Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Samantha closed her eyes as she could not bear it any longer.

Harmony smiled and found it quite refreshing.

Ever since her return to the country, Samantha had been despicable enough to pull all sorts of dirty tricks on her. It was very refreshing for Harmony when the tide finally turned at that moment.

What goes around comes around.

Karma was finally striking back, hard.

Harmony was certainly not about to let that opportunity go and wanted to rub more salt in Samantha's wound, but she saw Samantha opening her eyes slowly.

Rather than seeing the sadness in Samantha's expression, what Harmony saw instead was a little smirk.

Harmony was a little scared by Samantha's reaction. She wondered if Samantha was smiling like that after going crazy due to excessive provocation.

Samantha looked at Harmony's stunned expression and spoke in an indifferent voice as if none of Harmony's words affected her at all. "I told you once before, Harmony. You're too anxious."

She looked at Harmony disdainfully from head to toe. "Have you already become his wife? Is the child already yours?"

"Last I checked, you're not Mrs. Barker and the baby is still in my stomach. Did you seriously come to me just to show off even though nothing's certain yet and you haven't even got anything to show for?"

As she spoke, she felt that it was laughable and chuckled out loud. "Do you seriously think I'm the kind to offer you my right cheek after you slapped my left one? Is that why you came here to tell me all that?"

"If I were you right now, I would've turned around, ran away, and got lost if I saw myself from afar. You're one of those who live their life with their tail between their legs, so the least you could do is avoid provoking me before I deliver the baby."

Samantha turned around and whispered in Harmony's ear in the same way Harmony did to her earlier, "Do you really expect me to give up my position and baby to you without a fight after what you said earlier?"

"Keep dreaming."

Harmony's expression changed instantly.

She did not expect Samantha to still have a bit of fighting spirit left!

Any ordinary woman would have broken down under the pressure.

Harmony had seen that Samantha's psychological mettle had been crushed after the latter fled two nights ago. That was why she decided to follow up on that victory and continue delivering more blows to Samantha.

However, Samantha was still fine and standing!

Just what was Samantha's mettle built of?

Harmony, however, was smart enough to have learned from her past mistakes. She took a deep breath, calmed her emotions, and made sure to not be affected by Samantha's taunts.

She had not been careful enough the first couple of times and had always fallen for Samantha's goading. That was why she frequently had the tables turned on her in the end despite gaining the upper hand against Samantha.

Harmony's expression soon reverted to normal. She opened her innocent eyes and spoke in a seemingly considerate manner, "Sammy, I'm telling you all this in advance for your sake, so you'll be mentally prepared. We're both women, after all. There's no reason why women should make things hard for other women."

"Also..." She looked at Samantha's stomach again and sighed softly. "You still have to put in the effort even if you don't get anything out of it. The baby depends on you, you know."

"You don't have to worry about handing over your baby and your title as Mrs. Barker. Tim wants to give it to me. I'm reminding you because I hope you'll back off and remain in one piece. By the time Tim decides to take things into his hands..."

Harmony's expression became pitiful. "You've been around Tim long enough, so you should know how merciless he is to women he doesn't have feelings for!"

She was finally competent enough to make a proper threat.

It succeeded in hurting Samantha, just a little.

However, Samantha's pain originated not from Harmony, but from Timothy.

The only person who could ever hurt Samantha was Timothy.

Samantha remained expressionless and continued to smile, "Ah, Timothy, you say?"

"I might not know just how deep and unwavering your feelings are for each other, but from this moment on, I'll go all out to win Timothy's heart."

'Go all out to win Timothy's heart...'

Harmony nearly thought she had misheard it and her eyes widened suddenly.

She could understand every word individually, but for some reason, she found it difficult to comprehend those words when strung together into a sentence like that.

Samantha knew that Timothy was only taking advantage of her and had no feelings for her, and yet she was still determined to win Timothy's heart?

As if noticing what Harmony was thinking, Samantha deliberately repeated her words. "Yes, I'm going all out to win Timothy's heart."

"There are another nine months before the baby comes into the world, and we'll be spending every single day with each other for more than nine months."

"Even if Timothy doesn't like me now, who knows whether he'll like me in the future? More importantly, Grandma likes me a lot and Timothy is extremely filial. If he could marry me just to fulfill Grandma's wishes, why can't he have feelings for me for Grandma's sake?"

Harmony's expression changed somewhat. She became a little anxious and stared angrily at Samantha, saying, "You're dreaming! Tim will never have feelings for you!"

Samantha shrugged her shoulders. "Your love for each other might be stronger than steel and I might not be able to change Timothy, but don't forget that this baby belongs to me. We're bound together by blood. This is something that Timothy and I share, something that cannot be cut off for the rest of our lives!"

"You want my child to call you 'mom'? I can tell you right now that my child will never recognize a homewrecker as a mother! You can raise my child until they get older, but you'll also die in their hands!"

"How... you... Samantha!" Harmony was so angry that she gritted her teeth while calling out Samantha's name.

She had even raised her hand and clenched her fist as if she was about to hit Samantha.

Samantha smiled and relished Harmony's collapse. In a battle of oratory skills and verbal attacks, Harmony's ability was not even a fraction of Samantha's.

She had genuine experience after doing emergency broadcasts countless times.

How could someone whose credentials only looked good on paper ever hope to be on par with Samantha's shrewdness?

Rather than avoiding the attack, Samantha took a step forward and lifted her chin. "Feel like hitting me? Go ahead. I won't hit you back this time."

"Make sure to aim well and hit my stomach!"

"Although, I'm sure you know what the doctor said. I'm emotionally unstable and I might lose the baby if I get too excited. Once the baby's gone, so does that beautiful fantasy you've all planned out."

"Ahhhh—" Harmony lost herself and could not help herself from screaming out loud.

She was very concerned about the child in Samantha's belly and did not dare to lay even a finger on Samantha.

Samantha stood still and waited for more than a minute, watching as Harmony never once dared to throw a punch despite being on the verge of exploding from all that pent-up anger. Samantha's lips twitched as she uttered, "Coward!"

She did not mind a fair competition at all, but Harmony was someone who only knew how to play tricks behind people's back, which disgusted Samantha time and time again.

Samantha was no saint—she was instead a vengeful person!

Things were just starting to heat up.

Samantha did not look at Harmony again. She lifted her feet and walked straight into the office lobby.

Harmony looked at her from behind and gritted her teeth fiercely. 'Just you wait! You have no idea how I'm going to destroy you after you deliver the baby!'

…

After Samantha went to her workstation, she recalled Harmony's actions earlier to confirm that Harmony really referred to the baby as 'hers'.

Samantha then took her cell phone out of her bag and sent a message: [The arrangements can now be made.]