I grabbed the pillow like a woman possessed and hurled it at Giles, hating him for every lie, every calculated move.

He didn't even flinch. Just gave me two options.

“Marry me with no wedding settlement, or the baby stays with me. Your choice.”

The rage sent me into hemorrhagic shock. Before I blacked out, the last thing I saw was the three of them fussing over the baby, cooing and coddling. Not one of them spared me a glance.

The memory dissolved. I looked at the two people kneeling in front of me now, performing their grief, and felt nothing.

When I didn't speak, Tracey cried harder.

“I couldn't protect my boy, and now I can't even protect his flesh and blood. I don't deserve to be alive. I'd rather just end it all.”

She lunged toward the wall, but Evan caught her and locked his arms around her.

The onlookers in the hallway whispered and pointed.

I lowered my eyes, buried the hatred where no one could see it, and forced a look of anguish onto my face.

“I'll keep it.”

The words barely left my mouth before a flash of triumph cut through both their eyes. They grabbed my hands, all smiles.

“Good girl. That's all we needed to hear. You just focus on resting and taking care of the baby. We'll handle everything for Giles's funeral. Don't you worry about a thing.”

They left with light, bouncing steps, glancing back every few paces. Not a trace of grief for a dead son. Just the giddiness of a con that had landed.

I stood by the window and watched until they were out of sight. Then I turned and walked straight to the OB-GYN.

“Hi. I'd like to terminate my pregnancy.

The cold instruments entered my body, and the shackles that had bound me in my last life cracked apart, piece by piece.

I'd thought about confronting them outright. But that would have been too easy.

Back in my room, I took out my phone and contacted a private investigator. I sent him a photo of Giles.

“I need you on him twenty-four seven. Every move he makes, I want it on video.”

That same night, over a dozen clips came through.

Dark lighting. Pounding music. A nightclub.

Giles had a woman on each arm, looking like he owned the world.

“Whoever keeps me happy tonight gets a fat bonus.”

He slapped a thick stack of cash on the table with a flourish. The bills were so crisp and red they stung my eyes.

In my previous life, I'd been pregnant and alone. I quit my job, stayed home with my swollen belly, and counted every dollar for checkups and delivery.

While he was out burning through money like it was nothing. And he'd had the nerve to resent me for wanting a wedding settlement.

My chest seized. I swallowed back the nausea and kept watching.

A handful of his usual buddies crowded around him, ribbing him, laughing.

“Gotta hand it to you, man. Faking your own death? That takes balls.”

“Can you blame him? That girl was so high-maintenance. Gets knocked up and suddenly it's quit smoking, quit drinking, run here, fetch that. A man's hands are meant for making money, not running errands. She needed to be put in her place.”

“But seriously, bro, how were you so sure Scarlett would keep the baby?”

Giles snorted. He tilted his head and bit the grape a girl held out to him.

“She's an orphan. Desperate for love. Got bullied in middle school, too. Something's a little off up here.”

“I hired some guys to corner her back then, swooped in to play the hero, and she was mine. Five years together after that. A little sweet talk, a few gifts, and she treated me like I was God himself.”

“That's what you call spending small to save big.”

The whole group doubled over laughing.

I sat frozen, my heart split open, the pain so sharp I couldn't breathe.

I thought about the first time we met.

I was being harassed. Giles stepped in front of me, shielded me with his body. A knife caught his arm and the blood ran down in a steady stream.

Right before he passed out, his face white with pain, he reached up and wiped the tears off my cheeks.

“Scarlett, don't cry. The truth is, I've liked you for a long time. Protecting you was my choice. Don't feel like you owe me anything.”

In over twenty years of being unwanted and pushed around, that was the first time I ever felt warmth from another person.

We kept running into each other after that, and gradually grew close.

The day he confessed his feelings, I came clean about my family first, fully expecting Giles to be put off.

But he just smiled, so gently, and pulled me into his arms like I was something precious.

