My younger sister, Sophie Sawyer, got pregnant before marriage, gave birth to a baby boy in a small clinic, and then disappeared.

The doctor used the address she left behind to find my family and handed the child to me.

My parents knelt and begged me to raise him, and that was how I, an unmarried young woman, struggled through life with a child on my hip.

When I finally managed to raise him, Sophie came back, standing beside a big-shot boss dripping in gold. She held her son and cried, accusing me of being jealous of her, stealing her child, and tearing them apart.

My nephew cut ties with me without hesitation, choosing her over me. My parents kicked me out of the house.

The neighbors all condemned me. In despair, I jumped to my death.

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

The sky had only just begun to lighten when someone started pounding on my front door, the sound jolting me awake with a sheet of cold sweat.

In my previous life, this was the exact moment when the clinic doctor came crashing into my world. Dr. Leonard Price had slammed on our door loud enough to wake every neighbor.

Right there, in front of all of them, he had shoved a baby into my arms and scolded me, accusing me of giving birth and refusing to take responsibility.

I learned the baby, Caleb Sawyer, belonged to my younger sister. My parents begged me to keep him. Since I had no plans to marry, I had agreed.

Later, I hated myself endlessly for making that choice.

Now, hearing the knocks again, a chill ran through me. I shot upright, hurried to the door, and pulled it open.

A familiar face stood there.

"Lynn Sawyer, you gave birth to a child and abandoned him. You know child abandonment is a crime."

The neighbors were already waking up one by one, stretching their necks to catch a glimpse of the commotion.

I stared at him. Then, in the next breath, I yanked off my slipper and swung it straight across his face.

"You shameless old man! You dare show up at my door and frame me? I don't even have a boyfriend, and you claim I had a baby? Have you ever seen a woman who just gave birth and can still fight like this? Do I look like I just had a baby?"

My blows came so fast he was left speechless. Across the hall, my neighbor, Mrs. Marjorie Hale, finally reacted.

"That's right! Lynn goes to work every single day. I've never seen her with a pregnant belly! Did he get the wrong person? I recognize him. Isn't he the doctor from that shady clinic on Meadow Street?"

Hands on my hips, I shouted, "You filthy crook! Running a sleazy clinic and trying to scam me? Call the cops! Call them!"

The moment he heard my words, Dr. Price panicked. "I-I won't argue with you!"

I grabbed a fistful of his hair. "You don't want to argue, but there's no way I'm letting you walk away!"

Then I pulled out my phone and called, "Hello, 911? Someone is trafficking a baby!"

"Stop talking nonsense!"

"You can explain everything when the police arrive. If you don't, I'll smash your clinic myself!"

Heaven had given me another chance. Every humiliation, every injustice from my last life—I was unleashing them all now.

By the time the police arrived, Dr. Price was standing there with bruises on his face, holding a newborn baby. I stood in my pajamas, clutching a slipper, seething.

Neighbors crowded around us. When the officers heard what happened and saw the infant with its umbilical cord still attached, they were stunned.

"What is going on here? Tell the truth."

"This is the address and name the patient left," Dr. Price stammered, pulling a medical record from his pocket.

The officer checked it. The address was mine, and the name matched mine.

I crossed my arms. "I don't know anything about this. Someone must have used my name to give birth and is now trying to dump the baby on me."

The moment the words left my mouth, my parents appeared in the doorway.

"Lynn, since you don't want to get married anyway, why don't you take him in?" said my mother, Elaine Sawyer.

My father, Richard Sawyer, nodded urgently. "It would be better if you just raised him."

"Mom, Dad, what are you talking about? How could I casually adopt a child with no known background? We don't even know who his parents are. What if they're addicts? Bad genes get passed down. I'm not raising a future ingrate."

My parents froze, struck speechless. Dr. Price's expression soured. He shoved the baby into my arms.

"This is your family's child. I'm done. Tell Sophie Sawyer to raise her own son. If I'd known your family was this unreasonable, I wouldn't have come!"

Immediately, the crowd erupted in shock.

Everyone now knew that my younger sister, Sophie, was the mother of the baby boy.

"That's bullshit. First, you say the baby is mine, now you say he's Sophie's. Do you have any proof? Without evidence, you think you can dump a child on us? Officers, I strongly suspect he's trafficking a baby!"

I shoved the baby back into Dr. Leonard Price's arms and folded mine, not planning to deal with him any further.

Mom stared at me in shock. "Lynn!"

"Mom, Dad, stop being naive. There are scammers everywhere these days!"

Mrs. Hale chimed in beside us, "Richard, Elaine, don't spout nonsense. This doctor came up saying the baby was Lynn's, and now suddenly it's Sophie's? He's full of lies!"

"Exactly! Who knows where he picked that child up!"

Dr. Price exploded. "I, Leonard Price, have never lied! I've run my clinic for years. Why would I scam anyone? Last night, your younger sister, Sophie, came running into my clinic begging me to deliver her baby! I even have the phone she pawned!"

He reached into the bag slung over his shoulder and pulled out a phone. At one glance, I recognized it instantly. It was Sophie's.

My parents froze. There was no denying it now. The baby was Sophie’s.

The neighbors erupted instantly.

"Sophie? She's so young! She actually had a child? Who's the father?"

"Who knows? She barely shows her face around here, always wearing loose clothes. I really didn't expect she was pregnant!"

"Probably hooked up with some delinquent and had this child in secret!"

