I Returned My Unwanted Pregnancy System

My name is Helen.

In my past life, by the time I was twenty-six, I had given birth to three children for Manhattan's top billionaire, a man desperate for a bloodline. I secured a billion-dollar trust fund and catapulted myself into the absolute elite.

All of it happened because my best friend was terrified of the pain of childbirth. She had forced the Billionaire Baby System to bind to me instead of her.

But after hemorrhaging during the birth of my third child and slipping into a coma, I opened my eyes to find myself right back on the exact day the System first appeared.

Translucent text was scrolling through the air right in front of my face.

[Here we go! The side character finally woke up!]

[Sonia was a complete idiot in her past life. Imagine handing over a one-way ticket to a billionaire's bed just because you're scared of a little pain!]

[This time she's definitely going to bind the System herself. She'll pop out a whole soccer team and have Tristan Blackwood wrapped around her little finger!]

[LMAO look at Helen's dumbfounded face. She's probably bleeding internally from jealousy! Without the System, she's going to spend the rest of her life rotting in a cubicle as a corporate slave!]

[Exactly. A broke orphan like her only got a taste of high society because she picked up Sonia's scraps.]

I stared at the malicious floating comments. My heart didn't even skip a beat.

An hour ago, I was lying in an ICU bed, bleeding out from a brutal third delivery.

Yes, the billion-dollar payout was real. The private jets and the penthouse were real.

But the physical ruin of my body, the endless surgeries, and the exhausting, paranoid nights spent fending off Tristan's mistresses and secret illegitimate children were also very, very real.

I raised an eyebrow, looking at the woman sitting across from me.

Sonia was fiercely clutching her chest, guarding a glowing pink orb that only the two of us could see. It was the physical manifestation of the Billionaire Baby System.

In my past life, she had shoved that orb into my hands, disgusted by the thought of stretch marks and ruined proportions.

Now, her face was twisted with suppressed, greedy joy.

"Helen, I'm keeping this System. Don't even think about freeloading off me again!"

"Are you absolutely sure you want to bind it?" I asked.

Sonia glared at me like I was a thief.

"What? Are you trying to steal it back?"

"Don't think I don't know exactly what's going on in your head, Helen. You're just jealous that I'm prettier than you, and you want to steal my golden ticket!"

"Let me make this crystal clear. In this life, Tristan Blackwood is mine. The billion-dollar empire is mine. You can sit at that broken desk and type on your little keyboard until you die!"

The floating chat exploded with excitement.

[So satisfying! Put her in her place! Sonia is a boss!]

[What's wrong with taking back what rightfully belongs to her? Helen is such a manipulative bitch!]

[Look at her face. Helen is probably grinding her teeth to dust.]

Honestly, all I felt was a crushing wave of relief.

For ten years in my past life, I drove myself to the brink of insanity trying to be worthy of Tristan Blackwood. Even while heavily pregnant, I stayed up studying high society etiquette, fine art, and global finance.

I handled countless PR disasters for his company. I stayed up until dawn revising hundreds of merger proposals to save his ass.

But to everyone in that world, including Tristan himself, I was nothing more than a high-priced breeding mare.

They always said Helen only got to where she was because her uterus did its job. They completely erased my talent, my late nights, and my brilliant mind.

If Sonia wanted to claim that "blessing" in this life, I was more than happy to hand it over on a silver platter.

"Sure," I smiled calmly. "I hope you get exactly what you wish for."

Suspicion flickered in Sonia's eyes, but a mechanical voice quickly drowned it out.

[Ding. Detecting strong host desire. Billionaire Baby System binding successful!]

[Starter Pack Distributed: Peerless Beauty plus Alluring Pheromones. Good luck capturing your target!]

Right before my eyes, Sonia's dull, uneven complexion instantly became radiant and flawless. She yanked a compact mirror out of her purse, practically vibrating with excitement as she checked her reflection.

When she finally looked back at me, her eyes were dripping with condescending pity.

