Chapter 2

After leaving the lab, I immediately started packing.

When I first moved in with Carter, I thought I had found my soulmate who shared my modern, independent values. Who knew he was a cheapskate who would literally charge me for the water I used to flush the toilet?

Getting my things out of his apartment was the smartest move I could make.

But the moment I unlocked the door, I found two women I absolutely detested sitting on my living room couch.

One was Carter’s mother, Helen.

The other was his incredibly annoying sister, Chloe.

"Look at you, pregnant and still wearing high heels! What if you trip and hurt my precious grandson?" Helen sneered the moment I walked in.

"Exactly. No maternal instinct at all. Pathetic," Chloe chimed in, rolling her eyes.

They took turns throwing jabs at me, not giving me a single second to speak.

I looked around the messy apartment. My boxes were stacked carelessly in the living room, while their designer suitcases had already been moved into my master bedroom.

Carter walked out of the bathroom, wiping his hands. "Since you refused to pay the extra rent, you can't live in the master bedroom anymore. I calculated it. If you move into the small storage closet, our 50/50 rent split works out perfectly."

"Since you're so good at math," I sneered, "why don't you calculate how much you owe me for the groceries and household supplies I bought over the last two years?"

Before Carter could speak, Helen jumped up. "Sienna Vance! How dare you speak to my son like that! If it weren't for the baby in your belly, I would've made you sign an ironclad prenup and beg on your knees to join our family!"

I ignored her, checking my boxes to see if they had damaged any of my things. Helen kept barking behind me. "You got pregnant before marriage because of your own loose morals. Now you're begging my son to marry you. If you can’t bring a $20,000 cash contribution to the marriage, just wait until your belly gets huge and the whole neighborhood laughs at you!"

"Then we won't get married. It's not like you guys are in a rush anyway, right?" I pulled out my phone and dialed the moving company. "You can come up now."

The movers arrived in less than five minutes.

They began carrying my boxes out one by one under my direction. Carter stared at me, his face twisting with irritation. "Sienna, you're crossing the line! You're two months pregnant, what kind of tantrum is this? Do you really think anyone else would want you besides me?"

He kept talking, but I completely ignored him.

The movers I hired were all massive, muscular guys. When Carter tried to grab my arm to stop me, one stern look from the lead mover made him stumble backward in fear.

An hour later, my things were safely unpacked in my luxury penthouse downtown.

I had already hired a cleaning service and a personal chef. As I sat in my pristine, quiet home, ready to start my new life, the peace was abruptly shattered.

At 3:00 AM, my phone began ringing off the hook. It was a barrage of calls from Carter, then from Chloe.

The moment I picked up, Helen’s screeching voice blasted through the speaker. "Sienna! Get your ass down to the hospital right now! What did you do to my son?!"

Ah. It seemed the chip had finally kicked in.

When I arrived at the hospital room, Carter was screaming on the bed, clutching a trash can and dry-heaving violently.

"Don't just dry-heave, Carter. You need to eat something to keep your strength up," I said calmly, placing a jar of high-end organic nutrient-rich broth on his nightstand. "Think about the baby."

"I knew it! I knew this had to do with you!"

Carter screamed like a lunatic, pointing a trembling finger at me. "Sienna! Why am I pregnant?! Why did the ultrasound show a fetus inside *my* abdomen?!"

Beside him, Helen and Chloe were huddled together, pale and shivering with fear.

I just smiled and pulled a document from my bag. "Did you forget the 50/50 Pregnancy Contract we both signed?"