"Don't you talk nonsense! My daughter is perfectly fine!" This time, Mom shot up, furious. "Say that again! I'll tear your mouth apart!"

Dr. Price snorted. "Please. Sophie told me herself. After she gave birth, she wanted the baby brought here so her sister could raise him. Officers, I even have a letter she wrote!"

He pulled out an envelope.

In my last life, this letter never existed.

When Sophie came back and publicly condemned me, Dr. Price had even stepped forward to help her, forcing me into a dead end. This scumbag was never a good person.

Dr. Price curled his lip. "If I'd known this would happen, I wouldn't have come. What bad luck."

The officers sighed. "This is a family matter. You all should handle it yourselves."

I grabbed Officer Daniel Brooks by the arm. "This is not a family matter. You're basing everything on a phone and a letter and concluding that my sister gave birth and ran away? What if she died in the clinic?"

That made the officers pause. It sounded plausible enough that they immediately escorted Dr. Price back to his clinic.

My parents hurried after them. I rushed inside to pack. I was never staying in this house. Not again.

When I stepped outside with my luggage, a neighbor spotted me. "Lynn, where are you going?"

"I'm moving out. Before this child ends up dumped on my parents again, and I get stuck raising him. If Sophie wanted to have an illegitimate child, that's her problem, not mine. I'm not even married. If my future in-laws see this, they’ll think I was sleeping around!"

The neighbors nodded furiously.

"That's right, Lynn. You have to think about yourself."

"What a mess. Sophie really has guts—having a baby and running off!"

"Who knows, maybe Dr. Price did something to her!"

"No way!"

I didn’t bother listening to the rest. I left as quickly as possible. By the time my parents returned, I had already moved into the company dorms.

Not long after, my phone rang. It was Mom.

The moment I picked up, her voice was frantic. "Lynn, where did you run off to?"

A baby's cries echoed loudly in the background.

"I moved out," I said flatly.

"How could you move out? If you move out, what about the baby?"

It seemed my parents had gone to the clinic and confirmed the baby really was Sophie's and that scumbag Dr. Price had indeed delivered her child.

However, I still couldn’t understand why they insisted on forcing the child onto me.

"Mom, what does this baby have to do with me? I didn’t give birth to him! The urgent thing is to find the father. Anyway, I’m going to work. Hanging up!"

I ended the call and went to the office as usual. Just as I sat down, Ms. Christine Harper quietly approached my desk.

"Lynn, do you have a boyfriend? I want to introduce someone to you."

I had planned to refuse, but changed my mind. "Sure, Christine. Who are you introducing me to?"

"My nephew. He’s three years older than you, a veteran, and now he runs his own little restaurant. Want to grab lunch together today?"

I agreed right away. Christine was thrilled and immediately called her nephew.

In my previous life, after I ended up raising a child, Christine saw how exhausted I was and introduced me to side jobs, even suggesting I find a man. I had refused because I didn’t want little Caleb to suffer.

Thinking about it now, I had been pitifully stupid.

I met Christine’s nephew, Evan Harper, for lunch. Our first impression of each other was pretty good. We added each other on social media and decided to get to know each other gradually.

When Christine returned and asked me, I nodded. "Pretty good. We’ll keep talking."

She was ecstatic. "I’m telling you, if it works out, he won’t treat you badly. I watched that boy grow up. He’s hardworking!"

My face flushed, which only made Christine more excited.

Just like that, Evan and I started dating. For half a month, my parents didn’t contact me, and I didn’t go home.

I never expected Mom to show up at my office instead.

That day, while I was working, Joel Turner from security called me.

"Lynn, you need to come out here right now. Your mom dumped your son at the front gate! Come take the baby away. He’s crying nonstop."

My mind exploded. "What son? I’m not even married. What son? Don’t talk nonsense!" I raised my voice on purpose so the entire office could hear.

Joel sounded helpless. "How should I know? Just come down and look!"

The moment I hung up, everyone stared at me.

"What happened, Lynn?"

"I don’t know. Security said someone claiming to be my mom brought my son here!"

Christine gasped. "What? Are you serious? That’s wild. Come on, let’s go check!"

"Yeah, is someone trying to scam you or what?"

"Lynn has a son? She never looked pregnant!"

"Maybe she had him years ago. Who knows? These days, young people’s private lives are messy!"

Hearing that, even Christine gave me a doubtful look. I played dumb, and she couldn’t see any flaw.

At the gate, everyone froze when they saw the newborn.

Christine exhaled deeply. "How could this be Lynn’s? This baby isn’t even a month old."

"Exactly. Whoever did this is vicious. If the kid were older, Lynn would’ve never been able to clear her name!"

"This is ruining her reputation!"

I sneered internally. Joel added exasperatedly, "The woman said she was your mom, Lynn, but I don’t know anything."

I asked him to pull up the surveillance footage. We saw the woman who dropped the baby off, and I didn’t recognize her at all.

I immediately had an idea. "Call the police. That woman is not my mom, and I don’t know her."

Everyone hesitated a little. I spread my hands.

"This is child abandonment. I work in sales, and I’ve handed out business cards everywhere. Who knows who’s impersonating my mom? I’m not raising someone else’s child!"

Everyone agreed this made sense, so we called the police. When they arrived, they took the baby away.

I even made sure to ask, "Where are you sending him?"

"Where else? If we can’t find the parents, he’ll be placed in a welfare center."

Hearing that, I finally felt relief wash through me. In this lifetime, I was never going to raise that ungrateful brat again.