Both Sienna Zeller, a top-tier actress, and I went into premature labor, and my husband, hailed as the star obstetrician, pulled a deformed baby from me.

The shock nearly broke me. I sank into despair, only to accidentally discover that Sienna was my husband's first love.

He had deliberately caused my early labor, planning to swap my healthy baby for hers, all to protect her image.

Sienna played the perfect mother in public while secretly abusing my daughter until she was left mentally impaired.

Heartbroken, I went to rescue my child, only for my husband and his first love to conspire, shoving us both down the stairs to our deaths.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day I gave birth.

I touched my unborn baby and vowed that this time, that cheating, cruel man and that treacherous woman would pay.

Labor of Lies

When I opened my eyes, I was back on the delivery bed. The sharp, unmistakable pangs of labor told me one thing that I had been reborn.

Right now, a nurse was pushing me toward the delivery room.

I saw the door drawing closer.

"Stop!" I clutched my swollen belly and rolled off the bed. "I'm not giving birth! Let me go!"

Once inside, my husband Julian Steele would force me, unconscious, to deliver a deformed child.

I pressed my hands against my swollen belly. Only while inside me was my baby truly safe.

"Are you going to waste Dr. Steele's time?" the nurse snapped, her tone sharp. "You're just here to pop out a kid for him, so what's the big deal?"

She reached for my hair, ready to hit me. I shoved her to the floor.

"How dare you!" she shrieked.

"Go get my phone," I demanded, cold and steady. "Or I'll expose every private photo you sent my husband."

Pregnant women had no say in this. I needed to call my parents and get transferred to another hospital.

She hesitated for a second, then relented.

In my past life, Julian had used her flirtations to place her by my side as a spy, all to ensure the baby swap succeeded.

I'd found the first hint of his plan and wanted to do a paternity test on the deformed child. But no matter how I tried, I couldn't find my phone and contact my parents to help me get discharged. By the time the baby died and was cremated, there was no proof left.

Only then did the nurse finally hand over the hidden phone.

Julian's every step had been calculated to kill me, all for Sienna.

Another contraction hit, and I forced myself back into the moment, kneeling on the floor and breathing through the pain.

Then, an alarm blared. The delivery room door swung open, and Julian stepped out.

The second he saw me, he forced a tender look into his eyes.

"You're about to be a mother, and you're still acting stubborn?" he said with a smile, approaching me. "I didn't spend yesterday with you because of work. Don't be mad, okay?"

His words were soft, but the strength in his hand told another story.

"Don't touch me!" I screamed, dodging.

All I could see in my mind was the memories of him pushing me and my daughter down the stairs.

Towering above us, he held Sienna in his arms, a smile in his eyes as he watched me and my daughter struggle in despair.

"Perfect," he had said. "Two burdens gone."

He kissed Sienna over and over. "Now, we can have a baby that's truly ours."

That was when I realized everything. The reason he kept going to Sienna's place, ignoring the abuse she inflicted on his own daughter, was simple. He wanted her dead. He only wanted the child that Sienna would give him.

"I'm transferring to another hospital," I said, my body trembling with instinctive fear.

"Lexi, you really are unruly," Julian said, a flicker of cold in his eyes even as his smile never wavered.

The people around us started scolding me. In my previous life, his perfect husband image had fooled everyone.

When I cried that my child had been swapped, no one believed me.

Julian called it postpartum depression. Everyone agreed. I even started doubting myself, thinking maybe I was just being irrational after all the trauma.

Now that I had a second chance at life, I was determined to reveal his true colors to everyone.

The nurse brought the phone over. Julian noticed and tried to stop me.

"Get the patient onto the delivery bed and move her in," he ordered his assistant.

"Don't worry," he said, gripping my hand tight. "Lexi, your condition is very serious. Only I can save you."

As if! Without me, how would he ever swap babies for his first love?

"Honey…" I softened my voice, pretending to give in, my tone almost pitiful. "Before I deliver, I just want to call my parents. You wouldn't refuse, right?"

Holding On

Julian's eyes burned with fury. He hadn't expected me to turn his image of a loving husband into a weapon against him. "Of course," he said.

With so many people watching, he had no choice but to agree.

I seized the phone, my lifeline, and dialed home at once. "Mom, Dad, please come save me!"

I had married far from home. My parents had set out two weeks early, planning to take care of me after I gave birth.

Julian, wanting to keep them away, had secretly fed me labor-inducing drugs so I would deliver early.

In my last life, by the time they arrived, I was already in the ICU, locked away where no one was allowed to see me.

They never questioned me. They only felt my pain and agreed to everything I asked without hesitation.

"We've arranged for the nearest hospital," my father said, trying to steady his voice. "Lexi, hold on! You must hold on!"

The nearest hospital was about a forty‑minute drive. If I could just make it through, I could save my daughter and myself.

I hung up and clung tightly to an iron pipe jutting out from the wall. "I'm not going anywhere until the doctor in charge of my transfer arrives."

Julian let out a bitter laugh. My defiance was shredding his mask of gentleness.

If there hadn't been witnesses here, he would have knocked me out and dragged me into the delivery room himself.

"So, you're just missing your parents," he said with mock tenderness, patting my head. "I'll have my mom come keep you company right away."

His mother was in on it too. He wasn't calling her here to comfort me; he was calling in reinforcements.

