I stared at the words and drew a long, slow breath.

「Mom, Dad, don't worry. I'll take good care of you both!」

My father-in-law started barking orders right away：「Go make dinner. When you're done, clean the whole house top to bottom. And don't even think about being lazy and ordering delivery. I don't eat takeout!」

My mother-in-law piled on：「After we eat, give us both a sponge bath first, then do the cleaning. Oh, and wash our dirty clothes too.」

I looked at them coldly：「Mom, Dad, my stomach's not feeling right. I need to go to the hospital for a checkup.」

Mr. Whitney panicked：「You're this far along and suddenly something's wrong? You just don't want to take care of us!」

Mrs. Whitney chimed in：「Sarah, if you abandon us, I'll go live on camera and let the internet tear you apart!」

「Mom, Dad, I'm not abandoning you. I'll be back as soon as the checkup's done. You don't want anything to happen to Warren's baby, do you?」

I left without waiting for their answer and went straight to an electronics store, where I bought two hidden cameras.

The scrolling text was going wild.

「Oh my God, Sarah's waking up! She's starting to suspect the two old frauds!」

「Sarah, hurry home! The property deeds for Warren Fox's two villas are hidden inside the giant stuffed bear! If you don't grab them now, those two will get to them first!」

I rushed back home and spotted it immediately: the stuffed bear in the living room, taller than a person.

Warren had given it to me when I first found out I was pregnant.

I tore open the zipper on its back and reached inside, feeling around for what felt like forever, until my fingers finally closed around two property deeds.

My heart was hammering.

Both villas were in prime locations, massive square footage—worth a fortune, twenty million yuan at least.

「Sarah couldn't even scrape together two hundred dollars for her son's school fees. She cried every single day, skipped meals, couldn't bring herself to spend money on a single dollar bag of rice, and passed out from hunger. Meanwhile this scumbag had all this money and didn't leave his wife and kid a cent. He deserves to rot!」

「Warren Fox and Nanette are at a hot-spring resort abroad right now, sharing a couples' bath. Really going all out with each other.」

I pulled out my phone and called a real estate agent.

「Hi, are you a property agent? I need to sell two houses.」

The second I finished listing both villas, my mother-in-law's number lit up the screen.

「Sarah, it's almost dark and you're still not back! Your father and I can't take care of ourselves. Get back here and do your job.」

「Sure, Mom. I'm on my way.」

I came home with the two hidden cameras. The moment my in-laws heard the front door, they scrambled back into their beds to lie down.

Which gave me the perfect chance to set up a camera in the living room.

Mr. Whitney shouted：「Hurry up and cook! You trying to starve us to death?」

I called back that I was coming and went to the kitchen to cook.

When the food was ready, I carried the dishes into their room and wrestled both of them upright, which took everything I had.

Mrs. Whitney told me to feed her. The instant I brought the spoon to her lips, she let out a shriek.

「Are you trying to burn me alive?!」

She swatted the bowl out of my hands. Rice and soup splattered all over my head and face.

The floor was a mess of broth and vegetables, but cleaning it up gave me exactly the cover I needed to plant the second camera in the bedroom.

Mr. Whitney rapped his chopsticks against a plate：「This one's too salty. This one's drowning in oil. Do better next time!」

「And another thing. Our meals need meat and vegetables, four dishes and a soup, minimum. You serve us these two sad little plates and call it dinner? You have no conscience!」

Mrs. Whitney let out a cold huff：「Don't you dare feel sorry for yourself. My son is dead because of you. Everything you do now is penance.」

「Now clean up these dishes, wash the sheets and clothes, mop the floors. There's a mountain of work and you haven't done any of it!」

I answered the way they expected：「Mom, Dad, I'll do my best to keep you happy.」

After they finished eating, I was cleaning up in the living room.

Then Laurel screamed from the bedroom：「Sarah, get in here! I need to use the toilet!」

I dropped the mop and ran, but it was already too late.

The stench hit me the second I opened the door.

「Can't you move any faster? I've soiled myself! Clean it up, now!」

I swallowed my anger and kept my voice steady.

「I'm sorry, Mom. I'm seven months pregnant. I can't move as fast as a normal person, but I came as quickly as I could.」

「So now you're blaming me for not being able to hold it?!」

She grabbed the cup from the nightstand and hurled it straight at me.

It caught me square on the forehead, and blood ran down my face instantly.

「What are you standing there for? Clean it up! A little cut on the head never killed anyone!」

I bit down on everything I wanted to say and cleaned it all up, fighting back the nausea the entire time.

From the other room, Mason yelled：「Hand-wash your mother's pants and the sheets! Don't put them in the machine, that's unsanitary!」

By the time I finally finished, I'd barely sat down on the couch before Laurel called out again.

「Sarah, do you know what time it is? Go home. Your father and I need our rest. And come earlier tomorrow!」

The apartment had two bedrooms, but they clearly had no intention of letting me stay the night.