“From now on, I'm your family. I'll protect you forever.”

Five years together. He remembered every birthday, always had a gift ready. He tracked my cycle and had hot cocoa waiting when cramps hit. When I got sick, he stayed by my side around the clock.

Every friend I had envied me for landing such a good boyfriend.

When the truth came out in my last life, I racked my brain trying to understand how a man who loved me that much could just change overnight.

Now I understood. He hadn't changed. He'd just been that good at pretending.

A message popped up on my phone：

“They went to The Grand Royale Casino. Can't get video or photos in there.”

I replied with a quick "got it," then turned around and dialed another number.

“I need you to do something for me.”

Over the next few months, Tracey would text me now and then to check in. All talk, no action.

Meanwhile, I built a carefully curated pregnant-mom persona on social media, visible only to the three of them.

【Can't skip meals no matter how bad I feel.】

【My clothes are two sizes too big now.】

Paired with pregnancy-tip articles shared from parenting blogs, the illusion was airtight.

And of course, late at night every so often, I'd post a few melancholy lines dripping with grief.

Seeing me drowning in the pain of losing my husband, devoted to nothing but protecting my unborn child, the three of them dropped their guard completely.

At the five-month mark, Evan and Tracey showed up at my door again.

I spotted them through the peephole, pulled the pre-made fake baby bump from the closet and strapped it on, then did my makeup to look drawn and exhausted.

“Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Simmons, what brings you here?”

The two of them settled onto the couch, weariness and sorrow etched across their faces.

“Sweetheart, we know pregnancy's been hard on you, and the last thing we wanted was to bother you. But we've got nowhere else to turn.”

Tracey's eyes went red, her voice catching.

“After Giles passed, the whole household just collapsed. His father and I have been dealing with our own health problems. The reason we haven't visited is we've been in and out of the hospital, and we didn't want you catching anything.”

Evan let out a long, heavy sigh before speaking：

“There's still a debt hanging over us. The collectors have been hounding us so bad we've been hiding from place to place. It weighs on us something awful. We just came today to talk, that's all.”

Neither of them said the word "money" once, yet they kept the grievances coming, every inch the suffering elders.

They'd pulled this exact routine in my last life, and every single time I'd caved, handing over my savings down to the last dollar, terrified of letting them suffer even a little.

By the time they finally showed their true colors, I couldn't even afford a lawyer.

Not this time.

“Mr. and Mrs. Simmons, I understand things are tough. But I'm pregnant right now. Between checkups, supplements, and the delivery itself, everything costs money. I really don't have anything to spare.”

“Why don't you sell the house you're living in? Get through this rough patch first.”

The words barely left my mouth before Tracey shot to her feet：

“We can't sell it! Otherwise when Giles comes back he'll need somewhere to—”

The second she realized what she'd said, she clapped a hand over her eyes and scrambled to cover：

“It's a tradition where we're from. They say the dead remember where home is. If we move, Giles's spirit won't be able to find his way back.”

Evan jumped in right behind her：

“We're saving that house for the baby in your belly. A child needs a roof over their head to stand on solid ground. It'll make things easier for you down the line, too.”

They wore their best "thinking of you" faces. All I felt was the urge to laugh.

I didn't respond, and with nothing else to say, they asked a few more questions about the baby before leaving in a hurry.

But I knew they weren't going to let it go that easily.

Sure enough, by the next day, rumors were swirling through the apartment complex. Every time I walked by, people whispered and pointed.

“When someone dies, you let them rest in peace. Giles used to treat her so well, picking her up from work every single day. Now that he's gone, she can't even be bothered to look after his parents.”

“You should see those two old folks gnawing on stale bread, saving every penny so she and the baby can eat better.”

I knew exactly what this was. Evan and Tracey were trying to pressure me into giving in. I made a mental note of every single person spreading gossip about me.

That night, I called Tracey, sobbing like I couldn't take it anymore.

