Reborn after 18 Assistants Framed Me for Their Pregnancies

All eighteen of my assistants got pregnant at the same time, and every one of them demanded that I take responsibility. I was certain I had never touched any of them, yet they stood together on the rooftop, threatening to jump unless I acknowledged their babies. Left with no choice, I livestreamed amniocentesis tests to prove my innocence. The results showed that I was the biological father of all eighteen unborn children. My wife slapped me again and again, calling me a cheating bastard and forcing me to divorce her with nothing. I went to drink with my best friend and pour out my misery, only for him to kick me so hard that he broke eight of my ribs. “Daniel Cooper, you sick bastard! You slept with every woman you could get your hands on! I hate trash like you who can’t keep it in their pants!” I fled back to my hometown to seek comfort from my parents, but before I could say much, they beat me to death with their hoes. Even as I died, I could not understand why all eighteen assistants had been carrying my children. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day the assistants forced me to acknowledge the babies. Chapter 1 The air was thick with perfume. Eighteen assistants, each beautiful in her own way, had me surrounded. I jolted awake. I had been reborn. “Mr. Cooper, you can’t just abandon us,” said the lead PR assistant, tears glimmering in her eyes as she gently stroked her belly. “We’re already nearly three months pregnant. You have to take responsibility for us.” I shuddered, cold sweat soaking through my shirt in an instant. Dealing with one beautiful woman was hard enough; eighteen pregnant ones was a whole other nightmare. Even until my death, I could not understand it. Despite being worth billions, I had always been faithful to my wife. I had never touched another woman. Yet in my previous life, all eighteen assistants accused me of getting them pregnant. I assumed it was a smear campaign by a business rival and laughed it off. But they threatened to jump from a building, forcing me to undergo a live-streamed amniocentesis paternity test. The results showed that all eighteen unborn babies were mine. My wife broke down on the spot. Through her tears, she said I betrayed her and forced me to walk away from our fortune with nothing. In the end, everyone turned against me, and I died alone in my own home. But how had they become pregnant with my children? “Mr. Cooper...” “Mr. Cooper, say something...” The assistants’ voices pulled me from my memories. This time, I could not fall into their trap again. I raised a hand to cut off their overlapping voices and pressed the intercom. “Security, lock down this entire floor immediately. Collect and secure all electronic devices.” “Since all of you are so certain the babies are mine, no one is leaving until the truth comes out.” Before I had even finished speaking, eighteen phones were raised in front of me. “So, Mr. Cooper is planning to hold us hostage? That’s fine.” Vanessa Smith turned her screen toward me. The screen showed a scheduled email. “We set it to send automatically. If we’re out of contact for more than two hours, these little ‘secrets’ will be sent straight to every major news outlet. “The headline will be—Billionaire CEO Sleeps with Eighteen Women, Then Abandons Them All: Pregnant Assistants’ Tearful Accusations.” My whole body shook violently, as if every ounce of strength had been drained from me. Those women, beautiful in every shape and size, now looked like demons sent to drag me to hell. As long as I avoided doing that damned live-streamed paternity test, perhaps I could escape the tragedy of my past life. But the very next second… “What is all this commotion?” “Don’t come over!” I tried to stop my wife, Sarah White, but she had already hurried over. Confused, Sarah looked at me surrounded by the assistants, then her gaze settled on the phones they were holding up. “Sarah, let me explain!” I tried to push past the women surrounding me. “I swear I’ve never betrayed you! I have no idea how they became pregnant!” She pointed a trembling finger at me and screamed, “So you say you didn’t do it, and that makes it true? Eighteen women are accusing you. Are you saying they’re all lying? “Eight years! I’ve been with you for eight years! When your business failed, I ate cheap takeout with you in that tiny rented apartment. When you were hospitalized for surgery, I stayed awake at your bedside for three days and nights! “Cheating would have been bad enough... but you got eighteen women pregnant at the same time! Daniel Cooper, what did you ever take me for?” Her face was twisted with the same hysteria I remembered from my previous life, but this time, I did not try to defend myself in a panic. I only let out a quiet sigh. “After eight years together, I can honestly say I have never done a single thing to betray you or this family. “From beginning to end, you were the only woman I ever had. Why would you rather believe strangers than the husband who has been by your side for eight years? Is that really how worthless you think I am?” “Evidence?” Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, she jabbed a sharp fingernail so close to my face that it nearly struck me. “The bastards in their bellies are the evidence! All eighteen women can testify! Daniel Cooper, the way you refuse to admit what you did disgusts me! “I must have been blind to marry a beast like you!” Chapter 2 Before I could finish speaking, she suddenly raised her hand. Two sharp slaps landed across my face. My ears rang, and my cheeks burned. After hitting me and tearing into me, Sarah stood there like a victorious general. Then she turned to shield the assistants behind her. “Don’t be afraid, everyone. I may be a victim too, but I’m also at fault for failing to keep my husband in line. I’ll make sure you get justice!” She pointed at me and shouted, “Daniel Cooper, tomorrow we’re doing a live-streamed paternity test! Let the whole country see how a billionaire CEO abuses his female employees!” I watched them leave together. It felt as if she had carved a piece out of my heart with her own hands. Cold wind swept through that hollow, carrying eight years of memories with it. This time, I did not turn to my best friend to complain, as I had in my previous life. I would not let myself be cornered again, not when it would only end with me dying for a crime I never committed. But the next second, someone began pounding on my office door. “Daniel Cooper! What kind of monster are you? Open the damn door!” William Lee’s furious roar made the door shake. “You’re a man—if you did it, then own it! You got them pregnant, and now you’re refusing to take responsibility. There are plenty of guys out there who can’t even get a date, while you had eighteen women at once! How could you do this to Sarah?” Just as I thought. Sarah had gotten to him first and played the victim. I forced myself to stay calm and called through the door, “William, what did Sarah tell you?” “You’ve got the nerve to ask?” He spat on the other side of the door. “Sarah cried until her eyes were swollen! Eighteen pregnant women are waiting for you in the conference room to take responsibility, and you still call yourself a man?” “Sarah sent me to get a sample of your hair for the test!” His indignant accusations sent a cold sweat down my back. After the paternity report came out in my previous life, he kicked me so hard that he broke eight of my ribs. William was a champion kickboxer for fifteen years. I would not stand a chance against him. I could not let him get hold of my hair. I quickly steadied myself and lied through the door. “William! I... I think I might have the flu. I’m terribly dizzy, and I don’t want to pass it to you! Whatever it is, we can talk another day. Just go home for now!” “Cut the crap!” William pounded on the door again. “You can hide today, but you can’t hide forever! You cowardly bastard. You did it, but you won’t own it! “I’m getting your hair for that test today, one way or another!” Sweat broke out across my palms. “William, trust me. There’s a real misunderstanding here! I swear I never did anything with any of them!” “A misunderstanding?” William sneered from outside the door. “Eighteen pregnant women all just happened to misunderstand you? Daniel Cooper, you can’t even be bothered to make your lies believable!” He slammed his foot against the door, making my ears ring. “If you didn’t do it, then take the test and get it over with! The more you hide, the guiltier you look!” “Just let me explain...” “Explain my ass!” He kicked the door again. “A real man owns up to what he’s done. Acting like a coward only makes the rest of us look bad!” Each deafening blow against the door pounded against my chest like a drumbeat. Panic overtook me. I scrambled to drag the desk beside me over to block the door. I could not let him get inside. Absolutely not. But just as I dragged the desk in front of the door, I heard a soft click. Chapter 3 My blood seemed to freeze in an instant. It was over. I had forgotten. William was my best friend, the one I entrusted with the spare key to my office. The moment the door opened, William grabbed me by the collar and slammed me against the wall. I tried desperately to protect my hair, but he drove his knee