Reborn to the Day Before My Mother-in-law Cheated

They say when someone like Caroline comes around acting friendly, it's usually trouble. The moment she opened her mouth, I knew exactly what she was getting at.

"Yes, I did. What about it?" I asked, already bracing for her next move.

Caroline chuckled. "Those gold pieces—didn't Danny buy them for you before you two got married?

"You two are divorced now, so it's only fair you return the money, don't you think?"

Ah, so the scammer had probably bled her dry by now. The fact that she was coming after my jewelry meant she was really desperate.

"Danny bought those for me, so there's no reason for me to give them back."

Seeing that I wasn't giving in, Caroline's tone hardened. "Well, if you don't hand them over, I'll call the cops and have them deal with you."

I told her to do whatever she wanted. But even after work, I didn't hear a thing from the police. Instead, Caroline was at my doorstep, demanding my parents pay her back. She started putting on a whole show, tears and all, saying she was just a poor country woman who worked her whole life so Danny could get married.

She went on about how the jewelry was no small amount for her and then turned to my mom, asking, "What if Andrea's brother marries someone just like her, someone who only thinks about draining money from the family?"

My mom, being the soft-hearted person she was, immediately turned on me. "You should give it back."

I scoffed. "Why should I? If you feel so sorry for her, why don't you pay her back yourself?"

She sighed like I was being unreasonable. "Where am I supposed to get that kind of money? Besides, you're divorced now—it's the right thing to do."

I pointed toward the front door. "You could always sell the house. That'd get you the money."

I knew exactly where to hit her. That house was meant for my brother—no way she'd sell it. With no way to squeeze the money out of me, my mom fell silent. No matter how much Caroline wailed, my mom stuck to her guns.

But Caroline wasn't the type to quit that easily.

The next afternoon, I caught my brother sneaking into my room when he should've been at school. I happened to be home on a day off, and he froze when he saw me.

"Uh, Andrea, I didn't know you were home."

I narrowed my eyes. "What are you doing in my room?"

He gave a stiff smile. "Nothing, just looking around."

I noticed the phone hidden behind his back and snatched it from him. I flipped through his messages and found one from the night before. Someone had added him as a friend and offered him a thousand bucks to sneak my jewelry out.

The profile picture and username made my blood boil. I couldn't believe Caroline stooped so low as to use my brother.

Seeing the guilt written all over his face, I lost it and smashed the phone on the floor.

"Really? You're already trying to steal from me? What if I hadn't been home today—were you actually planning to take my stuff?"

Tears welled up in his eyes, and he burst into sobs. I was too fed up to deal with it, so I sent him back to his room and confiscated his phone.

As I watched Caroline's increasingly frantic messages come in, I smirked. So, she was desperate for cash and thought she could get it out of me? Dream on.

After midnight, her messages finally stopped. That was when I got a text from Danny saying he was selling the house.

The house was bought when we got married, with both our names on the deed, so I had to be involved in the sale.

Work wasn't too busy, so I extended my leave and went to handle it.

When Danny saw me, he couldn't hide his smug grin, like he'd hit the jackpot. Caroline was right beside him and gave me a nasty look before turning away.

Since they were in a rush to sell, the offer was low, but to my surprise, neither of them complained. Caroline, especially, waved it off, saying, "It's just a few grand, no big deal," completely different from the person who was crying her eyes out over some jewelry just the day before.

After everything was signed, Danny finally revealed the reason for their sudden generosity.

"Andrea, I'm about to be a rich guy soon. You leaving me? That's your loss, not mine."

He couldn't contain his excitement. When I didn't respond, he pulled out his phone and shoved it in my face.

Turns out, before selling the house, he and Caroline had gone out for dinner with the scammer. Fancy restaurant, seafood spread.

The photos showed the scammer—a pudgy guy with a thick gold chain and fingers weighed down by gold rings. Even from the pictures, the guy screamed "cheap wannabe." Danny, oblivious, beamed like he was already swimming in millions.

He puffed up his chest. "You don't know him, right? That's my mom's boyfriend. He's big in mining out West—a real boss."

Danny flashed three fingers at me. "See the car he drove to dinner? It's worth this much."

The real estate agent, who had been eavesdropping, couldn't help but chime in.

"If he's so loaded, how come you guys took the bus here?"

I couldn't help but burst out laughing. Danny's face darkened, and it was clear he was struggling to keep his cool.

Caroline, on the other hand, snorted and shot back, "What do you know?

"With all the pollution these days, of course, we're taking the bus. It's called being environmentally conscious. Ever heard of it?

"It's people like you who are ruining the planet!" she added with a self-righteous tone.

The real estate agent clearly wasn't in the mood to argue and just kept quiet after that.

I wasn't interested in playing along with their little charade anyway. When Danny finally said, as if doing me a favor, that $400,000 had already been wired to my account, I gave him my first genuine smile of the day.

"Well, in that case, I'm out. Don't bother contacting me again."

Danny suddenly called out after me, "Andrea, are you really not going to regret this? I'm about to be loaded, you know."

He went on, "If you beg me, I might consider taking you back."

I quickly shut that down. "Not even a little. No thanks, I'm good."

In fact, I was thrilled.

I used to think that nobody could be so dumb as to willingly walk into a scam like that. But now I get it.

Scams existed because there were people ready to fall for them—like Danny and Caroline, who spent their days dreaming of living the high life.

Staying as far away from them as possible was the smartest thing I had ever done.