Reborn to Build a Billion-Dollar Empire

Chapter 002

Elise Mercer turned her head away, lips pressed tight, saying nothing.

After the business collapsed, Victor Hale had become a shell of himself. He drowned his days in alcohol, picking fights over nothing, and when his temper flared, he took it out on her. The weight of it all had crushed whatever man he used to be.

The Mercer family had been pressuring her relentlessly. Then there was the school. Nell's tuition was nearly two months overdue. If she didn't go through with the divorce, her family wouldn't pay a cent, and both kids would have to drop out. She hadn't told Nell any of this. She couldn't bear to.

Nell clutched Victor's right hand with both of hers, eyes brimming with tears. "Daddy, I won't let you sign it. I won't let you leave Mommy."

"Just give me one more chance, please. I'll make sure you have a good life." Victor could sense the burden Elise was carrying. She'd come from money, after all. To have fallen this far must have weighed on her more than she let on.

Elise gave a bitter smile, the kind that barely reached her eyes. "Lies don't become true just because you keep telling them. Stop wasting my time, okay?"

The words struck him like a blade. They weren't harsh, but they cut deep. For a moment, he almost agreed. Then he thought back to his previous life, to the hardest, darkest days when she had refused to leave, when she had chosen to stand by him through the worst of it. That love, that devotion. He shook his head. His resolve hardened.

God, how he wanted to hold her. Even for just one second.

But doing that now would only push her further away.

"Elise, I swear on my honor that starting today, you're going to see a completely different Victor Hale. One day, you'll be proud of me." He drew in a deep breath, meeting her gaze with every ounce of sincerity he had.

They say the eyes are windows to the soul. Despite her irritation, Elise felt the weight of his determination. It was real. She could see that much.

"My dad's so cool!" Toby looked up at him with open admiration, as if he'd just learned the secret to winning hearts at his age.

"Mommy, please, just give him one more chance. If Daddy slips back into his old ways, we'll never talk to him again, I swear. Old habits die hard, but he is really trying." Nell tugged at Elise's arm, her small voice pleading.

Two trails of tears fell across Nell's hand. They were Elise's.

"Can you please stop being so naive? My parents made it crystal clear. The moment we divorce, they'll use their pension to raise the kids until they're grown. That's the deal."

"I don't need their money. I can take care of them myself." Victor's refusal was immediate.

"You? Take care of them? Don't make me laugh. You can't even handle the loan-shark debt that's burying you alive."

Elise shot him a glare. All talk, no action. Her frustration boiled over.

"Fine. You want a chance? I'll give you one so you can finally face reality. You have two months to pay off the loan-shark debt, then find a stable job. If you can't do that, we're done. The kids stay with me."

Victor's eyes lit up instantly. "I won't need two months. Half a month, tops. I'll clear the debt and buy you a house, just you wait."

Elise felt her heart sink into cold resignation. This man was beyond saving. If he managed to clear the debt at all, it would be a miracle. And now he was talking about buying a house? Had the alcohol finally rotted his brain?

"Fine, half a month it is," she replied, her voice hollow with disappointment.

"Then we have a deal," he said, his confidence unwavering despite the tight deadline.

"Come on, you still have homework to finish," Elise said flatly.

"Mommy, is Auntie going to yell at us when we get back? Can I stay with Daddy a little longer?" Nell asked cautiously.

A smack rang out as Elise's hand came down on Nell's cheek. It was not a hard blow, but Victor's chest tightened like a vice.

"What are you doing?" He shot to his feet. Elise rolled her eyes.

"What do you mean, yelling at you? Don't make things up. You eat well at Grandma's house, you sleep in a warm bed. What more do you want?"

Nell covered her face, tears streaming silently down her cheeks. She didn't dare make a sound.

Before long, Victor walked them to the entrance.

A Regent sedan sat idling at the curb, horn blaring impatiently.

The door swung open and a burly man stepped out. He glanced at Victor with open contempt, not even trying to hide it.

The license plate caught Victor's eye, the 9999 vanity plate, and recognition hit him immediately.

This was Quentin Ross, a distant relative of Elise's family. The guy was worth over a million. In 2003, when the average salary was only a few hundred bucks a month, that made him wealthy by any standard.

The Mercer family had been pushing Elise toward Quentin for a while now. Odds were, Quentin had been courting favor with them for months, and Elise was finally caving under the pressure.

"Good God, you reek like you crawled out of a sewer. Stay back and don't get anywhere near my car."

Victor pressed his lips together but didn't respond. Soon enough, this guy would pay for that attitude.

Quentin had made his fortune in construction, then leveraged bank loans to move into real estate. Things had gone well for a time. But then he'd gone to Calder with a friend. Less than six months later, he'd gambled away everything and thrown himself into the river. When they fished his body out of the river, it was swollen like a balloon. Made the front page of the local paper.

Just wait, you bastard. When I'm back on top, you're first on my list.

Victor watched them drive away. He was about to head back inside when a cargo van came roaring up and screeched to a halt beside him.

Several rough-looking men climbed out, their faces hard and unfriendly.

The last to emerge was a bald man covered in tattoos, a gold chain thick as a rope hanging around his neck.

They were back.

"Hey, Bruno. Good to see you." Victor plastered on a grin.

"Good to see me? You're a week overdue. Where's my money?" Bruno flicked his cigarette butt at Victor.

"Bruno, it's just money, right? No need for you to come all the way out here yourself. Come inside, let's talk." Victor didn't flinch. These guys looked like thugs, sure, but at the end of the day, they were debt collectors. They wouldn't actually kill him.

Bruno Kade's eyes gleamed. "So you've got the cash?"

Victor pulled over a chair with exaggerated politeness. "Bruno, please, sit, sit."

"Cut the crap. Just hand over the money."

"Bruno, any chance I could get a little more time?" Victor's tone turned humble.

Bruno's expression darkened, anger flickering in his eyes. "More time? How much more time do you need? You don't pay today, I'm chopping off one of your fingers."

One look from Bruno, and Victor's hand was slammed down flat on the table.

"Bruno, it's not that I don't want to pay. I've just hit a rough patch. I'm working on it, I swear."

"Oh, so you can't pay today. Fine, then here is the deal. Call your wife, let me have some fun with her, and I'll give you another two weeks." Bruno tossed his Norel phone onto the table.

"To be honest, my wife's about to divorce me. She'd be happier if I dropped dead. But listen, once I get the cash together, I'll find you someone way hotter, way more fun. Actually, Bruno, I was hoping to borrow another fifty thousand. Ten days, max. I'll pay you back with interest."

Bruno froze for a beat, then grabbed Victor's face and gave it a rough pat. "You think I'm a cash cow? You got a death wish? Just say so."

"Listen, Bruno." Victor leaned in close, lowering his voice so only Bruno could hear. "I feel like I should warn you. When you're fooling around with Roxy, you might want to be more careful. Keep playing with fire and you're gonna get burned."

Bruno went rigid. His expression twisted. His affair with Roxy was a secret. Even his crew didn't know. How the hell did Victor find out? Was he guessing, testing him?

He jerked his chin toward the door. His men caught the signal and filed outside.

"You little punk. You can stuff your face, but you better watch your mouth. Keep talking and I'll cut out your tongue." Bruno's voice was low and menacing.