The Reborn Heiress Strike Back-Chapter 73 - 72 - I Show No Mercy Now, Naomi

Rain hammered the world as if the sky itself wanted to wash the Carter name off the earth.

Samantha stepped out of the car, face unreadable, black coat whipping in the storm wind. The mansion stood in front of her—grand, cold, unforgiving. The same house she entered seven years ago full of hope, leaving shattered and nameless.

Tonight, she came not as Ally Miller.

Not as Samantha Bradley.

But as the woman who now owned everything they thought she never deserved.

The door flew open before she could knock.

Naomi.

Her hair disheveled.

Eyes swollen.

Breath trembling.

When she saw Samantha, her knees buckled instantly.

She fell—literally collapsed—onto the marble floor.

"Please..." Naomi’s voice cracked, hands shaking violently. "If you ever loved my son—if there is anything left of that girl—spare what’s left of him... Please I’m begging you as a mother"

Samantha froze.

The storm raged outside, but inside it was Naomi who was drowning.

Samantha swallowed hard, her jaw tightening. When she spoke, her voice wasn’t ice, nor fire—just a deep, unbearable ache.

"He spared nothing to me, you all spared nothing to me when you chose Kate over me as the perfect daughter-in-law " she whispered. "Not a memory. Not a name. Not even the truth."

Naomi sobbed harder, clutching her chest.

"You can punish me," Naomi begged. "You can take everything. But not him... please... not my son."

Samantha stepped back slightly, startled.

She had prepared for anger—not a mother’s collapse.

Not a mother who had loved her once.

Before Samantha could answer, thunder cracked outside.

The front doors burst open again.

Nick stood there.

Drenched.

Rain dripping from his hair, his shirt, his eyelashes—like he had run through the storm without stopping.

He didn’t speak.

He just stared at her.

Not with entitlement.

Not with authority.

Not even with resentment.

But with devastation.

With the broken tenderness of a man who finally understood the depth of the damage he caused.

Samantha’s breath hitched. Something twisted in her chest—pain, recognition, fury.

Nick stepped forward slowly.

"Samantha..." His voice was raw. "Or Ally... or whatever name lets you breathe again—"

"Don’t," she whispered, not looking at him.

"I need to," he rasped. "You have every right to destroy me. Every reason. But I’m begging you... not as the CEO of Carter Group. Not as your—" he stopped himself, swallowing. "Not as the man who failed you."

A tear slid down his cheek, mixing with the rain.

"Please don’t punish Sophia for my sins."

That struck her.

Hard.

She closed her eyes.

Sophia.

That little girl with gentle eyes and too much intuition.

The only innocent piece in this entire war.

"She’s not part of this," Samantha whispered.

Nick’s shoulders sagged in relief—not victory, just survival.

Naomi still knelt behind him, shaking.

The storm continued outside, but another storm was about to break inside.

Because Samantha’s phone buzzed sharply.

A headline lit up the screen.

BREAKING: CEO SAMANTHA BRADLEY UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR INSIDER TRADING IN CARTER ACQUISITION

Her eyes went cold.

A second message arrived.

A video clip.

Marcus Reed at a press conference:

"It’s unfortunate, but I believe Ms. Bradley may have used confidential information to manipulate the acquisition. Carter Group deserves transparency."

Samantha’s grip on her phone tightened.

Her eyes darkened like the storm outside.

Naomi froze. Nick stepped closer, voice low.

"Who leaked that?"

Samantha didn’t answer.

She already knew.

Marcus.

The charming devil with a smile sharp enough to slit throats.

The man who had played every side without blinking.

The man whose brother had hit her.

The man now trying to erase her victory. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

A soft voice behind Samantha broke the silence.

Jake—who had appeared at the doorway, panting from running up the drive in the storm.

"Sam," he breathed, "I traced the documents Marcus submitted. They’re altered. Purposefully. This was planned."

Samantha turned slightly.

Jake’s eyes were full of fury—protective, loyal, terrified of losing her to another storm.

"He’s manipulating both sides for profit," Jake said. "Your rise. Their fall. The crash. The takeover."

Nick stiffened.

"Both sides?" he asked.

Jake nodded grimly.

"Marcus never cared about the Carter Group or Elevate. He cares about chaos. And money."

Samantha’s jaw clenched.

Of course.

Marcus always played a longer game.

Jake lowered his voice. "Sam... he’s declaring war."

Samantha lifted her chin slowly.

"No," she said, voice quiet but deadly. "He declared war the moment he put Lynn in a coma."

Nick tensed. Naomi gasped.

Samantha stepped toward the doorway, coat fluttering behind her like a shadow of vengeance.

Nick took an instinctive step after her.

"Samantha—"

She turned, eyes locking with his.

And in that moment, Nick understood:

Ally was gone.

Samantha wasn’t simply fighting anymore.

She was hunting.

Her gaze sharpened.

"Marcus Reed wants an empire war?" she whispered. "Then I’ll give him a battlefield."

Lightning cracked behind her as she stepped outside.

Jake followed her instantly.

Nick stood frozen in the doorway, drenched and helpless, watching the woman he once loved walk into another fire.

Naomi sobbed silently on the floor.

And Marcus Reed—

the man who thought he knew how far Samantha could go—

had just pushed her to a place even he couldn’t predict.

