After Rebirth, I Gave Her My "Poor" Fiancé

Chapter 4

"This taste is all wrong!"

Vivian's face twisted in an instant. She slammed the bottle of chili sauce onto the floor, sending sauce and shards of plastic flying everywhere.

Noah jumped and hurried over to grab her arm.

"Vivian, what the hell are you doing? We're completely swamped with orders! Everyone's scrambling to get their hands on this stuff! Who cares if the taste is off? We're making a fortune. That's all that matters!"

"You know nothing!"

Vivian's eyes burned with fury as she pointed at the mountains of inventory stacked throughout the warehouse.

Memories from her previous life came crashing back like a tidal wave.

The Grandma Rose's Condiments chili sauce from her previous life had tasted nothing like this garbage. She must have skipped a crucial step in the process.

Of course, she couldn't exactly tell Noah that she'd been reborn with memories of her previous life.

So she swallowed the truth and snarled instead, "This sauce is missing the core fermentation paste. The quality is absolute garbage. Give it enough time, and it'll turn sour. When every single customer sends their order back for a refund, what the hell are we supposed to tell our distributors?"

"S-Sour? Then what do we do?"

The moment Noah heard they might lose money, the color drained from his face, and panic took over.

"You're the one who got this recipe! I don't have a clue how to fix the taste!"

"What do we do? We buy up every last dried chili pepper and every bit of smoked paprika on the market right now, before it's too late!" Vivian ground her teeth, a cold, vicious glint flashing in her eyes.

"As long as Olivia can't get her hands on the raw materials and can't make the real sauce, no one will know what the authentic version tastes like. And no one will be able to expose us!"

*****

Olivia's POV:

A few days later, I was going through the equipment checklist in the run-down warehouse when the iron door was kicked open.

Vivian sauntered in, her parents close behind.

"Olivia, long time no see."

Vivian clutched a thick stack of loan documents in one hand.

My father stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his eyes sweeping judgmentally over the shabby, dilapidated warehouse.

"Look at the kind of life you're living now."

My mother, meanwhile, got straight to the point.

"Enough with the small talk. The Reed family's last remaining estate hasn't been seized yet, and Vivian is willing to pay $500,000 for it. We're doing you a huge favor here."

I slowly set down my pen and stared coldly at the three of them.

"$500,000? That estate is worth at least $30 million."

"$30 million was before everything went to hell!" Vivian jabbed a finger in my face, her voice dripping with contempt. "You cursed, good-for-nothing jinx! You dragged the entire Reed family into the gutter, and you still have the nerve to act all high and mighty?"

She stepped closer, looming over me.

"Look, Olivia. If you get down on your knees and beg me right now, I'll still buy that estate. I'll even throw you a bone, a job washing dishes at my new factory. How does that sound?"

I stared at her smug, punchable face, barely suppressing a laugh.

That family estate had been a complete headache from the start, tangled up in endless property disputes.

Ethan had been desperate to get rid of it for ages. He just hadn't been able to find anyone foolish enough to take it off his hands.

And now, look at that.

The sucker had practically walked through the door and begged to be taken for a ride.

I put on my best desperate, cornered expression, letting tears well up in my eyes.

"Vivian, do you really have to drive me into the ground?"

I gritted my teeth, forcing every word through a voice thick with humiliation.

"What if I do?" Vivian lifted her chin, practically preening with smug satisfaction.

I drew a deep breath, pulled out a ring of keys, and tossed them at her feet.

"Take your key and get lost!"

Vivian bent down to pick up the keys, cackling so hard she could barely stand upright.

"See? That's all you had to do."

The moment their swaggering backs disappeared from sight, every trace of humiliation vanished from my face.

Ethan climbed up from the basement and handed me a tissue to wipe my hands.

"Nice performance," he said with a quiet chuckle.

"Obviously."

I took the tissue from him.

"Those idiots think they've hit the jackpot. They're planning to mortgage the family estate to expand their factory."

Just as I finished speaking, Ethan's phone buzzed in his pocket.

He answered the call and listened for a few seconds.

"Got it. Thanks."

He hung up and turned to me, his eyes practically glowing with excitement.

"Olivia, that was the judging committee for the International Fine Food Contest."

My heart skipped a beat.

"Unanimous vote. First place." Ethan enunciated every word.

I let out a long, slow breath of relief.

The committee had called to confirm that our chili sauce had also won a $5 million innovation grant.

To avoid tipping Vivian off, we kept the news completely under wraps and quietly signed a contract for the largest sterile production line in the entire state, located out in the suburbs.

The real fightback had only just begun.