All Chapters of REBORN, Taking Back What Was Mine: Chapter 21
- Chapter 23
23 chapters
CHAPTER 21: INVESTIGATION
Ethan spent the first day of his "sabbatical" in the public library. Not his office, where Wei's team might monitor him. Not his apartment, where Noah might see what he was researching. The library—anonymous, public, with computers that didn't track back to him. He needed to understand Victor Chen. Really understand him. Not just his current moves, but his history. His pattern. The fifteen years of rebirths that had turned him into what he was. Wei had given him a file, but Ethan suspected it only contained what Wei wanted him to know. He needed to dig deeper. He started with public records. Victor Chen, age 38 (allegedly). Born in San Francisco to immigrant parents. Stanford undergrad, MIT graduate school. First job at Goldman Sachs. Left after three years to start his own fund. Standard Silicon Valley success story. Nothing remarkable. Except for the gaps. Victor's LinkedIn showed employment at Goldman from 2009-2012. But Ethan found a news article from 2011 mentioning "Vict
Last Updated : 2026-01-20
CHAPTER 22: CATHERINE'S CHOICE
Catherine showed up at his door unannounced on a Saturday morning, carrying two coffees and a look that said she wasn't leaving without answers. "We need to talk." Ethan had been dreading this conversation for weeks. He let her in. Noah was at a friend's house for a playdate—Ethan had made sure of that. Whatever happened in the next hour, his son didn't need to witness it. They sat at the kitchen table. Catherine set down the coffees but didn't drink hers. Just held it, like she needed something to do with her hands. "You've been lying to me," she said quietly. "Catherine—" "Not about big things. Not about other women or money or anything normal. But you've been lying about something. And I need to know what it is." She looked at him directly. "Because my mother almost died. Then she had a second stroke that the doctors can't explain. And you looked at me in that hospital like you knew exactly what was happening but couldn't say it." Ethan's chest tightened. He'd known this mo
Last Updated : 2026-01-20
CHAPTER 23: THE FIRST MOVE
The boardroom on the forty-seventh floor had floor-to-ceiling windows that framed the city like a conquest already won. Ethan arrived early—not out of nervousness, but because he'd learned long ago that controlling the space meant controlling the narrative. He adjusted his cufflinks, a nervous habit from another lifetime that he'd never quite shed, and took his seat at the head of the mahogany table. Victor Reeves entered exactly three minutes late. Intentionally late, Ethan knew. Everything Victor did was intentional. "Ethan." Victor's smile didn't reach his eyes as he claimed the seat directly across from him, the power position for a challenger. "Thank you for accommodating this emergency session." "Emergency." Ethan let the word hang in the air between them. "Interesting choice of terminology for a scheduled quarterly review." The other board members filtered in—eight faces Ethan had worked with for years, built relationships with, earned trust from. He watched Victor's gaze s
Last Updated : 2026-01-21