“Mrs. Simmons, I know things are hard for you. I still have some money saved up. Let me send it over so you can get by.”

A quiet laugh slipped out on the other end of the line before she caught herself.

“Oh, we couldn't possibly accept that.”

They put up a token resistance for a few exchanges, then took the money. They even remembered to remind me, voices dripping with concern, to rest well for the baby's sake.

Once they'd tasted that first win, the second and third came easy.

What started as subtle sob stories turned into outright demands for cash.

Every single time, I transferred the money like a woman resigned to her fate. And every single time, I saved the receipts, screenshots, and recordings.

Giles was going to pay for what he'd done, and these two accomplices weren't going to slip away either.

I spent a comfortable ten months at home.

When the timing was right, I dropped the final piece of bait on social media.

It was a photo I'd gotten from my cousin, one of her son. I blurred it just enough, and added a caption：

【Bringing you into this world was the hardest thing Mommy's ever done.】

Within a minute of posting, messages from Evan and Tracey came flooding in one after another.

“Scarlett, you had the baby? Why didn't you tell us? We would've come to help!”

“Is it a boy or a girl?”

I glanced at the messages and typed back：

“A boy.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Simmons, I've been thinking about this for a while. Things are tough for you financially, so it's probably best if I raise the child on my own. Please don't contact me anymore.”

Then I set my phone to silent, tossed it aside, and let the messages pile up.

“Scarlett, we're the baby's grandparents! How can we just not be involved?”

“A young woman raising a baby alone? That's no way to live. Family should stick together and support each other.”

And Giles, who had been silent for months, finally couldn't sit still any longer.

“Babe, thank you so much for having our baby. I'm back. Where are you? Let me come see you both.”

Every word oozed gratitude for my sacrifice and guilt over not being by my side, as if that combination would soften me up enough to fall back in line.

All I sent back was：

“Who is this? My fiancé died a long time ago.”

Giles scrambled to explain：

“Babe, I was in a car accident and a good Samaritan saved me, but I was in a coma and lost my memory. That's why I never came home to find you.”

He sent me a photo.

In it, his jaw was covered in stubble, the skin under his eyes bruised a deep purple. He looked haggard.

“Babe, life without you has been miserable. But it's okay now. Our little family of three is about to be together again.”

One look and I knew the plan had worked.

The only difference from my past life was the angle of his approach, and this time, I was supposed to play the fool who bankrolled everything.

I kept playing dumb.

“One AI-generated photo and you think I'll fall for it? Yeah, right.”

Then I deleted him off WhatsApp.

Giles sent friend request after friend request, apologizing and begging, but I ignored every single one.

In the end, he dropped the act entirely and resorted to threats.

“Scarlett, don't push your luck. You're an unmarried mother. Who else would want you besides me?”

“I'm telling you, marry me and we can still be a family. Otherwise, I'll take you to court and make sure you never see that kid again.”

I let out a cold laugh：

“Then take me to court.”

It wasn't long before the court summons arrived at my door.

The speed of it would have been unbelievable if he hadn't been planning this all along.

On the day of the hearing, Giles and his parents sat in the plaintiff's section, looking like they'd already won.

The moment Mr. and Mrs. Simmons noticed I hadn't brought a child, their eyes turned murderous. They launched into their sob story for the judge：

“Your Honor, during her entire pregnancy, my husband and I took care of her hand and foot. We gave her the best of everything while we barely ate or slept ourselves. We lost ten pounds from the stress alone.”

“And after all that, she's so heartless she won't even let us see the baby. Not once.”

Giles produced my old psychiatric evaluation, putting on a mask of concern.

“She has depression, which is a mental illness. Leaving a child with her is dangerous. There's no telling what might happen.”

“We may not be legally married, but as the child's father, I have a responsibility. I'm requesting full custody.”

The judge turned to me.

“Does the defendant have anything to say?”

I looked at the three smug faces across from me and laughed out loud：

“Every one of the plaintiff's claims is baseless. There is no child.”