Bryant's POV

The bodyguards quickly pinned me down again as Ellen began slapping me hard from both sides. Each hit stung like fire across my cheeks.

“You already tore us apart once in our last life! Why are you trying to break us up again?!” she screamed. “You hurt him, Bryant. So now I’ll make you pay for it a hundred times over!”

I tasted blood in my mouth.

Catching her off guard, I raised my leg and kicked her straight in the stomach.

Doubling over and clutching her belly, she gasped, “You’re insane!”

Hair clung to my face as I glared at her. “Who said I’m trying to break you up? If you love him that much, then go with him to community college. No one’s stopping you.”

Ellen froze.

Even Toby turned to look at her instinctively.

But she said nothing.

I let out a bitter, breathless laugh. “See? I’m not standing in your way. Not now, not even before. If you’d really been that determined, nothing could’ve come between you two. Just admit it, you just couldn’t let go of Stanford or your family’s stock price, and you didn’t have the guts to blame your precious ‘first love.’ So now you're blaming me.”

“You’re a coward, Ellen! A spineless, selfish coward,” I spat.

“Enough!” she snapped, her voice shaking.

Grabbing Toby’s hand, she turned and stormed out of the room.

“You’re insane!” she lastly shouted before leaving.

The bodyguards then followed close behind.

And just like that, they left me there, crumpled on the ground like a piece of trash.

Then a notification popped up on my computer.

It was a message from a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

[Mr. Bryant Blanton, we were extremely impressed with the project files you sent. For that reason, we’ve made an exception to admit you as a research assistant. We hope you’ll continue to contribute to the future of our country’s scientific development.]

Attached was a formal letter of appointment.

Tears welled up and spilled down my cheeks.

The truth was, the heartbreak from my last life wasn’t what haunted me most.

My biggest regret was that I had been on the brink of a major scientific breakthrough, something our country desperately needed, but I died at the bottom of that cliff before I could finish it.

It wasn’t Ellen I regretted.

It was the career that died with me.

But now, with everything I remembered from my past life, I finally achieved that breakthrough.

And this time, I could fulfill my dream of serving my country.

In the days that followed, I worked remotely with the research team, helping advance the project from a distance. If our tech reached completion, it would push national science forward by years, and traditional businesses like the Olsons' would be left scrambling to keep up.

The night before I was supposed to report for duty, I packed my things and got ready to leave.

But before I could step out the door, a group of men burst in and dragged me away.

My parents greeted me with bright, excited smiles.

“You really struck gold this time!” my mom said cheerfully. “The Olsons say you don’t even need to get into college to marry in. For the next four years, you’ll live at their estate and learn how to be a good son-in-law. Once Ellen graduates, you two will have the wedding.”

My breath caught in my throat.

The Olsons were extremely traditional, roles reversed by gender. Men who married in were expected to act submissively, obey strict household rules, and give up access to any electronics. Their job was to serve their wife, support them from the shadows, and stay quiet.

If you disobeyed, they’d punish you with house rules, which were harsh ones.

In my last life, they never dared treat me that way because they relied on my expertise to keep their stock prices stable. Even Ellen helped shield me from their old-school traditions.

But I’d seen what happened to the other men in that household.

“I’m not going!” I shouted, struggling to break free.

But a slap came out of nowhere and struck me hard across the face.

My mom frowned at me, annoyed. “Do you know how many people would kill for this chance? You blew your shot, and they still want you. You should be grateful!”

“I—mmph!”

Before I could say another word, they shoved a cloth in my mouth and forced me into a car.

When I woke up, I was lying in a guest room at the Olson estate, the one they had prepared just for me.

Outside, a celebration was underway.

They were throwing a party to send off Ellen and Toby.

Apparently, she had paid for him to attend a private university near Stanford.

Bryant's POV

In there, there was no pressure to study. It was just about getting a nice-looking diploma.

And yet, despite being the one arranged to marry her in the future, I was now treated like an outsider.

After struggling to break free but failing, I finally gave up and closed my eyes, waiting for it all to end.

When I opened them again, Toby was walking through the door.

I knew why he was here.

He came to watch me suffer.

The smug expression on his face and the designer suit said everything.

But in that moment, I looked at him like he was my only way out.

“Toby,” I said calmly, “let’s make a deal.”

He froze.

“You know that eventually, Ellen is going to marry me,” I continued. “Even if she gives all her love to you, it’ll be my children who inherit her legacy.”

His face turned pale.

“So, here's the deal,” I said. “Let me go, and we’ll go our separate ways. If they no longer have a reason to tie me to her, she can marry you freely. And your children can be the heirs.”

He was quiet for a long moment.

Then he looked at me, uncertain. “You’re really giving her up?”

“If I’m lying, may I never have children,” I said coldly.

For someone like him, that was as serious a vow as it got.