into my stomach. Pain flashed through me, and my vision went dark. “Trying to hide now?” His thick fingers tangled in my hair and tore out a fistful. “If you’re innocent, what are you so afraid of?” A searing pain tore across my scalp. I watched him shove the clump of hair, streaked with blood, into a sealed bag, and felt as though I had fallen into an ice pit. I lunged at him like a madman. My fingertips had barely brushed the edge of the plastic bag when William twisted my arm behind my back and forced me to the floor. “Now you’re scared? Why didn’t you think about the consequences when you got eighteen women pregnant?” I struggled with everything I had, but could only watch helplessly as he tucked the sealed bag into his jacket. The more William cursed, the angrier he became. Then he grabbed a solid wood chair nearby and swung it toward the back of my head. Just as all hope left me, familiar footsteps sounded at the door. “Mom! Dad! Please, save me!” My mother stumbled inside and shoved William away in a frenzy. “Stop it! Who gave you the right to hit my son like this?” My father rushed in behind her, his face livid as he stepped in front of me. “Can’t this be discussed properly? Did you have to resort to violence?” William panted heavily and held up the sealed bag. “Sir, ma’am, ask him what he did! He got eighteen young women pregnant! Those poor girls are threatening to jump off a building and kill themselves! “One test will settle whether he did it or not. If he’s been wronged, I, William Lee, will be the first to get on my knees and apologize!” “No!” I fought desperately to pull away. “This is a trap!” My mother seized my arm, tears streaming down her face. “Daniel, I believe you’re innocent. Let’s do the test. I’ll wait for the results with you.” My father, his eyes red, had already grabbed my other arm. “You’re taking that test today, whether you want to or not! The Cooper family will not bear this kind of disgrace!” They dragged me away between them. As the blood-streaked lock of hair was fed into the testing machine, my mother held my hand tightly and told me, “I believe you.” Then the screen flashed: [Probability of Paternity: 99.9999%] My parents’ eyes turned cold at once. My heart felt as though it was plunged into an icy ocean. The result was exactly the same as in my previous life, extinguishing my last sliver of hope. “You disgraceful bastard!” My father slapped me so hard that I crashed into the wall. “There’s no place in the Cooper family for a coward who does the deed but refuses to own it!” My mother snatched up her handbag and smashed it against me. “You’ve ruined the lives of eighteen young women! How could I have given birth to a beast like you?” “Dad! Mom! Wake up!” I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth. “How could I possibly have gotten eighteen women pregnant at the same time? For the past five years, I came home on time every day. Sarah was the only woman in my heart!” “You ungrateful bastard!” My father grabbed a heavy paperweight from the desk and hurled it at me. I could not dodge in time. It struck my shoulder, and I sucked in a sharp breath from the pain. “All eighteen of their medical reports are right here. The evidence is undeniable, and you still dare to deny it?” My mother lunged at me, sobbing as she hit me. “The Cooper family has always been respectable! How could we have raised a beast who does something so shameful and refuses to own it? You’ve humiliated us beyond repair!” Still crying, she clawed at my face, leaving burning streaks of blood. That only made my father angrier. He pulled off his belt and lashed it across me. “If I don’t beat some sense into you today, I don’t deserve to call myself your father!” The belt cracked dully against my back. Curled up in the corner, I had nowhere to run. My mother grabbed a mop and joined in. “This is what you get for sleeping around! For refusing to take responsibility! How are we supposed to face Sarah’s family?” The mop handle slammed hard against my spine. Yet even that pain could not compare to the chill in my heart. Again... The moment that absurd test report came out, everyone turned into strangers driven mad. I endured the pain and roared, “What has gotten into you? You’d rather believe that damned report than your own son?” “You’re still denying it?” My father kicked me in the stomach. “The test results are right there in black and white, yet you expect us to believe your lies instead?” My mother swung the mop handle viciously at my legs. “One test wasn’t enough for you? You want a second one now? You’re just too scared to admit the truth!” “It’s not that I’m scared to admit it!” I curled up on the