Chapter 3

Vivian's POV

I stopped my car at a street corner. Pretending to go into a pharmacy for stomach medicine, I slipped right out through the back door.

I pulled out my phone's SIM card, threw it into the storm drain without hesitation, and turned around to buy a cheap, prepaid burner phone with cash.

My counter-surveillance moves were seamless.

The little guy in my belly was stunned. "Mom... you're so good at this... Next, go south, go find Mary!"

Deep in the lower east side, the alteration shop was tucked away in a narrow alley.

The owner, Mary, was someone my grandmother had once helped. After hearing my story, she didn't say a word and hid me in the secret attic on the third floor.

Just as I sat down, loud, urgent banging came from downstairs.

"Is Miss Vance inside? Mr. Pierce is looking for her." The man's voice outside was polite, but it carried a suffocating pressure.

My whole body tensed up. Just as I was about to jump out of the back window, the voice in my belly suddenly screamed:

"Don't move! That's not Julian's man, that's Sienna's! She saw you holding the pill box tonight. She suspects you're pregnant and wants to drag you for a blood test to kill me directly!"

A cold sweat broke out across my back.

Sienna Sterling, Chloe's half-sister.

The older sister played the sweet, innocent first love, while the younger sister did all the dirty work in the shadows.

They had long seen me as a thorn in their side. Even if it was just a suspicion, they wanted to wipe me out.

"There's no Miss Vance here! I only do clothing alterations!" Mary argued loudly downstairs.

The man outside sneered. "Mrs. Higgins, this is Sterling family business. You'd better know what's good for you."

I stood in the dark stairwell, my eyes icy.

I didn't hesitate anymore. I grabbed a ring of keys left by my grandmother, crossed from the third-floor window sill to the neighbor's balcony, and slipped into an empty building.

Half an hour later, I changed into an oversized, worn-out black puffer jacket, put on a face mask and a beanie, and blended completely into the bustling crowd of the local fish market like a drop of water.

The quiet, pretty, submissive Vivian died tonight.

Mary sent me an encrypted text on Snapchat: They left. They said not to dream of running.

I sneered.

Dreaming?

Let's see whose dream shatters first.

The rain poured down.

I took shelter in an abandoned workshop in north Brooklyn.

The place was drafty, but hidden enough.

I spread out the old ledger my grandmother had left on the wooden table, turned to the last page, and found a yellowed business card: Dr. Evelyn Carter. Before my grandmother passed away, she told me that if I was ever pushed into a corner, I should find this gynecologist.

"Mom, call her quickly! In my past life, you went too late, and those two evil Sterling sisters dragged you onto the operating table!" The voice in my belly carried deep fear.

I didn't panic.

First, I wrote down my current situation, the people I had contacted, and the possible risks of exposure on a blank piece of paper.

I could no longer rely on Julian to solve things like I did in the past three years.

From now on, I was the only protector for myself and my child.

At 3:00 AM, I used my new burner phone to call Dr. Evelyn Carter.