After a moment’s hesitation, he untied me and agreed, “Fine. Come with me.”

He led me through an empty hallway, moving carefully, one step at a time.

“When we get down the stairs, just go through that door. You’ll be free,” he instructed.

“Thank you,” I said, and took a step forward.

But suddenly, he grabbed my wrist.

“I changed my mind,” he said.

My breath caught. “What do you mean?”

“The only way I can truly believe you won’t try to take her back is if you’re dead.”

And with that, he shoved me.

My head slammed into the edge of the stairs, and my body tumbled down violently.

The crash echoed through the house.

Upstairs, Ellen’s voice rang out. “Toby? What are you doing?!”

His face went ghost white.

Then, without missing a beat, he shouted back, “Bryant! You said you wanted a quick tour, why’d you suddenly throw yourself down the stairs?! If I’d known you were planning to frame me like this, I wouldn’t have bothered bringing you food!”

“Bryant?” Ellen came rushing over, and when she saw me, covered in blood, her breath hitched.

But then Toby looked at her with teary eyes, and her gaze started to soften.

“Ellen… I just wanted to bring him food, but he had it all planned.”

“Bryant,” she said coldly, stepping in front of Toby like a shield. “With how cruel you are, how could anyone trust you to raise a worthy heir?”

Toby took a shaky breath. “Ellen, I know it’s my presence that’s made things hard for him. He even said earlier that if I kept clinging to you, he’d have the hospital pull my grandma’s oxygen tube. Ellen… I love you, but I can’t just abandon my grandmother.”

He then turned away, pretending to make a painful choice.

“Toby!” Ellen panicked, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

But Toby fought her off with tears in his eyes.

“Let me go!” he cried. “Let me be the bigger person. Just please, don’t hurt my family!”

“Guards!” Ellen’s eyes were red as she gave the order. “Strip Bryant, hang him up and beat him!”

I coughed up blood, staring at her in disbelief. “What did you just say?”

But she only clung tighter to Toby. “If I destroy his reproductive organs, he won’t be able to have kids anymore. That way, he’ll have no choice but to raise our children.”

“Anyway, my parents only kept him around for that purpose. They won’t object. Now, will you still leave me?” she cooed.

Toby suddenly wrapped her in his arms, trembling.

“Ellen! This is a crime! You—mmph!” I barked, but before I could finish, they gagged me and strung me up.

After that, one of the bodyguards grabbed a thick baton and slammed it into my abdomen.

The pain was so unbearable that my tears and sweat poured out together.

Bryant's POV

With that scene unfolding, Ellen turned her face away but said, “My family has always followed strict traditions. If you’re going to marry me one day, you might as well get used to it early. It’s for your own good.”

I bit down so hard I could taste blood.

I glared at her with everything I had left.

But by the eighteenth strike, everything went black.

Just before I lost consciousness, I thought I saw her rushing toward me, panic written all over her face.

When I opened my eyes again, she was sitting at my bedside. It was supposed to be her first day reporting to school.

“I postponed enrollment,” she said. “As long as you’re okay, that’s all that matters.”

I shut my eyes again. I didn’t want to look at her.

“Bryant, I will marry you,” she said softly, “but you need to change your attitude. You should’ve understood my heart in our past life. This time around, I’ll give you the title you want, but you can’t interfere with me and Toby, or his family.”

I cut her off. “Just say you’re clinging to the business alliance. No need to act like you’re doing me some big favor, like I owe you something. And for the record, I’m not marrying you.”

She paused, stunned for a second, then frowned. “Don’t be childish.”

“I’m not,” I said firmly. “We’re done. You don’t matter to me anymore.”

With that, her eyes turned cold. She stood and snapped, “And you think you have the right to say no?”

She was right. At this moment, I was just a live-in son-in-law in training, groomed to be the man quietly standing behind her career.

No autonomy. No future. Just a decorative accessory to the great Ellen.

In theory, I had no right to refuse.

But then, I looked at the message from the professor still on the screen of my phone.

My eyes stung with tears, and I smiled through them.

“This isn’t your decision to make,” I said.

Without warning, she snatched the phone from my hand.

“A son-in-law should know his place,” she snapped. “You’re not allowed to use electronics without permission. I’m keeping your phone. Each month I’ll call the landline to check on you. I’ll come back to visit during winter break.”

With that, she walked out with my phone in her hand.

But just as she reached the door, hurried footsteps echoed through the hallway.

Her mother, usually calm and composed, burst in, completely out of breath. “Ellen! Something terrible happened! You can’t go back to school yet!”

As Ellen read the message, her face fell. “What?! The stock price crashed? That’s impossible!”

Just then, something clicked in her mind, and she quickly unlocked my phone.

When she saw the professor’s message, her entire body froze.

I leaned against the headboard and gave her a slow, satisfied smile.

“Bryant… how could it be you…” Her hand trembled as she held my phone.