Reborn to Build a Billion-Dollar Empire

Chapter 001

"Honey, someone set me up, and I would never willingly betray you by sleeping with another woman."

"Get out of here, because I never want to see you again."

Victor Hale jolted awake with his heart pounding against his ribs, tormented once again by the same recurring nightmare that had been dragging him back to that painful moment night after night.

He opened his eyes and found himself in a cramped, damp room that reeked of sour decay. Rain dripped steadily through the ceiling, each drop landing with a hollow plunk. A little girl with braided pigtails stood nearby, clutching a mop in one hand and a plastic bucket in the other.

"Oh, Daddy, you're awake?" The girl turned, her whole face lighting up with surprise and delight.

"Nell?" Victor's voice came out hoarse, disbelieving.

"Daddy, get up quick so I can change your sheets!" A small boy spoke up from the other side of the bed.

The two children might have been cut from the same mold. The boy was already moving to pull away the plastic bag that covered something soiled on the mattress.

"Toby?" Victor scrambled off the bed and pulled both children into a fierce embrace, not caring that he reeked of stale alcohol.

The feel of them, the warmth and the solid small weight of them in his arms, hit him harder than he had expected. Blood is thicker than water, and this bond was achingly, impossibly real. Victor's chest tightened with a joy so sudden it bordered on pain.

Toby and Nell were alive. But they looked so young, so small. Was this a rebirth?

In his previous life he had been drugged and had lost consciousness. When he came to, he had found himself in bed with his wife's younger sister. His wife, Elise Mercer, had walked in at exactly the wrong moment. In her fury and her heartbreak, she had taken the children and fled to her parents' house.

He had tried calling to explain, desperate to make her understand. On the other end of the line he heard her scream, and then the line went dead. Death had taken her from him in that single instant.

The crash had been merciless.

After that, Victor had fallen apart completely. He had drowned himself in alcohol day after day, letting the numbness swallow him whole. Three weeks after her death, he had taken their grown children, both of them married with families of their own, to the cemetery to pay their respects. As he stood weeping before her grave, the sky had suddenly erupted in flame. A freak fire had engulfed them all and burned his entire family alive.

The rage and the despair he had felt in that final moment had seared itself into his soul. But heaven had opened its eyes, and he had been given another chance.

Looking at his two precious children now, tears welled up and spilled down his cheeks before he could stop them.

"Toby, Nell, I'm so sorry. Daddy failed to protect you."

Both children froze, staring at him with wide, uncertain eyes. What on earth was wrong with their father?

"Daddy, you taught me that real men don't cry." Toby patted Victor's shoulder with the solemnity of a grown man trying to comfort a friend.

"Right. You're right." Victor swiped at his eyes roughly, and a warm current moved through his chest despite everything.

"On the morning news, Meridian V, carrying national hero Colonel Wade Rutledge, has completed its return journey and landed safely. This marks a new milestone in our nation's manned space program." The old television in the corner flickered to life, showing a scene Victor knew all too well.

Meridian V, with Colonel Wade Rutledge aboard? Hadn't that happened back in early 2000?

His eyes darted to the calendar hanging on the wall. October 16, 2003.

The pieces clicked into place. This was the year the United States had been ravaged by a virus, a year that had ground the whole country down. The shadow of the epidemic was only now beginning to lift, and the successful spaceflight had done more than lift the spirits of millions. It had pushed the nation's standing in the world up another notch.

This was also the year ShopNest had been founded, only a few months back. Marlon Pace was still just Marlon, an unknown name. Internet technology was still in its infancy, and only a tiny fraction of people had regular access to a computer or a cell phone, let alone to the web itself.

In other words, this was the eve of the great technological age. Anyone who could seize the opportunity would become a man poised to shape the future.

As someone who had already lived through it all once, Victor had every advantage. With his foreknowledge, he could build a business empire at a staggering pace.

Except that right now, at this exact point in time, he was at rock bottom. His business had collapsed. He was drowning in debt.

Creditors pounded on his door almost every day. His wife had taken the children back to the Mercer family home to wait out the storm, coming by now and then to check on him.

Victor went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. When he came out, a rich smell greeted him.

