Chapter 101 Set a Bait
The faint warmth that had barely existed in the living room was completely shattered.
Marriage?
An elementary school teacher?
Her childhood, her entire early life, had been spent in the suffocating atmosphere of a teacher's household.
Her reputation was gone, her career was gone, and she hadn't even managed to keep Steven.
Now all she had left was money.
And they wanted her to give that up and marry a teacher she absolutely hated?
How could she accept that?
Nancy's bloodshot eyes filled with despair and rage, her chest heaving. "Don't you know I hate teachers the most? Mom, do you want to destroy me too?"
Though she didn't like coming home, after everything that had happened these past few days, her family was her last safe harbor.
But now Winifred, whom she saw as her last lifeline, was pushing her into the abyss.
Her eyes rolled with towering fury as she roared, "Why? Why should I go back and get married just because you say so?
This is my life. Whether I'm the other woman or a mistress, it's my choice. You have no right to interfere."
Winifred looked at her completely unhinged state, hardly able to believe it.
It was as if she'd never known Nancy at all.
How had that well-behaved, sweet, pretty and lovely Nancy turned into this?
She raised her hand viciously and slapped her, wanting to knock some sense into her. "You've lost your mind! Do you have any shame at all?"
The crisp, loud slap echoed through the huge villa.
Caught off guard, Nancy staggered from the blow, her abdomen accidentally hitting the corner of the table.
A subtle pain crept up. Before she could even process what happened, she instinctively clutched her stomach, her face pale as she crouched down, her expression pained. "It hurts."
Seeing this, Winifred turned pale with shock and rushed to help her, her angry tone turning to panic. "Nancy, what's wrong?"
[Nancy is nearly four weeks pregnant. Her mother wants her to abort the baby, but Nancy refuses. She wants to use this as leverage to win Steven back. She's currently preparing to receive treatment to save the pregnancy at Mercy Medical Hospital.
The doctor also made it clear that if she aborts this child, it will be very difficult for her to get pregnant again. Watch out! She's developed murderous intent toward you again!]
Rachel received the text message while eating the meal Steven had personally delivered.
On the table sat a bouquet of vivid red roses.
Impossible to ignore.
He'd brought them when he came.
Her phone was sitting next to the roses. When she heard the notification, she picked it up and glanced at it. Each word hit her like a bomb dropped into the lake of her heart.
The continuous explosions made her brain freeze for a few seconds.
The waves of shock in her heart wouldn't stop, followed by a wave of complicated feelings.
Indescribably complicated.
Nancy was pregnant?
Nearly four weeks, almost a month.
Counting back the days, wasn't that exactly when Steven broke up with Nancy and then got back together with her?
For Nancy, this pregnancy might really be a trump card that could bring her back from the dead.
But it still depended on Steven's attitude.
Or rather, Heather's attitude.
No wonder Nancy had developed murderous intent toward her again.
She was pregnant too now. Under these circumstances, the value of the child in Nancy's belly would drop by more than half.
Receiving treatment at Mercy Medical Hospital, huh.
A strange light flashed in her eyes.
Steven, sitting beside her, noticed she'd suddenly stopped moving while staring at her phone, her expression somewhat serious. He put a piece of okra in her bowl.
Leaning over, he asked, "What are you looking at? You seem so focused."
Rachel's heart jumped. Interrupted by his voice, she instinctively turned off her phone screen and made up an excuse. "It's from the hospital, reminding me to come in for a prenatal checkup."
Steven paused, a gentle smile spreading in his eyes. "Which day?"
Which day?
Rachel lowered her eyelids, silently calculating the dates in her mind, and continued making things up with a straight face. "Next Wednesday. Jennifer is free that day. Jennifer mentioned it to me a couple days ago."
Though she'd need to discuss some things with Jennifer in advance.
"Jennifer?" Steven was confused. "Which Jennifer? I haven't heard you mention her before."
"My mom's friend, the head of obstetrics at Mercy Medical Hospital." Rachel suppressed the strange look in her eyes and said softly, "You've met her twice. Don't you remember?"
Steven searched through his memory and found a few vague figures.
But he couldn't quite match them to a face.
The first time was at the Davis family's residence. Several ladies were having coffee together in the backyard. He'd gone to find Rachel, ran into them, and said hello.
The second time was at Rachel's mother's funeral, but that day had been rushed. Since she was Rachel's mother's friend, he wouldn't need to specially arrange for a medical expert. His affectionate eyes filled with a smile. "I'll clear my schedule that day and go with you for the checkup."
Rachel said "okay."
Steven asked again, "Did Jennifer say if we need to prepare anything?"
Prepare things?
Do you need to prepare things for prenatal checkups?
She really didn't know about that.
She shook her head. "I didn't actually ask. I'll ask her later. There probably isn't much to prepare—it's just a checkup."
"Alright, ask her first. If there's anything we need to prepare, I'll get it ready in advance."
Steven looked at her flat stomach, his smile deepening, filled with anticipation for the day of the checkup.
From the day Rachel confirmed her pregnancy, he'd felt the baby was somewhat distant and unreal.
It seemed like only by going with her for the checkup could he feel the child was close to him.
Rachel didn't look at the longing and hope on his face.
It would hurt her.
Now that Nancy was pregnant too, if he found out, how would he choose?
Would he waver again and continue keeping Nancy on the side?
When the child was older, would he bring Nancy back like Gavin did?
Come to think of it, based on her new understanding of him, this really did seem like something he'd do.
She pulled her lips into a mocking smile.
She quietly finished her meal. Steven didn't let her lift a finger, efficiently cleaning up the thermos containers on the table.
He sat in her office for about half an hour before a phone call from the company called him away.
Rachel saw him out of the office, her lips pressed into a straight line. Only after his figure completely disappeared from view did she look away, turn back to close the door, and look at the bouquet of roses on the table.
She frowned.
Suddenly the roses didn't seem so beautiful anymore.
She pursed her lips and without hesitation walked over and tossed the bouquet into the trash without a second thought.
Just as she picked up her phone to find Jennifer's WhatsApp, it suddenly rang with an incoming call, the pleasant ringtone echoing in the quiet office.
The caller ID showed "Uncle Michael."
She quickly answered. "Uncle Michael."
"Rachel, have you eaten?" Michael asked with a smile.
"I have." Rachel's expression softened, her voice gentle with a hint of a smile. "Have you?"
"Already eaten." Michael didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point. "About Heather's beauty salon—these past few days I've tracked down a related person, the lady of the Banks family. She and Heather have known each other for nearly twenty years.
They both came from the same gold-digger training program and seem to have a pretty good relationship. I'm guessing she's probably involved in that underground operation, so I'm planning to investigate the Banks family and wanted to give you a heads up so you know what's going on."
Rachel was surprised.
Michael had actually traced back to the gold-digger training program from over twenty years ago?
Because it was so long ago, and that program had operated very secretly.
Benjamin had specifically investigated it but hadn't found any leads—even traces of the gold-digger training program were scarce.
However, they were now at the stage of closing the net. Doing anything more would alert their targets and be counterproductive.
She pressed her lips together, her expression serious. "Uncle Michael, that Dorothy is indeed one of the shareholders in Radiant Beauty Spa's underground operation. You don't need to investigate this anymore.
I've already gotten hold of all the evidence I need. Right now, I want to ask you a favor."
Michael on the other end paused, somewhat puzzled, but didn't ask what evidence she'd found or where she'd found it.
"There's no need to talk about favors. Just tell me what you need."
Rachel said quietly, "I want you to help me set out some bait."