younger daughter marry its don, whose past three wives had all died.

The look in Wendy’s eyes as she glared at me grew even more jealous and spiteful.

She had always been this way. She craved riches and power, but she never wanted to take any risks.

Her tone was pitiful as she said, “Dad, Willow doesn’t really want to marry him and go all the way to Hurac. I saw her drugging Connor with my own eyes last night. They spent the night in the same room…”

I wanted to refute her, but Dad had already raised his hand and slapped me.

“Nothing happened between Connor and me.”

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking, Willow. Your marriage is a done deal. Don’t keep thinking of how you can use Connor to get out of it. Besides, Connor has never liked you.”

Wendy shot a pleased look at me.

“Since you’re so shameless, you should be punished. You know the rules.”

I took the marriage agreement and went outside. I stood under the burning heat for the whole day.

According to the family rules, I had to stand outside for an entire day if I did not admit my fault. If I did, the punishment only lasted two hours.

My legs had gone numb, and my knees felt weak. Just then, Connor arrived in a rush. He glared at me before going inside.

When he came back out, his expression had lost the urgency of before. He came by my side.

“Willow, I know your mother and mine had made a marriage agreement between us. But I can’t marry you right now. I can’t let Wendy go to Hurac.”

I scoffed internally. He did not seem to know that I was the one going overseas to fulfill that marriage agreement.

“If she doesn’t go, then I have to.”