On the table sat a large bowl of noodles, sprinkled with chopped scallions and topped with a fried egg, a few pieces of pickled vegetable on the side.

Nell had made it just now. Victor took one bite, and his eyes immediately grew wet. Not the grandest feast imaginable could compare to the plain comfort of this single bowl of noodles.

He had barely wolfed down a few mouthfuls when he noticed Toby and Nell staring at him, eyes wide and hungry. He smacked himself on the forehead, suddenly understanding.

"You two should have some."

"Daddy, Nell isn't hungry. I just ate a bag of chips." The little girl said it quickly, as if she had prepared the words in advance.

"Toby isn't hungry either. I had porridge and a big steamed bun this morning," the boy added.

These children were far too considerate. They clearly wanted to eat, and they were determined to leave all of it for him.

Looking at their thin, sallow faces, Victor felt a pang he could not put into words.

"Dad's full already. You two split it, half and half. Don't worry, I promise I'll get us back on our feet soon, and you'll have good meals every day." His voice was thick with remorse, but he forced confidence and determination into it.

"Daddy, you've changed. You're better now. Mommy will be so happy when she sees you like this. And Daddy, I don't want to stay at Grandma's house anymore. There's food there, I know, but Grandma and Auntie don't like us. They keep calling us little bastards." Nell's voice trembled with hurt she could not hide.

"Nell, why are you saying all this?" Toby shot his sister a warning look.

Toby was always the more careful one. He knew that saying these things would change nothing and would only make their father feel worse.

"They're all judging a man by his wallet." Victor cursed under his breath, his anger flaring. Before his business failed, he had been the rich son-in-law of the Mercer family, and he had helped them out plenty of times. Now that he was out of options, not only did they offer him not one word of comfort, they were happy to kick a man who is down and to make his children pay for it.

"Daddy, don't be angry. It's not worth hurting yourself over them," Toby said, patting his arm.

Just then Nell dug into her pocket and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill, pressing it into Victor's hand.

"Daddy, this is the gift money Grandpa gave me for my birthday. Don't tell Mommy, okay? Use it to buy rice and oil and meat. But don't buy alcohol, or Nell will never talk to you again." Her face was utterly serious.

Victor felt a flush of embarrassment, but he took the money anyway. In his previous life he had been worth hundreds of millions, and here he was, accepting birthday money from his little girl. Still, she was his precious daughter. There was no need to stand on ceremony with her.

"Nell? Toby?" A familiar, lovely voice called from outside the door.

Victor's heart lurched violently in his chest.

It was Elise.

The first time he had lost her, the blow had nearly carried him into the grave with her.

"Mommy's here to pick us up. Bye, Daddy." Nell could feel how badly her father wanted them to stay, but they had to go.

"Daddy, pull yourself together, okay? You can do it." Nell looked back at Victor with tears shining in the corners of her eyes, her face full of reluctance.

The door creaked open.

A graceful woman stood in the doorway, her slender figure and delicate features framed by an expression of cool detachment that made her seem like a celestial being who had descended to earth only to remain untouched by the mortal world.

A powerful surge of emotion swept through Victor as he gazed at Elise in the prime of her youth, vibrant and breathtakingly beautiful, and every buried feeling and long-held regret came rushing back all at once, driving him toward her before he even realized he had moved.

"Honey, I've missed you so much."

Elise raised one hand and planted her palm firmly against his chest, stopping him before he could get any closer.

"Are you sick in the head? Keep your hands to yourself. I came for the children. And while we're at it, when are you free? We need to make a trip to the courthouse. Let's get the divorce over with early. Better to cut it off clean."

The joy of having her back, of seeing her alive and standing in front of him, shattered like glass. Her words hit him like a bucket of ice water. It was far too sudden.

The two children looked badly frightened. Until now the divorce had only ever come up in passing during arguments. Why was it suddenly something to be settled at the courthouse?

Nell burst into tears at once. "No! Mommy, Daddy, don't get divorced! I won't let you split up!"

With a soft thud, Toby dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around Elise's legs. "Mommy, please. Give Daddy one more chance. He's already changing, I mean it."