Reborn to Love Mr. Right – Episode 25
Ivy’s disappearance shattered the board-session plan before dawn. Security footage showed her leaving through the residence kitchen in a housekeeper’s coat, then entering a rideshare alone. Derek had not forced her past the guards; he had used knowledge of her future to make obedience feel like the only way to save her mother. Fear had succeeded where affection no longer could, turning her love for her mother into another invisible chain Derek could pull whenever she resisted him.
Arianna remembered Ivy’s dream of becoming a witness against Derek. In that future, retaliation might have reached her family long before prosecutors protected them. Fear had pulled her back toward the same man she finally dared to betray.
Hayden wanted to cancel the meeting, but Donald argued that Evelyn still expected a public victory. If the ballroom remained empty, she would disappear with Derek and destroy whatever evidence Ivy carried. They proceeded while police expanded the search.
The emergency session began at the Maple Grand, where Derek’s first false celebration had collapsed. Foundation trustees, Scott directors, attorneys, and reporters filled the room beneath the restored screens. This time, every presentation file had three secure backups. Security checked every service entrance, yet Arianna knew Derek’s most effective weapon had always been the person already invited inside.
Evelyn entered through the main doors without Derek or Ivy. She expressed concern for the missing girl and implied Arianna’s protection detail had failed. Her confidence suggested she believed the witnesses were already under control. She took a front-row seat beneath the forged agreement’s enlarged image, daring anyone to prove what she had done.
Donald opened with the forensic report proving the engagement agreement false. The source signatures, impossible trust date, and laboratory receipt appeared on the screens. Board members who had accepted Evelyn’s accusations began whispering among themselves. Each technical fact removed another layer of romance Evelyn had wrapped around corporate theft.
Hayden read his mother’s letter aloud. Her insistence that neither child become a corporate asset stripped away Evelyn’s claim to defend the Scott family. When he finished, he requested an immediate board vote removing his aunt from every position of authority. His voice broke once on his mother’s name, then steadied without apology.
Evelyn dismissed the documents as Taylor fabrications. She announced that Ivy would testify Arianna planned the school fire to destroy the agreement and frame Derek. The ballroom doors opened on cue.
Ivy walked inside with Derek’s hand clamped around her arm. She wore a hidden microphone beneath her collar, but Arianna could not tell whether it belonged to Derek or the police. Derek released her only when they reached the witness table.
Under oath, Ivy stated that Arianna had known the location and time of the fire before it occurred. The statement was true, though its meaning was false. Evelyn smiled as reporters captured Arianna’s silence. Derek watched Ivy with the satisfaction of a man certain fear had restored his ownership.
“Tell them how she knew,” Derek prompted. Ivy looked toward her mother sitting under police protection in the front row. Relief crossed her face when she realized the threat Derek described had already been contained.
Ivy changed her testimony. She explained that Derek predicted the fire first, ordered her to direct the freshman toward the west entrance, and borrowed her badge to test the gas valve. Then she placed the silver ring on the table. The sound it made against the polished wood seemed louder than Evelyn’s shouted objection.
Derek called her a liar and reached for the ring. Its memory card was gone, but a live transmitter inside the crest sent his voice to every speaker in the ballroom. The device had recorded his conversation with Ivy after she left the safe house.
His own words filled the room. He described moving the fire forward, trapping the freshman, and using the rescue to restore his reputation. He also promised Evelyn that the forged agreement would force Hayden away from Arianna.
Evelyn stood abruptly and accused Derek of inventing the plan. A second recording answered her—the archive audio of her ordering Victor to burn the school contracts. Paired with the original documents and financial warrants, it gave police grounds to arrest her.
Officers entered from every exit. Evelyn’s authority vanished with astonishing speed; directors who had obeyed her stepped aside rather than share her disgrace. Hayden watched without triumph as his aunt was handcuffed beneath his mother’s words.
Derek overturned the witness table and pulled Ivy in front of him. He held a shard of broken glass to her throat, demanding a clear path to the service corridor. The ballroom froze as the old alliance ended in naked terror.
Arianna stepped away from security and told Derek to take her instead. His attention shifted for the fraction of a second Ivy needed. She drove her heel into his foot while Hayden struck his wrist, and officers forced him to the floor.
As Derek was dragged past Arianna, he laughed rather than begged. “You think arresting me saves your father?” he said. “Every future demands a body.” The threat sounded desperate until Ivy’s cloud account chimed in Arianna’s pocket.
A new photograph showed Arianna and Hayden standing together on their wedding day. Donald’s place in the front row was empty, and a black ribbon hung across his chair. Written beneath the image were six words that turned victory cold: “You saved him once. Choose again.”
