Reborn To Ruin Her Rivals - Chapter 1: Chapter 1

January 1st. Snow dumped from the sky, blanketing everything in sight.
Fireworks exploded overhead, painting the night with bursts of color.
The prison warden, his face etched with years of routine, leaned back in his office chair. "Arielle, you're outta here. Free as a bird.
"Go live your life, stay clean, and get a fresh start."
Thirteen years. From twenty-two to thirty-five, she finally peeled off that hideous orange jumpsuit.
The iron door screeched open with a heavy clunk. A gaunt, almost skeletal figure stepped out, moving slow.
Her brittle, tangled hair looked like a bird's nest after a storm.
Outside, the world was a dazzling wall of white. The light stung her eyes, sharp and unforgiving.
She threw up a hand to block it. But through the cracks of her fingers, she let that bright, free light slip in, soaking it up like it might vanish.
Arielle's cracked lips curled into a bitter, lopsided smirk. 'Fresh start? Yeah, good one. How do you even start over after a life gets ripped apart?'
Before the bars, she was the Arielle Bradford, Theoria City's darling. Everyone wanted her life. Sweet, sharp, the golden girl of the Bradford family.
She had a sister, Meredith—bold, bright, and a total stunner. And a fiancé, Gavin Boone, the guy she'd loved for four years.
At eighteen, he was the city's golden boy. The Boone family's empire stretched across Haskium, and by twenty, he was the youngest big shot calling the shots at NovaStar Group.
At twenty-two, the day before their wedding, it all went to hell.
The man she loved and the sister she trusted teamed up to toss her behind bars.
A prosecutor leaned forward in the courtroom. "Meredith Bradford, you saying you saw Arielle do it?"
Meredith, her eyes wide with feigned sincerity, answered. "She's my sister, but I can't cover for her. I saw it. It was her."
The judge, stern and unyielding, turned to Gavin. "Gavin Boone, you sure Arielle's the one who killed Emelee Hodge?"
Gavin didn't hesitate. "I don't play games. I saw it with my own eyes. Arielle did it."
Witnesses, evidence—it all screamed her guilt.
Their cold, cutting voices stuck with her, looping in her head like a broken record, haunting every day and every sleepless night.
Arielle glanced at her tattered clothes—a threadbare cotton jacket and thin leggings that barely kept the chill out.
One foot sported a sock with her toes sticking out, the other a beat-up shoe with patches holding it together.
None of it was hers. She'd been arrested on her wedding day, still in her white gown, and tossed in jail.
The women inside took pity and scrounged up this outfit. It was shabby, but it was the warmest thing Arielle had worn in thirteen years.
The iron door slammed shut behind her, the lock clicking with a heavy thud. She pulled a crumpled newspaper from her pocket.
There she was, thirteen years ago—cuffed in her wedding dress, staring blankly. Tears fell, splashing onto the faded paper.
It read: [Bradford Heiress Arielle Guilty of Emelee Hodge's Murder, Gets Twenty Years.]
In that brutal prison, she was a punching bag, beaten daily. Only pure, burning hatred kept her alive.
She played the model inmate, worked her butt off, and cut her sentence to thirteen years.
'Thirteen damn years.' A sharp, bitter laugh escaped her, her body trembling. The laughter cracked, and cold tears streaked her rough cheeks.
She was a total joke—a fool to everyone.
Just a month into her sentence, her dad, Henry Bradford, had disowned her in a public newspaper ad, kicking her out of the Bradford family like trash.
She wanted to scream at her parents, "Why the hell do you play favorites?"
She thought being perfect—acing tests, staying obedient—would earn their love, like they gave Meredith. A warm smile, a hug, maybe a proud pat on the head.
She thought top grades would make them say, "That's my girl, the smartest kid around."
Wrong. So wrong. She couldn't outshine Meredith.
To keep her parents happy, she'd tank exams on purpose, letting Meredith bask in their praise. It was the only way Arielle felt their love, even secondhand.
Whatever Meredith wanted, Arielle had to hand over, no complaints.
At home, nothing she did mattered if Meredith shed a single tear.
Meredith pouted, they spoiled her. Meredith cried, they fussed over her.
Arielle? She had to tiptoe around, obey everyone, and keep her head down.
Every day was a minefield, dreading she'd upset Meredith and catch hell from the family.
She couldn't wrap her head around why they even bothered bringing Arielle back if they were so obsessed with Meredith.
She thought joining the Bradford family meant she wasn't the "bastard" kid anymore. She thought her parents loved her, had been searching for her all those years.
Back then, she felt like the luckiest girl alive, ready to shout that her mom and dad adored her. They'd thrown her a big, flashy welcome party.
But god, was she wrong—dead wrong.
One word from Meredith, and Arielle was back to being invisible, a total nobody.
Meredith's perfect little trio was the real family, while Arielle was just some roach crawling out of the gutter, chasing a life she didn't belong in.
All she wanted was a sliver of love—just a scrap. But Meredith? She snatched it all, turning Arielle's loved ones into her enemies.
It didn't add up. She was her mom's kid too, they were not supposed to treate like trash.
Memories haunted her like a bad movie on repeat. The guy who swore he'd love her forever teamed up with Meredith to toss her behind bars.
One was the big-shot CEO of NovaStar Group, running Theoria City. The other, Meredith, was the Bradford family's darling.
Arielle. Left with nothing.
Revenge? Good luck with that.
Thirteen years in prison turned her from a pampered princess into a punching bag everyone despised. All thanked to them.
At a bustling crossroad, Arielle stood lost, no clue where to go. Her stomach growled. She was flat broke.
She'd been wandering for hours, the streets alive with people and cars. Theoria City had changed so much it felt foreign.
She grabbed a black trash bag from a dumpster and rifled through garbage cans, tossing anything useful inside.
Then she found it—a half-eaten takeout meal. She wiped the grime off the container, ducked into a quiet corner, and crouched down.
She scarfed it down, ignoring the nasty glares from passersby. In a few bites, the box was empty.
Nearby, some fangirls were freaking out over a celebrity on a huge billboard.
"Meredith's the best! I was sobbing during her livestream last night. She finally snagged Best Actress!"
"Same! Her tears had me wrecked. And then Gavin slides that ten-carat ring on her? I'm shook."
"She's living the dream—killer career, hot rich husband, and I heard she's got another kid on the way…"
Huddled in her corner, Arielle's hollow eyes sparked with something dark. She stood slowly, staring up at the billboard.
Her amber eyes burned with venom, radiating hate. Her fists clenched, then loosened, then clenched again, nails digging into her palms without a wince.
'Thirteen years,' she thought bitterly. 'Four thousand, seven hundred forty-five days.'
Her thoughts turned ice-cold. 'Meredith, I suffered in that prison for you. Every day was agony. How do you sleep so easy?'