"Helen, since we used to be friends, I'll make sure to throw you a bone. When I become Mrs. Blackwood, I'll hire you to scrub my toilets."

She turned on her designer heels and strutted out of the office like she owned the building.

The other analysts in the bullpen exchanged confused glances, wondering what kind of manic episode she was having.

I just sat back down at my desk and pulled up the Southside Waterfront Project file.

Blackwood Industries was going to open the bidding in exactly two weeks.

In my past life, I had stayed up for three days straight during my third trimester to win this exact project for Tristan.

In this life, this project was going to be my battering ram. I was going to use it to smash through a completely different door.

The chat was still mocking me endlessly.

[Look at her pretending to be calm. She's probably screaming inside.]

[Without the System, she doesn't even have the right to breathe the same air as Tristan.]

[Can't wait to watch Sonia absolutely dominate!]

I paused my typing and let a cold smirk touch my lips.

Since they were all so excited, I was looking forward to seeing how a brainless vessel armed with nothing but a pretty face and a fertility app would survive the venomous snake pit of the Blackwood family. I gave her three episodes, tops.

...

"Who the hell does she think she is? One word and Sonia just parachutes in as our new department head?"

My cubicle neighbor, Sarah, slammed a stack of manila folders onto her desk in absolute disgust.

"Keep your voice down!" another coworker hissed, leaning in with wide eyes.

"I heard the promotion came straight from the top. Tristan Blackwood signed off on it himself."

"Someone saw her coming out of the CEO's private elevator yesterday morning. And she was wearing a completely different dress than the night before."

A collective, knowing gasp echoed through the office.

The floating text above my screen was glowing with toxic pride.

[Did you see that?! The power of the System is unmatched!]

[Sonia just used one 'Pitiful Tears' skill and had Tristan absolutely begging for it.]

[Alpha CEOs love a soft girl! What does a boring, lifeless workaholic like Helen know about being a woman?]

[LMAO Helen is still grinding away on her spreadsheets, while Sonia is literally her boss now.]

[Sonia is definitely going to teach her a lesson today. Time to break her ego!]

Right on cue, the office doors swung open. Sonia glided in, her hips swaying with a practiced rhythm.

She scanned the room, her gaze locking onto me like a heat-seeking missile.

"Helen, what kind of garbage is this?"

She didn't even glance at my screen. She just reached down and yanked my computer's power cord straight out of the wall.

The monitors went pitch black. The final data models I hadn't saved yet vanished into the void.

"Director Sonia, that was the core financial modeling for the Southside Project required for the executive meeting this afternoon."

I forced down the spike of adrenaline in my chest and stared at her with dead eyes.

"If that data is unrecoverable, are you prepared to take responsibility for the loss?"

Sonia covered her mouth and let out a tinkling, obnoxious laugh.

"Responsibility? In this building, Tristan's word is law. And I am Tristan's woman."

She leaned over my desk, dropping her voice to a venomous whisper.

"You are a nobody. You don't get to talk to me about responsibility."

She straightened up, casually picking up a steaming mug of black coffee from a nearby desk. She feigned a slip of her wrist.

"Oops."

The scalding liquid splashed directly onto my blouse and arms.

A few coworkers gasped in shock, but not a single person stepped forward to help me.

The chat went wild.

[Beautiful! Humiliate her! Put her in the dirt!]

[Sonia's manipulation skills are top-tier. 10/10 execution.]

[Helen must want to die from the embarrassment right now. That's what you get for messing with the main character!]

[Oh snap, Tristan is coming! Quick Sonia, play the victim!]

Tristan strode into the bullpen, flanked by a nervous entourage of executive assistants. His cold, predatory eyes swept between me and Sonia.

"What is going on here?"

Sonia's eyes immediately welled up with perfectly timed tears. She stumbled forward, burying her face against Tristan's expensive suit.

"Tristan, I was just checking on Helen's progress. I don't know why, but she started screaming at me, and then she threw her own coffee at me..."

