Chapter 3

“Scarlett, flip it! Why aren’t you flipping it? Don’t tell me you don’t believe in destiny?” I waved a hand in front of her face to snap her out of it.

She awkwardly picked up the coin, muttering, “Fine. Destiny, give me a sign. Heads, I keep the baby; tails, I don’t.”

The coin spun in the air, landed, and flipped over—heads.

“Well, looks like destiny wants you to keep the baby! So go ahead and have it.”

Before, Scarlett had been working at Mr. Leonard Blackwood’s antique shop when she got involved with him, a married man.

He was a smooth talker, convincing her to believe in destiny, using it to manipulate her. He tricked her into buying all these statues and trinkets that supposedly needed to be "blessed" or "worshipped." She spent her entire paycheck on those things.

And she borrowed from me constantly. Well, she called it borrowing—I knew she’d never pay me back.

Now, she was pregnant, and Leonard told her his wife had found out, so she needed to leave the apartment he had rented for her.

“But if I have the baby, where will we stay?” Scarlett’s eyes roamed greedily around my house, her tone turning pitiful.

This house was the one Ethan and I had bought together, our future home. In my last life, Scarlett insisted on keeping the baby, guilted me into letting her stay, and that decision led to disaster.

I was blinded by my sense of duty and agreed to help her. That was the beginning of the end. So, this time, I had to stop it right at the source.

“That’s easy. Mom and Dad’s old cottage in Bluegrass is still empty. And just last week, Aunt Rachel called me. She opened a little corner market and needs help running it. You can stay at the old house, help her out, and earn some money. You’ll have a place to stay and a way to support yourself. Who knows? Maybe if you have a son, Leonard will come back and treat you like a queen.”

Scarlett looked at me like I had suddenly changed into a different person, full of suspicion, but also thinking that what I was saying made sense.

Before she could start overthinking it, I quickly called Aunt Rachel and made the arrangements. Now all I had to do was wait for Ethan to get off work and drive her back to Kentucky.

"But I still feel like..." Scarlett hesitated.

"Don't worry. Don’t you think this is destiny’s way of showing you the path? Everything happens for a reason, and it’s all part of a bigger plan. Just follow it,” I quickly reassured her, shutting down any doubts she had.

After all, in my past life, this was exactly how she had manipulated me.

She moved into my house with that pregnant belly and caused complete chaos, single-handedly wrecking the relationship I had with Ethan’s family.

In the end, Ethan and I broke up, he moved out, but left the house to me.

Before leaving, Scarlett had the audacity to pat my shoulder and say, "Don’t worry, this is destiny’s plan. It’s just showing you that Ethan isn’t the right man for you."

After Ethan moved out, she immediately complained that the guest room was too uncomfortable because of her pregnancy and took over my master bedroom.

This time, I wasn’t going to let that happen.

No way was I going to lose the man I loved and the future I deserved to these two ungrateful wolves ever again. And I certainly wasn’t going to give up the love and support of the mother-in-law who treated me like her own daughter.