I stepped outside, and the scrolling text appeared again.

「Those two old frauds soiled themselves on purpose just to mess with Sarah. Now they're kicking her out this late at night. Pure cruelty!」

「There are no buses running at this hour. Sarah would have to call a cab to get home. But she's trying to save every penny, so she walks. Two hours on foot before she reaches her apartment.」

「Later, Sarah bought a cheap electric scooter for deliveries and getting around, and those two old frauds deliberately punctured the tires.」

「Marrying into this family was the worst luck of Sarah's life. These two knew all along that Warren was alive and still chose to torment her. They're not even human! Why won't they just drop dead!」

I let out a cold laugh.

Go ahead, you miserable old parasites. Enjoy it while it lasts. Everything you're doing right now is going to come back around and bury you.

The next morning at four a.m., Laurel's call came in.

「Sarah, are you on your way? Your father and I are both waiting for you to help us with the toilet. Hurry up! If we can't hold it and mess the bed, that's on you!」

I pulled up the hidden camera feeds on my phone. Both of them were strolling around the living room without a care in the world. Not a trace of paralysis.

But I had no choice. For now, I still had to play along.

I waited on them hand and foot for an entire week without a single complaint, and finally, that afternoon, I got the message: a buyer had been found for the villas.

While the two old frauds were napping, I slipped out to meet the buyer.

I'd priced the villas below market value, so the deal closed fast.

The moment twenty million hit my account, the weight I'd been carrying finally lifted.

That afternoon, the Whitneys called my phone over a dozen times. I turned it off.

When I came back that evening, I brought someone with me.

The second I walked through the door, I heard things being smashed.

「Where the hell did you run off to? Why was your phone off? Do you have any idea what your father and I went through this afternoon?!」

Oh, I knew exactly how they'd spent their afternoon. Takeout, television, and not a care in the world.

Every second of it captured on camera.

「Mom, Dad, this is the live-in housekeeper I hired for you. From now on, Irma Finch will be taking care of you full-time.」

Mason practically leapt off the couch：「Absolutely not! You think some outsider is going to take care of us properly? We don't want a stranger. We want you!」

Laurel burst into tears：「Sarah, my son died because of you, and now you want to abandon us! You heartless wretch! What did our family ever do to deserve a jinx like you!」

「Mom, Dad, I've been taking care of you nonstop for days and my heart keeps acting up. Yesterday I started spotting. If you insist I keep doing this alone, I'll have no choice but to terminate the pregnancy.」

Mason refused to back down：「Nonsense! Back in our day, women worked the fields with a full belly and their babies came out fine! You just don't want to take care of us. Making up excuses!」

「That's right! You tell her! She's seven months along—the baby's plenty stable by now!」

「I don't care what either of you say. This child is Warren's only heir, and it's my life on the line. I'm keeping this baby.」

I turned and walked out. They shouted after me. I didn't look back.

That night, Irma called.

「Ms. Simmons, your in-laws are trying to force me out. They said if I don't leave, they'll bite off their own tongues.」

「Don't worry. They'd never actually do it. Just keep doing your job. If they give you trouble, bear with it—I'll triple your pay.」

Of course those two were desperate to get rid of the housekeeper. With Irma there, they had to keep faking the paralysis around the clock.

If it were me taking care of them, they could still get up and move around after I left for the night.

Now? They could just lie there.

I had more important things to do.

First, I went to the hospital and got rid of the baby.

A week later, as soon as I'd recovered, I went straight to Fox Corp—Warren's company—and called a board meeting in my capacity as his legal wife.

「Shareholders, my name is Sarah Simmons. I'm Warren Fox's lawful spouse, and I'll be inheriting all of his shares. I have a finance degree from an Ivy League university, and I'm confident we can work well together going forward.」

Warren's right-hand man objected immediately.

「As far as I know, Mr. Fox still has living parents. On what grounds do you claim sole inheritance of his shares!」

I produced the Whitneys' paralysis certificates：「My in-laws have been declared fully incapacitated. If you hand the company to them, how exactly do you expect it to run?」

「Besides, I'm an Ivy League graduate. My in-laws never finished middle school. The choice couldn't be more obvious.」

The man kept pushing back.

「"Fully incapacitated"? That's just your word for it!」

I projected the home surveillance footage onto the screen.

In the video, there I was—tending to two bedridden, helpless elderly people around the clock, dutiful and devoted.

The man's face went white.

In the end, more than half the shareholders voted in my favor. Every last share of Warren Fox's equity was mine.

Then I hit every bank in the city, checking for accounts still under his name.

Whenever I found one, I presented the death certificate and marriage license, transferred every cent into my own account, and had his card canceled on the spot.

When the dust settled, I had another thirty million sitting in my account.

I couldn't help laughing out loud picturing Warren overseas, swiping his card and watching it get declined—jaw on the floor.