Chapter 2

"Chloe! Chloe, sweetie, wake up! We have to go pick up Austin today!"

A familiar voice echoed in my ears. I felt the powerful, steady beat of my heart.

The sensation of blood flowing back through my veins and my body warming up was incredibly surreal.

I opened my eyes and saw my parents sitting at the edge of my bed.

"Our little girl is usually an early bird. What happened today?"

"She was probably too excited to sleep last night, knowing she's finally meeting her brother!"

I was reborn. I had gone back to two years ago—the exact day we were supposed to bring Austin home!

After a long drive, we finally arrived at the house of the couple who had raised my brother for eighteen years.

They held my parents' hands, putting on a show of fake warmth.

"These eighteen years haven't been easy! But we've always treated Austin like our own flesh and blood!"

The bedroom door creaked open. Austin walked out, holding the hand of a fragile-looking teenage girl. They stood right in front of us.

Before my parents could even say a word, Austin fell to his knees with a loud thud.

"Dad, Mom, Lily is pregnant with my baby. If you want to take me back, you have to take her too."

The moment those words left his mouth, the expressions of both my parents and his adoptive parents completely changed.

"What? What did you just say?" Mrs. Miller, who had looked so sweet a moment ago, rushed forward and slapped Austin hard across the face.

"Lily is only sixteen! She hasn't even finished high school or taken her SATs yet! How could you do this to her?!"

The girl named Lily, who was about my age, looked incredibly weak. Tears streamed down her face as she threw herself over Austin, shielding him from her mother's blows.

"Mom, don't blame Austin! It's my fault."

"We both drank too much that night... and then..."

She didn't forget to cast a shy, loving glance at Austin through her tears.

Then, sobbing like a delicate flower in the rain, she turned to my parents and bowed her head deeply.

"Austin and I love each other. Please, Mr. and Mrs. Vance, please let us be together!"

Seeing his wife play the bad cop, Mr. Miller stepped in to play the good cop.

He looked at the two young lovers kneeling on the floor, and then turned to my parents with a deeply troubled expression.

"Since it already happened, nobody wanted this."

"How about this? Let Lily go back with Austin. She can have the baby first, and they can get registered once they are of age. What do you think?"

I stood in the corner, sneering at the masterpiece of a show this family was putting on.

*Treated him like their own son? True love?*

What a family of actors. They didn't even blink while lying through their teeth.

In my past life, this seemingly kind couple had found out that Austin was the long-lost heir of the multi-billion-dollar Vance Group. They immediately had their underage daughter seduce him to get pregnant, even faking a medical report just to force her way into our wealthy family.

In this life, I would never let their scheme succeed.

Watching Lily defend him so selflessly, Austin’s eyes filled with immense pain and affection.

My parents, not knowing the truth, assumed it was Austin's fault. They hesitated, unsure of whether to agree to Mr. Miller's proposal.

In my past life, I thought a teen pregnancy would ruin Austin’s reputation and destroy the family's image. So, I advised my parents to give the Millers a massive payout of one million dollars as hush money, rejected the marriage proposal, and asked Lily to get an abortion and start over.

The Millers happily took the money, staged a fake suicide scene of Lily "dying of grief," and secretly sent her abroad with the cash.

Austin, completely brain-washed by love, believed that my parents and I had said something horrible to Lily, driving her to commit suicide with their unborn child.

From that day on, he hated me, and he hated our parents.

While Lily was living her best life in Europe with our one million dollars, my parents and I were ended up dead or ruined because of Austin's baseless hatred.

This time, I walked over before anyone else could speak. I gently helped Lily up and glanced at her perfectly flat stomach.

Lily flinched, taking a half-step back. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the flash of panic on Mrs. Miller’s face.

*Afraid I’ll find out the pregnancy is fake? Desperate to climb the social ladder?*

"Dad, Mom, let's just bring Lily home with us," I said, smiling warmly.

"I actually really like her. I'm sure she and I will have so much to talk about."

Hearing my words, Lily let out a visible sigh of relief. She smiled, grabbing my hand, and spoke in a sugary-sweet voice.

"Thank you, Chloe. We are going to be the best of friends!"

I sneered inwardly, though my face maintained a perfect, sweet smile.

*I'd love to see how long you can hide your little secret right under our noses.*