3
In my past life, I had foolishly believed their words and threw myself into work.
We sent the baby to an expensive private preschool, then private elementary, middle and high schools.
Lucas and I were constantly traveling for business, barely able to spend any time with our son.
Meanwhile, Martha and Lily were at home with him every day.
The boy grew much closer to them than to us.
9th T
In my past life, as I lay dying of cancer, I desperately wanted to see my son one last time.
But Martha and Lily kept making excuses, saying they didn’t want to disrupt his studies.
After I died, my soul lingered briefly.
I saw Lily showing our son a paternity test, telling him she was his real mother.
Mother and son embraced, sobbing.
“I knew that woman wasn’t my mom. She never loved me. So you’re my real mother, Aunt Lily.”
Martha, Lily and my son went on to live comfortably in the home Lucas and I had bought, using the inheritance we left behind.
This time around, I would never let things unfold as they wished.
With that in mind, I smiled and agreed.
“Of course, Mom and Lily. I’ll work as hard as lo
can.”
As soon as I left the apartment complex, I went straight to find Lucas.
I showed him a video I had secretly recorded on my phone.
In the video, Lily was cradling the baby, her expression tender.
“Baby, I’m your real mommy, okay? You have to remember that.”
“That woman isn’t your mother. You can’t drink her milk.”
“Mommy doesn’t have money to raise you right now, so we have to rely on that woman. But you can’t get too close to her, understand?”
Ever since I was reborn, I had installed hidden cameras in the guest room.
I needed to protect myself from them.
If they were capable of poisoning me during pregnancy, who knows what other evil they might do.
I was just waiting for the day they would make their move.
But Lucas’s face showed only sympathy for Lily.
“Oh honey, my poor sister. She lost her own baby, so she must be projecting those feelings onto our son.”
I knew Lucas was a kind person who had been manipulated by Martha his whole life to always take care of Lily.
He would never imagine Martha and Lily could actually harm us.
“Honey, I know Lily is in a sad situation. But our baby doesn’t understand any of this. If Lily keeps telling him these things, and we’re always busy working, don’t you think he might start to belleve Lily is his real mother? He could end un having no band with
2:05 PM
Lucas thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
“You’re right. I’ll call Lily and tell her to stop saying those things.”
I quickly grabbed his phone away.
“No, confronting her directly will only hurt her more.”
“Then what should we do?”
“Why don’t we send Mom and Lily on a nice vacation for a while? When Lily gets back, we can help her find a job. That way she can focus on other things.”
“Plus, we shouldn’t treat her like some kind of live–in nanny for our child. That would be taking advantage of her.”
Lucas looked uncertain. “But who will take care of the baby?”
I already had a plan ready.
“Honey, my friend runs a professional daycare center. I’ve checked it out–th
Lucas finally agreed and called Lily.
But when he hung up, he had a troubled expression.
staff are all highly trained experts. It’s really great.”
“Honey, Lily says they’re happy to go on a trip, but they insist on taking the baby with them.”
“What if we let them take him, and give them a bit more time? We can figure something else out later, okay?”
Absolutely not okay.
I pinched my thigh hard and burst into loud sobs.
“But honey, I can’t bear to be away from our baby either! I’m his mother!”
Seeing my tears, Lucas finally took my side.
“Don’t cry, honey. I won’t let them take our son away.”
Soon, Lucas’s phone rang.
I heard Martha’s panicked voice come through:
“Lucas, come quick! When you refused to let Lily take the baby, she got so upset she slit her wrists! You have to come to the hospital right
away!”
We rushed to the hospital.
Martha immediately slapped Lucas hard across the face.