Tristan's gaze snapped to me, filled with absolute disgust.

"Helen. Is this how you treat your superiors?"

"Mr. Blackwood, there is a security camera right above us."

I pointed at the black dome on the ceiling, keeping my voice perfectly level.

"She unplugged my workstation, and she poured the coffee on herself."

Tristan waved his hand, completely dismissing my words.

"Sonia has a pure and gentle heart. She wouldn't even step on an ant. Why would she do something like that?"

"You are clearly jealous of her promotion and trying to sabotage her."

"You will apologize to Sonia. Right now."

The chat was practically foaming at the mouth with joy.

[Hahaha! The CEO defending his wife! So sweet!]

[Helen really tried to pull the security camera card. Hilarious. Does she really think the truth matters to a billionaire?]

[Tristan doesn't care about facts, he only cares about Sonia!]

[Kneel and apologize, or pack your trash and get out!]

I stood perfectly still, looking at Tristan.

It was the same handsome face from my past life, but right now, he looked like a pathetic stranger.

"Tristan, please, let it go..."

Sonia tugged gently at his sleeve, playing the role of the merciful angel to perfection.

"Helen had a really hard life growing up in the orphanage. It's normal for her to be a little aggressive and unstable. I don't blame her."

"As long as she hands over the Southside Project files to me, we can just pretend this never happened."

There it was. The fox finally showing its tail.

"I built the Southside proposal from the ground up," I said, letting a cold laugh escape my lips. I didn't back down an inch.

"Director Sonia doesn't even know how to read a basic quarterly earnings report. How exactly is she going to lead this project?"

Sonia's face stiffened.

Tristan's patience completely evaporated.

"Helen, you are a massive disappointment."

"Sonia is being incredibly generous by not firing you on the spot, and you have the nerve to stand there and insult her?"

"Since you think you're so brilliant, you are officially off the project."

"Transfer every single piece of data you have to Sonia immediately."

He paused, his voice dropping into a lethal warning.

"If the bidding war this afternoon goes sideways because of you, I will personally make sure you never find work in this city again."

The chat was throwing a virtual parade.

[Yes! Take her only achievement away!]

[Helen burned the midnight oil for two weeks just to hand the credit over to Sonia. Poetic justice.]

[This is what we call destiny. A side character is a side character. All that hard work for absolutely nothing.]

[Can't wait to see Sonia dominate the boardroom this afternoon and crush Helen's spirit forever.]

I watched Tristan wrap a protective arm around Sonia's waist as they walked away. I dug my fingernails so hard into my palms that they nearly drew blood.

Was I humiliated? Absolutely.

But I wasn't stupid. I knew perfectly well that right now, I didn't have the capital to fight a billionaire head-on.

I quietly gathered the ruined papers on my desk. I pulled up the corrupted, incomplete draft of the proposal that had survived the hard reset, packaged it into a zip file, and emailed it to Sonia.

The real data, the actual core numbers, were locked securely inside my head.

At two o'clock, the Southside land auction commenced in the penthouse conference room.

I was relegated to the back corner, tasked with taking meeting minutes like a glorified intern.

Sonia stood at the head of the mahogany table. She held the incomplete draft I had sent her, reading off the pages with the stiff, robotic cadence of a middle schooler giving a book report.

But because she had the System's "Magnetic Charm" buff radiating off her, the ancient, conservative board members were actually nodding along, completely entranced.

Tristan looked at her with pure, unfiltered admiration.

"This proposal is exceptional. Your cost-control modeling is absolutely bulletproof."

Sonia shot me a smug, triumphant look before lowering her head in a display of perfect modesty.

"It's all thanks to your guidance, Tristan. I only did a little bit of the groundwork."

Just then, the representative from Montgomery Holdings, who had been sitting in stone-cold silence the entire time, finally spoke up.

"Mr. Blackwood. The presentation is certainly pretty."