She had never liked me. After my death in my last life, she took my inheritance for herself, even the portion meant for my parents. There wasn't a single decent soul in the Steele family.

If his mother showed up, she would almost certainly create a scene to force me into the delivery room.

I pulled out the phone and hit record.

"From this moment on, I, Lexi Summers, retain full decision‑making authority over myself," I said clearly. "No one except my parents may make medical decisions on my behalf, not even my husband. This recording is made publicly and has legal force."

Julian's expression darkened even further. He hadn't thought I would go this far.

With this recording, the hospital staff wouldn't dare touch me without my consent.

The onlookers' eyes shifted to him, searching his face as though trying to piece together just how badly he had wronged me, and what could make me so desperate that I would publicly deny him the right to speak as my family.

I had expected Julian to back down. Instead, his lips curled, his tone going cold.

"Babe, if you've been struggling with prenatal anxiety, why didn't you just tell me? I guess it's my fault. I've been too busy with work to pay attention to you." Then came his sneer. "An anxious patient's statement has no legal standing."

There it was again, his favorite tactic, branding me as mentally unstable.

"Lexi, once you give birth, all this will be over."

With a single command, Julian's assistants swarmed me, pinning me down.

He used his privileges to order a powerful labor‑inducing injection and jabbed it straight into my lower back.

The drug hit fast. Intense contractions tore through me like fire.

I clutched my belly and screamed. The pain drained every ounce of strength from me.

He was using the agony of childbirth to shackle my freedom. His assistants forced me back onto the delivery bed. My mind went blank from the pain.

As they tried to push me into the delivery room, I clutched the doorframe with both hands, refusing to let go.

"Get me full video documentation of this delivery." I gasped, eyes blazing. "Julian, do you dare?"

Labor Room Betrayal

The hospital offered video-recording services.

In my last life, I'd asked for it because it would be meaningful for my husband to deliver our baby himself.

Julian refused outright. He said it was a waste of money.

It only cost 600, a day's pay for me. He wasn't worried about money. He was afraid anyone watching would interfere with his plan to switch the babies.

Julian ground his teeth but kept his voice calm as he tried to soothe me. "Fine. You can go into the delivery room first. The camera crew will follow."

"No." I panted. "The camera has to go in with me. If it doesn't, I'll jump off the building."

I threatened him with my life. He didn't care whether I lived or died. What he cared about was making sure he had a healthy baby to swap for Sienna.

He was afraid that if she delivered a deformed child, she'd lose dignity and her career as a star.

He signaled his assistants to stand down. He looked like he wanted to kill me, but he didn't dare, just as I'd expected.

Time ticked away. Fifteen minutes left. As soon as the transfer van arrived, my daughter and I would be safe.

"Ms. Summers, I'm begging you…" Sienna emerged from the delivery room, clutching her belly. Her eyes blazed with hatred. Sweat had soaked her gown; her face was ashen.

She was six centimeters dilated. In as little as thirty minutes, she would deliver that malformed child. Everyone would know she'd given birth to a deformed baby.

I had ruined her plan; of course she was here to rush things.

"Think of other patients, if not your own baby," she scolded. "What if someone loses theirs because of your stubbornness? Could you live with that?"

Her words drew cheers.

Some onlookers immediately pulled out their phones and started live-streaming. "Kind and beautiful Sienna's stopping a troublemaker in the hospital!"

She launched her public image as an innocent beauty. After a whirlwind marriage and divorce, she discovered she was pregnant and carefully crafted a brand as an independent mother.

Once my daughter was in her hands, she used her on TV to make money while also treating her as an outlet for her rage.

Whenever she saw negative comments online, she took it out on my daughter by beating her, stabbing her with needles, and burning her. My little girl was left brain-damaged from the abuse.

Today, I wanted revenge for my daughter and for myself.

I would ruin her, so I asked Julian. "If Ms. Zeller's so desperate, why don't you deliver for her first?"

Sienna fell silent and sent Julian a furtive look.

"That won't work," she replied. "Dr. Steele is worried about you. I'm afraid that if he loses his focus, he won't do a good job."

"You think Julian isn't skilled enough?" I smiled. "Fine. We can switch to another doctor to deliver both of us."

"No!" Sienna blurted.

She immediately realized she'd slipped and clamped her hands over her belly, sobbing. She was about to deliver; she couldn't afford any delay.

Julian's anxiety was obvious. He fumbled with his phone and tapped a few times. Fans who had been waiting downstairs suddenly surged in.

"Don't hold up Sienna's delivery!"

"If you don't want to give birth, just go die already!"

"She'll only learn her lesson if she gives birth to a freak."

They hurled the vilest insults at me.

"Ms. Summers, you've angered everyone." Sienna signaled to her followers. "So, you should just go in."

A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, and a surge of people shoved my delivery bed forward.

The transfer van still hadn't arrived.

A contraction hit. I looked into the phones that were livestreaming. This might be my last chance.

"Sienna, you're the one carrying the malformed baby!" I shouted. "You're terrified people will find out what you did during your pregnancy that caused your child to be deformed, aren't you?"

All eyes turned to Sienna.

Her face, made up to perfection, twisted. "That's a lie. I didn't—"

"Get her inside now! I won't let her spread lies!"

Julian slapped me hard across the face.

"My wife's mentally unstable. She's lost it," he said, eyes dark. "Get the anesthesiologist and put her under now!"