Chapter 2

"Ahhh—!"

A scream of pure agony tore through the quiet of the lounge.

My mother's body spasmed violently, and I felt the fluid around me burst and gush out like a breaking dam.

"Evelyn! What's wrong with you?!" Elias finally panicked, his voice unable to hide his fear.

"Blood... she's bleeding!" Margaret shrieked too, terrified.

I didn't stop. I kept rolling and kicking like crazy inside the womb.

I needed out!

"It hurts... help me... save my baby..." Evelyn moaned weakly, despair in her voice.

"Quick! Call an ambulance! Take the back door, don't let the reporters see!" Elias growled, lowering his voice.

Take the back door? Dream on.

I calculated the direction and threw everything I had into one final push downward.

Bang!

The lounge door was suddenly thrown open from outside.

"Mr. Vance, there you are, the speech downstairs is about to—oh my god!"

The assistant who'd come to find him let out a shriek, her voice cracking.

Right behind her, a storm of camera flashes lit up the room.

Turns out the sharp-nosed reporters had already sensed something was off and quietly followed.

"Mr. Vance! Who is this pregnant woman covered in blood?"

"Mrs. Vance, did you assault this woman?"

"Vance Group CEO's affair, mistress goes into labor at the gala—will this affect tomorrow's stock price?!"

The reporters swarmed in like sharks that smelled blood, shoving cameras and microphones right into Elias and Margaret's faces.

Elias's face went deathly pale. He tried to block the lenses with his hands, but it was useless.

"Stop filming! Security! Where the hell is security?!" he roared hysterically.

Margaret was even more terrified, her face draining of color. Her custom designer gown was splattered with Evelyn's blood—she was a complete mess, nothing left of her usual high-society arrogance.

"It wasn't me... I didn't touch her! She fell on her own!" Margaret babbled, incoherent.

But I wasn't going to give her a chance to make excuses.

With Evelyn's last heart-wrenching scream of pain, I finally broke free and arrived in this world.

No doctor, no delivery bed—I was born right there on the floor, surrounded by blood and a hundred camera flashes, at the Vance Group's anniversary gala.

"Waaah—!"

I didn't cry weakly like a normal newborn. I opened my mouth and let out a loud, piercing wail.

The cry cut through the lounge and echoed across the entire ballroom.

Dead silence.

Everyone stared in shock at the blood-covered infant on the floor, and the frail woman lying unconscious beside her.

Elias's perfect image, the Vance Group's century of prestige—I'd just kicked it all to pieces.

The ambulance arrived, sirens blaring.

My cord was cut, I was hastily wrapped in someone's jacket, and Evelyn and I were both carried out on stretchers.