Reborn to Love Mr. Right – Episode 10
The Rolls-Royce carried Arianna away from Maple Valley High, but the laughter at the curb remained lodged in her mind. Jeff drove with rigid shoulders, glancing at her through the mirror whenever he thought she would not notice. In her first life, she had mistaken his familiarity for affection. Now she saw an employee who had served the Davis family’s ambitions while collecting a salary from the Taylors.
“Take me home,” she said. Jeff began explaining that Derek had only wanted to calm the situation, as though dragging her from her own car were an act of kindness. Arianna let him speak until his excuses ran out. “You abandoned me at school after I ordered you to drive. My father will decide what happens next.”
Jeff’s face tightened. “Derek cares about you. Young couples fight, and you shouldn’t turn a misunderstanding into something that hurts everyone.” The warning beneath his concern was unmistakable. He was asking the employer’s daughter to protect the chauffeur’s son from consequences.
Arianna watched familiar streets pass outside the window. In the vanished future, Derek had isolated her by making every objection sound selfish or unstable. Jeff had reinforced those lies until she distrusted her own judgment. She would never again allow either man to define reality for her.
Donald Taylor was waiting on the mansion steps when the car arrived. The sight of her father alive struck Arianna with such force that she forgot Jeff beside her. His hair held less gray than she remembered, and concern warmed the stern face she had last seen in a hospital memory. She crossed the driveway and threw her arms around him.
Donald hugged her back, startled by the intensity. “Are you hurt?” he asked, checking her arms where Derek had grabbed her. Arianna shook her head and held on for one extra heartbeat. She had been given another chance not only to save herself, but to keep this man from dying disappointed in her.
Jeff began his defense before Donald could question him. He claimed Arianna had locked Derek out during a childish argument and insisted that driving away had been the safest solution. Donald listened without interrupting, which Jeff mistook for belief. Arianna recognized the same silence her father used in board meetings before delivering an unwelcome decision.
“You were hired to drive my daughter,” Donald said. “You left her on a public curb because your son wanted her seat.” Jeff’s excuses collapsed beneath the plain statement. Donald ordered him to surrender the keys and informed him that he was suspended pending a review.
Jeff stared at Arianna as if she had personally betrayed him. She met his resentment without apology. The man who dreamed of owning Taylor wealth had lost access to its driveway in less than an hour. Consequences, Arianna discovered, arrived quickly when she stopped shielding the people who harmed her.
Inside the mansion, Donald asked what had changed. His daughter had defended Derek and Jeff through every previous complaint, yet now she looked at their behavior with open distrust. Arianna could not reveal the impossible truth of her rebirth, but she could offer enough honesty to protect them both. “I finally noticed that they treat our kindness like something they own.”
Donald studied her for a long moment. Relief softened his expression, though he carefully hid it. He had never trusted Derek’s growing influence, but every warning had pushed Arianna closer to the boy. “What do you want me to do?” he asked, giving her the choice he had once feared she was not ready to make.
“Freeze every secondary card connected to my accounts,” Arianna said. “Remove Derek’s authorization from my car, school expenses, and personal purchases. Don’t cancel his tuition yet. I want to see exactly what he does when the easy money disappears.”
Donald raised an eyebrow at the calculated answer. It was not the impulsive demand of an angry teenager but the first move of someone planning several steps ahead. He called the family office and requested a complete report on every card, transfer, and purchase connected to Derek Davis. Arianna listened as the machinery of her own power finally moved on her behalf.
The preliminary statement arrived before dinner. Charges filled page after page: designer clothes, expensive restaurants, gifts from stores Arianna never visited, and cash withdrawals disguised as school costs. Derek had been stealing long before he asked for the company. Arianna’s past generosity had merely taught him that no amount would ever be questioned.
One charge caught her attention—a substantial deposit at the Maple Grand Hotel. The reservation was scheduled for Friday night, and Derek had billed it as an academic networking event. Attached invoices listed premium catering, imported flowers, a live band, and a custom display bearing his initials.
Donald frowned. “Did you approve this?” Arianna remembered Derek mentioning a small gathering for scholarship students, then asking her to sign a form without reading it. The invoice revealed a lavish private celebration funded entirely through her account. Ivy’s name appeared beside the order for a couture dress.
“No,” Arianna said, though anger sharpened the word. In her first life, she would have learned about the event only after arriving as an unwanted guest. This time, Derek had made the mistake of using her family’s name on every contract. The hotel reservation belonged to the person who paid for it, not the boy whose initials decorated the stage.
The doorbell rang before Donald could respond. A housekeeper entered to announce that Derek had arrived and refused to leave. He claimed Arianna was upset and needed him. Donald looked to his daughter for permission rather than ordering the visitor admitted.
Arianna closed the account statement and considered the frightened anger Derek had shown beside the car. He had come to restore control before she could tell her father too much. Letting him believe he still possessed some influence might reveal his next move. “Send him in,” she said.
Derek entered with flowers and a rehearsed expression of concern, but his gaze dropped immediately to the financial report beneath Arianna’s hand. For one revealing instant, fear replaced affection. Arianna smiled and rested her fingers on the Maple Grand invoice. “Perfect timing,” she said. “We were just discussing your Friday-night surprise.”