floor, shielding my head. “I want the truth! There has to be something wrong with that report!” “The truth?” My father grabbed my hair and slammed my head against the floor. “Eighteen pregnant women are the truth!” I did not know how long it lasted before they finally grew tired of hitting me. Then they turned to Sarah. “Sarah, we support you. Make this beast leave with nothing. The house, the cars, the savings—everything goes to you.” Chapter 4 Sarah nodded obediently. “Thank you, Mom. Dad.” My heart went completely cold as I watched. In my previous life, they had beaten me to death with a hoe. In this one, they were trying to beat me to death again. They refused to believe me. All they believed was that damned test report. “Fine. I’ll agree to the divorce.” I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth. “But I need to clear my name. You can’t pin these pregnancies of unknown origin on me.” A strange smile appeared on Sarah’s face. “Fine.” At her signal, William, his face murderous, aimed a high-definition livestream camera at me. “Daniel Cooper! Today, in front of the whole world, you’re going to give Sarah and every woman whose feelings you deceived and whose pregnancy you caused an explanation! I’ll make sure everyone sees what a hypocritical, cheating bastard you really are!” He and several burly men shoved me all the way to the busiest plaza in the city. Drawn by the commotion, people stopped to watch. Sarah stood before the camera, her shoulders trembling as she cried. My chest ached. Instinctively, I reached out to comfort her. But she recoiled like a startled rabbit and slapped me across the face. “Don’t touch me with your filthy hands! You cheating, lying bastard who sleeps with women and abandons them! You make me sick!” The livestream comments exploded at once: [Drop dead, you cheating bastard!] [You go, girl!!!] [I can smell the scumbag through the screen!] [He deserves to be chemically castrated!] [I recorded this. Can’t wait for it to trend.] She swayed unsteadily, and pain twisted through my chest. Instinctively, I reached out to steady her. “Sarah, we loved each other so much. Why won’t you believe me?” But she flung my hand away as if it had burned her and stumbled back, her eyes full of fear and disgust. “Don’t touch me! You disgust me!” The sight of her left me both heartbroken and helpless. “Sarah, you know you’re the only one I’ve ever loved. Why are you doing this?” A bitter laugh broke from her as tears streamed down her face. “You call that love? You got eighteen women pregnant at once, then refused to take responsibility for any of them! “You refused to take responsibility for me, for them, or for those unborn children! You slept around without a care in the world. Do you really think that’s acceptable, Daniel Cooper? You are a heartless bastard!” As she spoke, her emotions finally broke. With a thud, she dropped to her knees and began banging her head against the ground. “I’m begging you! Please leave me alone! I really can’t take this anymore...” The eighteen assistants knelt in a neat row behind her, each holding up a paternity report that identified me as the father. The crowd’s anger erupted completely: [The evidence is overwhelming, and he still wants to deny it? What trash! He’s not even a real man!] [The proof is right there, and he still won’t admit it! Beat this scumbag to death!] [Cheating trash like him deserves to be castrated!] [Putting on an amnesia act now? You weren’t saying that when you were having fun!] [Hit him! Scumbags like him deserve it!] The livestream comments flew by in a frenzy. The accusations and furious shouts from the crowd drowned me out in an instant. I tried to explain. “No! It isn’t what you think! I never touched any of them...” But my voice was barely audible beneath the roar of the crowd. “You’re still making excuses!” “Hit him!” I did not know who struck first, but a bottle of water smashed into my head. Then fists and kicks rained down on me from every direction. I curled up, shielding my vital spots. In the chaos, a sharp pain exploded at the back of my head. Everything went black, and I lost consciousness. ... I did not know how long had passed when I woke to the smell of disinfectant. A stark white hospital ceiling filled my vision. The slightest movement made my whole body feel as though it had been torn apart. The nurse changing my dressing saw that I was awake. She gave me a disdainful look and snorted. I closed my eyes weakly, consumed by humiliation and despair. Then a thought suddenly struck me. At last, I understood why all eighteen assistants had become pregnant with my children, even though I never touched any of them.