A Baby Made of Lies

"Fine! Come over right now. If you've got the nerve to drop your pants in front of the whole company, I'll jump off this building on the spot and pay for your so-called son with my life!"

The voice message I sent blew up the entire office.

The group chat went dead silent for a full minute. Then, a commotion broke out in my direction.

I looked up and saw Rose clutching her stomach, being helped along by a few women from the office. Her eyes were red, like she had been crying the whole way over.

"Stella!"

Her voice came out sharp and shaky, as if she had been wronged in the worst way possible.

"How can you be this cruel? What did I ever do to you? Why are you humiliating me like this? I'm carrying a boy! My family's only ever had one son in each generation. You really can't stand the thought of him being born?"

The women around her immediately jumped in.

"Stella, what's wrong with you? She just started here, and you're already bullying her?"

"Seriously! What about when you have kids someday? Would you want someone talking about your child like that?"

"Picking on an unborn baby? Aren't you scared of karma?"

Rose bent over like she was about to throw up, playing it up perfectly. Tears came the second she wanted them to. She leaned weakly against someone beside her.

"I'll kill you… You ruined my reputation… I'll kill you…"

Her voice was shrill, grating against my ears, dragging old memories back up with it.

Just thinking about how this cross-dressing maniac had tortured me to death in my last life made my whole body shake.

And when Rose said she was going to kill me, something inside me snapped.

I shot to my feet, shoved the women around her aside, and grabbed her by the collar.

"Kill me? You already did that once! Go on. Keep acting. Where's your bump? Where's the ultrasound? Show it to me!"

Rose froze, clearly thrown off by my tone. After a couple of seconds, she lunged at my face, fingers clawing.

I twisted out of the way and stuck my foot out.

Rose went down hard, face-first.

The memory of that boiling water pouring over my head came rushing back, the pain so vivid that it made my vision flash.

My anger surged. I stomped down on her back and grabbed a fistful of that smooth wig, slamming her head toward the floor.

"Keep pretending! Go on! Let's see what you really are!"

Pinned under my foot, she could only scream, high and wild.

"Help! Someone help! Stella's lost it! She's trying to kill me! My baby…"

Her shrieking pulled more people over.

Hands grabbed at me from all sides, dragging us apart.

Two guys pinned my arms before I could even catch my breath.

It had only been half an hour since I came back. Half an hour ago, I had died at the hands of this lunatic right in front of me.

How the hell was I supposed to stay calm?

But once they pulled me away, everyone started pointing fingers at me instead.

"Have you lost your mind? You started this, and now you're hitting a pregnant woman?"

"I can't believe someone like you works here. That's seriously messed up!"

"I already called security. If you try anything again, we're calling the police!"

Without me holding her down, Rose got bold again.

They helped her up. She clutched her stomach and pointed at me, crying like she had been wronged.

"Did you all see that? She's jealous of me! She wants my baby dead!"

She staggered toward me and raised her hand, aiming for my face.

I tried to fight back, but the guys holding me tightened their grip.

"You still wanna swing back? Just stay still."

When Rose saw that I couldn't move, her face twisted into a smug, ugly grin. Her words got harsher and harsher.

"You can't even have kids! You should just die already!"

The others piled on, saying I had no empathy.

Paisley stood there, comforting Rose, then shot me a cold look.