After I hung up, the baby in my belly started celebrating as if it had just won the lottery. "Yes! Dad's coming! We're saved!

"You got totally duped by Lyla before, Mom, but at least your brain decided to work today."

I listened to my unborn child roasting me, completely speechless. However, as I looked down at my still-flat stomach, questions flooded my mind.

If I could hear the baby's thoughts, could it hear mine too?

I placed both hands on my abdomen and tentatively thought, "Baby?"

"M... Mom!" After a moment of shock, the baby responded with pure joy.

"Mom, you can actually hear me! This is amazing! At least dying once wasn't for nothing!"

I froze. Then, suddenly, the baby kicked my belly.

A flood of memory fragments surged into my mind. One memory showed the horrifying abuse I'd endured after leaving the Jackman family with Logan.

In it, I was eight months pregnant, lying in ragged clothes among piles of garbage. Logan, who'd once sworn he'd treat me well, now stood over me. He grabbed my hair and yanked my head up, pressing a knife against my swollen belly.

"I've been generous in letting this bastard live under my nose for six months. Now, it's time for the little bastard to repay me."

In the memory, I begged him, "Please spare my baby. I'm begging you... You can hit me, yell at me, whatever you want. Just please spare the child."

Logan slapped me across the face in response.

"Elara Jackman, you still think you're the Jackman family's precious daughter? What gives you the right to tell me what to do?

"Someone's coughing up twenty grand for that baby’s life! Twenty grand! Only a fool would turn that down!"

For 20 thousand dollars, Logan had sliced open my belly with his knife. He carved out my baby while it was still alive and killed it with a single stab.

I'd bled out shortly after, dying filled with rage and grief. The memory made me want to scream.

The baby told me that after its death, it had somehow returned to my womb and gained consciousness. That was why it could communicate with me now.

Thinking about what would happen if I left with Logan, I clenched my fists until my knuckles turned white. If Lyla and Logan wanted to destroy me, I'd make sure they got exactly what they deserved.

I used the room's intercom to call the villa's security. "I just saw someone lurking around the back gate. Go check it out."

Within minutes, chaos erupted in the living room downstairs. Then, I heard Lyla's voice crying out.

"Ma'am, I swear I'm innocent! I didn't let any strangers in. Logan's not a thief. He's Ms. Elara's friend! If you don't believe me, just ask her!"

"Ask me what?" I descended the stairs and stared coldly at Logan, who was pinned to the ground by security guards.

"I do know him, but when did I invite him here?

"Lyla, I know Logan's your college classmate, but you can't be this irresponsible. Don't forget that you're just a maid in this house."

My words hit Lyla like a slap to the face. She flushed with humiliation instantly.

Logan, who was still pinned to the ground, hadn't picked up on my changed attitude. He kept trying desperately to get my attention.

"Elara, tell them to let me go! I came here to surprise you!"

His eyes sparkled as he looked at me, but all I felt was revulsion.

The memories flooding my mind didn't just show Logan carving out my baby and killing me. They also revealed how he'd turned violent after we left together. He had constantly beat and berated me.

Things got worse after Dad claimed Lyla as his daughter and married her off to the Clarkes. Once the Jackmans abandoned me, I became worthless to Logan.

That monster had sold me, over and over, to anyone willing to pay. Even as my pregnancy progressed and my belly grew, those perverts never stopped.

The baby sensed my fear and spoke to me, "Don't be scared, Mom. Dad will be here soon, and you're safe in the Jackman residence right now!"

Mom noticed my distress too. She snapped at the guards when she saw how I was looking at Logan.

"What are you standing around for? Get him out of here and make sure he regrets stepping foot on this property!"

Following her orders, the guards hauled Logan to his feet. When they started getting rough, Logan panicked and shouted at me.

"Elara, what's wrong with you? I came to take you away! Tell them to stop!

"Stop! Please stop..."

Logan curled up with his arms protecting his head, screaming as the guards pummeled him.

Lyla lost it when she saw Logan get beaten up. She forgot Mom was even there and shouted at me.

"Elara, what the hell are you doing? That's Logan! How can you treat him like this?"

The sharp crack of a slap cut her off. Mom glared at Lyla with cold, sharp eyes.

"Lyla, who gave you permission to speak to my daughter that way? Elara's been good to you, but have you actually forgotten your place?"