*******

DEVILS DON’T ENGAGE IN PARTNERSHIP

The city was quiet that night in the way only dangerous nights were—too still, too expectant, as if the streets themselves were holding their breath.

Jake didn’t trust the silence.

He stood in the shadowed corner of an old industrial building that Elevate secretly rented, eyes locked on the monitors, watching the live feed of Chloe pacing inside the staged office setup.

She was trembling.

He didn’t blame her.

They were using her as bait for Marcus Reed’s internal mole.

But this was the only way to expose him.

Jake exhaled slowly and spoke into the mic clipped to his collar.

"Chloe... just read the files the way we rehearsed," he whispered. "Make it look natural. Once the mole tries to access them, we trace the route. You’ll be safe. I promise."

Chloe nodded, though her lips quivered.

"I... I just don’t want to die," she whispered.

"You won’t," Jake replied. "But Marcus’s mole might."

---

Inside the Staged Office

Chloe sat at the desk, opening folders of fake Carter Group–Elevate integration documents—documents containing a false funding map that Jake planted, encrypted with trackers.

To Marcus’s insider, it looked like gold.

To Jake, it was a trap.

Chloe typed hesitantly, pulling up numbers on the screen. At exactly 11:32 PM, the lights flickered.

Jake straightened.

"He’s in."

A ping shot across the monitors—an unauthorized system access.

Jake’s eyes hardened.

"There you are..."

Lines of code scrolled as someone remotely infiltrated the fake files.

Chloe’s breath hitched.

"He’s in here... isn’t he?"

"Yes," Jake murmured. "And he thinks you’re serving him the truth."

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then—

CRACK.

The door to Chloe’s room burst open.

Chloe let out a scream.

Jake bolted from his seat.

"GO, TEAM, NOW!"

Security flooded the hallway.

A masked man rushed toward Chloe, yanking a USB from the computer.

He lunged for the window instead of the door.

Jake raced in, tackling him mid-leap.

The two crashed to the ground in a violent struggle—fists, elbows, knees, the scrape of metal hitting concrete.

The masked mole was strong, trained.

But Jake wasn’t a clean-shirt COO tonight.

He was the man who’d built Elevate along side the Bradley family from blood and grit, long before it became a global name.

And he was fighting for Samantha.

The mole pulled a knife.

Jake dodged by inches—felt it slice his shirt.

He slammed the man’s wrist on the floor, disarming him, then pinned him by the neck.

"Don’t—move."

The mole thrashed once more—but Jake’s punch knocked him unconscious.

Security confirmed the capture.

Jake wiped blood from his lip, breathing hard.

"Chloe," he called, turning toward her.

She stood shaking, covering her mouth.

"You—you saved me..."

Jake didn’t soften.

He couldn’t.

"Let’s see what he risked his life to steal."

He ripped off the mole’s mask.

A man in his forties. Carter Group finance department. Quiet. Forgettable.

Except he wasn’t.

He worked for both companies.

Jake grabbed the man’s backpack. Inside:

Encrypted ledgers.

Offshore account logs.

Payment trails.

Proof.

Hard, irrefutable proof.

Marcus Reed’s entire sabotage network.

Jake stared at it, a slow smile forming.

"Happy birthday, boss," he whispered.

He sent the entire file set to Samantha’s private server.

"We got him."

---

At Marcus’s Penthouse — Midnight

The contrast was brutal.

While Jake secured a victory, somewhere across the city, Kate Carter walked into Marcus Reed’s private penthouse like a woman on the edge of a cliff.

Mascara smudged.

Hair tangled.

Fear radiating off her like a second skin.

Marcus didn’t bother standing when she entered. He lounged on his couch, wine swirling in his hand.

"Well, well," he drawled. "If it isn’t the Carter princess. Shouldn’t you be hiding under your dining table by now?"

Kate swallowed.

"I need your help."

He smirked.

"Of course you do."

She stepped forward. "You told me you would protect me. That if I helped you, you’d rebuild Carter Group with me. That you—"

Marcus laughed.

Actually laughed.

"Kate... sweetheart... you really believed that?"

She froze.

He swirled his wine again.

"You are nothing without me now," he said lazily. "And the funny part? You don’t even have bargaining power."

Kate’s hand trembled as it slipped into her coat pocket—secretly turning on her phone’s voice recorder.

Marcus tilted his head.

"Oh? Planning to trade up?"

Kate tried to mask her fear. "You’ve used me long enough. If you don’t help me, I’ll—"

Marcus moved faster than she could blink.

He slammed her against the wall, fingers closing around her throat.

Kate choked, nails scraping at his hand.

Marcus leaned close, whispering into her ear with a chilling calm.

"Try this again..."

His grip tightened.

Her pulse fluttered wildly.

"...and I’ll make your death look like an accident."

Tears streamed down Kate’s cheeks.

Marcus released her.

She crumpled to the floor, gasping, coughing.

He smiled as he stepped over her like discarded trash.

"Now get out," he said coldly. "Before I change my mind."

Kate scrambled out the door, clutching her bruising throat...

...realizing for the first time that she wasn’t Marcus’s partner.

She was Marcus’s pawn.

Worse—

She was expendable.