Chapter 2

The moment my message hit the group, the buzzing chat, where hundreds of people had been intensely discussing proposals, fell into a dead silence.

A few seconds later, Robin's messages exploded, flooding the screen:

[Stella, you rotten bitch, what are you even talking about?! I'm three months pregnant, I have the ultrasound scan right here. How dare you slander me?!]

[Everyone, look! Stella from 203 can't get pregnant herself, so she can't stand to see anyone else have a baby!]

[@HR @Mr. Davies, with someone like this in the company, I'm calling the police! This is defamation! This is a personal attack!]

Robin threw a dramatic fit, and colleagues immediately jumped to their feet, their accusations all aimed at me.

Chloe from the design department chimed in:

[Stella, you're going too far. How can you talk to a pregnant woman like that? Your mouth is just toxic!]

Another person tried to calm Robin:

[Robin, calm down, don't get angry for the baby's sake. Stella might just be joking.]

But Robin wouldn't let it go:

[Joking? Is that the kind of joke you make? What's there to even say to her? She's just jealous that I married well and I'm carrying my husband's child!]

[My baby already has a fragile pregnancy! The doctor specifically told me to rest!]

[And this hussy? Her keyboard clatters like a jackhammer! If anything happens to my baby, I'll rip her to shreds first!]

Other colleagues in the building also started to chime in:

[Exactly, Robin said she wasn't feeling well, can't you just keep it down?]

[It's already afternoon, can't you turn in that proposal tomorrow? Why do you have to bother a pregnant woman?]

Watching them twist the facts, I was so angry I started to laugh.

In my past life, this was how they pushed me into a corner, step by step.

I explained countless times that I used a silent keyboard. To avoid bothering her, I even carried my laptop to the hallway to work overtime.

But what I got in return was her dousing me head-to-toe with a kettle of boiling water, leaving me scarred and disfigured.

Before I died, my skin was scalded off, my skull smashed by a high heel. Robin's deranged face was the last thing I saw in that life.

I closed my eyes, and the burning pain of boiling water poured over my head felt like it was still etched into my soul.

Rage and hatred clashed in my chest.

Robin was still frantically tagging me in the group:

[Speechless? Why aren't you saying anything, you bitch? Feeling guilty?]

[Are you doing this on purpose? You don't want me to have a good life, right? I finally got pregnant, and you just have to kill my son, don't you?]

[If anything happens to him, can you afford to compensate? Will you pay with your life?]

"Pay with my life?"

"Am I supposed to pay for the crap you're birthing?"

I stared at those words, unable to hold back my fury any longer. I recorded a voice message in a cold tone and sent it to the group:

"Fine, come here now. If you dare to take off your pants in front of the entire company, I, Stella, will jump off this building right now and pay for your son with my life!"