After Rebirth, I Became My Ex's Aunt-in-Law

Zoe turned on her heel and marched toward the door. She didn’t even make it a single step into the hallway.

Standing directly on the other side of the door, looking absurdly handsome, were Kai Vane and Julian Cross.

Zoe stopped dead in her tracks.

She let out a tiny, high-pitched squeak—a sound that closely resembled a stepped-on dog toy.

Kai’s face instantly lit up. He leaned a broad shoulder casually against the doorframe, effectively blocking her only escape route. He flashed a slow, devastating smirk that made Zoe’s pulse spike dangerously.

”Hey,” Kai drawled, his voice dripping with smooth amusement. ”Funny running into you here. Quick question, though. Why have you been sending all my calls straight to voicemail?”

Zoe’s brain executed a violent, fatal crash.

She couldn’t form a single coherent sentence. Her fight-or-flight response kicked in, and she chose flight.

”My phone was hacked!” Zoe yelled, absolute panic pitching her voice up two octaves.

Before Kai could even process the excuse, Zoe dove under his outstretched arm.

”By the Russians!” Zoe shouted over her shoulder, speed-walking down the corridor with the frantic intensity of an Olympic racewalker. ”Identity theft! Goodbye!”

Kai turned his head with a frown on his lips, but amusement in his eyes, as he watched her basically sprint toward the elevators.

Julian, standing impeccably dressed in a charcoal three-piece suit next to the doorframe, didn’t even blink. He adjusted his glasses with a single, elegant finger.

”Smooth,” Julian remarked dryly, stepping past Kai into the ICU room.

Julian looked at Aria sitting up in the hospital bed, the IV lines gone, her color finally returning. He offered a crisp nod, his sharp features softening just a fraction.

”Welcome back to the land of the living, Aria,” Julian greeted, his tone perfectly measured but laced with undeniable, genuine warmth.

”It’s good to see you too, Julian,” Aria smiled.

Kai finally wandered in. He plopped heavily onto the plastic visitor’s chair with a dramatic, exaggerated groan.

”I am so glad you’re awake,” Kai sighed, slumping down and rubbing his face. ”I almost aged ten years this week, Sister-in-law. Look at me. I might need Botox soon.” 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

He pointed an accusing finger at Damien, who was standing near the foot of the bed.

”Do you have any idea what it’s like dealing with him when he’s all depressed and lonely? He was fully in his John Wick era. I was literally pricing out backhoes on the dark web because I thought we were going to have to start burying bodies in the Hamptons.”

”I was perfectly composed,” Damien stated flatly, crossing his arms.

”Composed?” Kai snorted loudly. ”You fired fifteen executives and almost beat a reporter who snuck in the VIP wing to death in one week. If that’s ’composed’, I’d hate to see you throw a tantrum.”

Aria laughed softly.

She looked at Julian, Kai, and her frowning husband, listening to them banter about all the crazy things Damien did while she was out. Underneath the billionaire posturing and the sarcasm, she could see the heavy, undeniable relief in their eyes. They had actually been terrified for her.

It was a strange, beautiful realization. She had a family who was waiting for her. A family who cared if she was dead or alive.

”Well, I appreciate you guys keeping him from committing mass murder,” Aria said with an amused smile. ”I apologize for all the distress.”

”Well, the night is still young,” Julian noted, the humor fading from his voice. He moved to the end of the bed, his posture shifting seamlessly into ”lawyer mode.”

The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly.

Damien’s jaw tightened. ”Tell us what happened. From the bathroom at Elysium.”

Aria took a deep breath. She told them about the pitch-black bathroom and fighting her way through the alley back to the supermarket only to be gaslit in front of the stupid bouncer.

”They were professionals,” Aria said, picking at the edge of her hospital blanket. ”I was sure I was going to die when they pushed me in the van. But I wasn’t alone in there...there was a woman.”

She looked at the three men.

”Everything about the situation was so strange. They blindfolded me so I couldn’t see her, but I remember...I remember she wore vintage perfume. I think midnight jasmine. She touched my hair. She spoke to me with a soft and gentle voice. Like a concerned aunt?”

Aria shook her head. ”I don’t know, but that’s the vibe I was getting from her.”

”She had a live translator in the front seat. So, I’m assuming she doesn’t know much English,” Aria continued, her voice dropping lower. ”But she knew everything. And...”

Aria looked directly at Julian.

”She confessed that she was the one who hired the escorts from The Velvet Room. She orchestrated them stealing the ledger from your safe.”

Julian exhaled a sharp breath, his eyes narrowing. This French woman had done her research on him. His sex life was his best kept secret, guarded with NDAs and full-proof legal bindings. She even knew how to get into his safe. It made him wonder how much she knew and how easy it was for her to know more.

”She told me to stop digging into my mother’s death,” Aria explained, her brows furrowing as she tried to make sense of the riddles the woman spewed. ”She said if I didn’t stop, she couldn’t protect me anymore.”

”She apologized,” Aria added.

”Apologized?” Kai asked, sitting up straight in his chair. ”She wanted to say sorry in advance for throwing you into a freezing river?”

”No,” Aria said softly. She recited the exact phrasing the robotic translator had used, the words seared into her memory. ”She apologized for not ’tidying up’ my mother’s death better.”

The three men froze.

The implication of the phrase hung heavily in the air.

Tidying up.

You don’t tidy up a natural death. You tidy up a murder. You tidy up a crime scene so the police don’t look too closely.

”This is just what I think,” Aria said, her voice chillingly calm as she voiced her conclusion. ”But I don’t feel like she’s with the Vipers. I still think the Vipers and Lydia are responsible for my mother’s death, I’m certain they orchestrated it. I don’t know why she wants to take the fall for it, but there’s no way she’s on their side.”

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