The baby cheered at Mom's fierceness. "Go Grandma! In my past life, if it wasn't for that witch Lyla, Grandma wouldn't have died so young!"

I pressed for details, and the baby told me everything. After I left with Logan, Mom never stopped searching for me. Lyla had deliberately let it slip that I'd gone to another state.

Mom rushed there overnight to find me, only to arrive just as several men were forcing themselves on me. The shock of seeing her beloved daughter destroyed like that triggered a massive heart attack. She died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

The knowledge tore me apart.

Lyla clutched her swollen cheek. Though she didn't dare say anything, I caught the flash of hatred in her eyes.

"Mrs. Jackman, I'm not lying! Ela... Ms. Elara invited Logan here. The two of them are actually..."

Before Lyla could expose my relationship with Logan, Mom impatiently had the guards silence her.

"I won't tolerate this disrespect in my own home. You two are going to serve as an example to everyone here. This is what happens when you overstep."

The guards forced both of them to kneel in the villa's courtyard. Just as Mom prepared to make an example of them, Dad burst through the door in a rush.

"Honey, what's going on?"

When Dad appeared, Mom immediately explained everything that had happened. Dad, who'd always doted on me, waved his hand dismissively.

"It's such a small matter. Why make such a scene?

"You guards, let them go right now! If word gets out, the media will twist this into some scandal about the Jackmans.

"Besides, Lyla said that Logan is Elara's friend. There's probably just been some misunderstanding."

The moment the tape was ripped from her mouth, Lyla seized her chance. In front of everyone, she announced loudly, "Ms. Elara, Logan is clearly your boyfriend! Why won't you acknowledge him?

"You agreed to let me bring him in, but the second Mrs. Jackman found out, you made me take all the blame..."

Logan caught Lyla's signal and dropped an even bigger bombshell. "Elara, just tell your parents the truth! We love each other. They'll let us be together!

"You're pregnant with my baby. How could they possibly tear us apart now?"

The revelation of my pregnancy sent shockwaves through everyone present.

The baby sputtered furiously in my mind. "That bastard! Mom, what did you ever see in him? I'm so angry! He's not my dad!"

Mom looked utterly bewildered. "You lying little punk! You're just trying to ruin my daughter's reputation! Guards, throw him out and don't let him near the Jackman residence ever again!"

Logan was determined to make me admit our relationship publicly. If I ran away with him, Lyla could take my place with the Clarkes.

He broke free from the guards and shouted, "If you don't believe me, just ask Elara! Ask her if she's pregnant!"

Lyla fanned the flames. "Ms. Elara, the pregnancy test is still in your bathroom trash bin. Stop hiding it!"

Dad turned toward me. "Elara, is what they're saying true? Are you actually pregnant?"

With everyone staring at me, I knew lying would be pointless. I nodded calmly despite the baby's wailing protests. "Yes. I'm pregnant."

Both Lyla and Logan looked triumphant. Logan even dropped to his knees in front of my parents, making promises.

"Mr. and Mrs. Jackman, don't worry! I'll treat Elara well from now on. I'll never let her suffer!

"I can give you 80 thousand dollars. If that's not enough, I'll make it 100 thousand!"

I nearly laughed out loud at the sum. Mom actually did laugh, mockingly.

"A hundred thousand? Elara's weekly allowance is more than that! And you have the nerve to say you won't let my daughter suffer?

"Let me make this clear. You will never marry my daughter. Dream on!"

However, Dad seemed like a completely different person. "Shut your mouth!

"You have no right to talk! Look at what kind of daughter you've raised. Pregnant out of wedlock! Do you know how humiliating that is?

"And she's already engaged to Silas Clarke. This ruins everything!"

Mom stared at him in disbelief. She shoved him, and her voice broke as she said, "What are you saying? How can you talk about our daughter like that?"

Dad pushed her away irritably. He was quiet for a long moment before speaking again.

"Since Elara's already carrying Logan's child, we might as well settle things between them. Otherwise, if this scandal gets out, it'll only shame the Jackman family.

"As for the Clarkes, we'll just have Lyla marry into the family in Elara's place..."

Just as everything seemed to be heading down the same path as my previous life, the villa's front doors suddenly burst open.

"My fiancee will only ever be Elara. And my child isn't going to call some other man 'Dad.'"