"However, your team seems to have completely overlooked the abandoned coal mine shafts running directly beneath the Southside property."

"If you proceed with your current cost estimates, the moment you break ground, the foundation will collapse. The structural stabilization alone will cost three times your entire budget."

The room erupted into chaos.

Tristan's head whipped around to stare at Sonia.

"Director Sonia, what the hell is he talking about?"

Sonia panicked. She had absolutely no idea what an abandoned mine shaft was.

The Billionaire Baby System only gave her glowing skin and super-fertility. It didn't download a degree in civil engineering into her empty brain.

"I... I don't know! Helen gave me this file!"

"It was her! She deliberately hid the critical information to set me up!"

Every single pair of eyes in the room instantly locked onto me. I saw shock, disgust, and the cold apathy of corporate sharks smelling blood in the water.

The chat exploded.

[Holy shit! Helen is pure evil! She planted a landmine in the files!]

[Throw her in jail! Sabotaging a multi-billion dollar corporate deal just because she's petty?]

[Poor Sonia, getting stabbed in the back by her best friend.]

Tristan crossed the room in three massive strides, grabbing my arm and practically dragging me out of my chair.

"Are you out of your fucking mind, Helen?"

"You played a game with a billion-dollar acquisition just to get back at Sonia?"

I met his furious, bloodshot eyes, and the corner of my mouth curled into a vicious smirk.

"Mr. Blackwood. Director Sonia demanded the files."

"I hadn't even written the core risk assessment yet, but she was so desperate to steal the credit that she took the incomplete draft and ran with it."

Tristan froze. He slowly turned his head back to Sonia, a sliver of dark suspicion finally cracking through his blind affection.

Sonia's tears immediately flooded her cheeks.

"Tristan, how could you believe the word of an outsider over mine?"

Inside her mind, she was screaming.

[System! Activate Maximum Pity Aura! Now!]

In a fraction of a second, the floral pheromones radiating off her intensified. Every single tear she shed seemed to strike directly at Tristan's heart.

The suspicion vanished. Tristan shoved me hard, sending me crashing to the carpet.

"Enough! Helen, not only are you grossly incompetent, but you are a pathological liar!"

"You are fired. Effective immediately."

"And because your malicious negligence nearly cost this company billions, I am stripping your entire project bonus for the last six months."

I scrambled to my knees, my voice turning to ice.

"Tristan, you know damn well my mother is in the hospital waiting for that money for her heart bypass surgery!"

It was thirty thousand dollars. Money I had earned by trading my sleep, my health, and my sanity for half a year. It was blood money.

Tristan coldly adjusted his platinum cufflinks.

"Your personal tragedies are not my problem. They have nothing to do with this company."

Sonia walked over to me, looking down at me on the floor. She dropped her voice so only I could hear.

"This is what happens when you go against me, Helen."

"But, since we used to be friends... if you get on your knees right now and beg for my forgiveness in front of the entire board."

"I might just show some mercy and lend you enough cash to buy your dead mother a decent coffin."

The chat was a waterfall of text demanding my submission.

[Kneel! It's just a little pride. Do it for your mom!]

[Stop acting tough. A poor person's pride is absolutely worthless.]

[Sonia is literally an angel for even offering her a loan after all this.]

I closed my eyes and took one long, deep breath.

When I opened them, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. Right in front of the entire board of directors, I dialed a number.

"Miss Helen?"

The voice on the other end was deep, rich, and held the undeniable weight of true power. It was Silas Montgomery. The real apex predator of New York's elite.

"Mr. Montgomery. I have the actual, verified bottom-line bid for Blackwood's Southside Project. I also have the names, addresses, and birth certificates of the three illegitimate children Tristan Blackwood has hidden across Europe."

"I was wondering if those chips are enough to buy my mother's life."

The second those words left my mouth, all the oxygen was sucked out of the room.

Tristan's pupils shrank to pinpricks. His face went dead white.

"Helen! What the fuck are you talking about?!"