Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Along the way, Harmony zigzagged down the road and nearly got into an accident several times. Other road users honked at her madly but she acted as if she did not hear them.

None of them had any business that was more important than hers!

After running countless red lights in a row, she finally arrived at the airport in 55 minutes. She jumped out of the car and immediately started running.

When she walked into the cafe that Vincent told her about, she panted while scanning the patrons.

The huge cafe was empty and there were not a lot of people, so she immediately spotted two people sitting by the corner window.

Her eyes froze all of a sudden.

Those two people were not Vincent and Leah, but Samantha and Rochelle.

Harmony did not give up and glanced around once more, but Vincent was nowhere to be seen.

Could Samantha have done something?

As soon as she had that thought, she strode over and stood in front of them while opening her lips and asking bluntly, "Where's Dr. Jameson, Samantha?"

Samantha sipped her warm milk slowly before looking up. She nonchalantly spat out two words, "He left."

"…How?"

She had arrived within an hour and Vincent could not possibly be unwilling to wait for her.

A sudden thought occurred to her and she glared at Samantha angrily as she asked, "Did you tell Dr. Jameson to leave? Are you afraid he's going to take good care of my body? You want to cut off my chances because you couldn't give birth to Tim's child!"

Samantha smiled when she heard that.

Harmony became even angrier. "Are you finally admitting it?"

"Dr. Jameson decides if he wants to stay or leave." Samantha said calmly, "As for your chances being cut off, you're the one that's to blame, not me!"

"Me? What are you talking about?" Harmony looked at her doubtfully. "Don't try to make things look more complicated than it actually is."

Samantha smirked and mocked unceremoniously, "I guess I've underestimated you, Harmony. Are you still clueless even though things have come to this point? I knew you were stupid, but I didn't expect you to be so hopelessly stupid!"

"Samantha Larsson!"

Harmony gritted her teeth and called her name out loud. She valued her reputation and frequently boasted about having an excellent intelligence quotient. Hearing someone mock her was absolutely unacceptable for her, especially when it was someone whom she looked down on, like Samantha!

Samantha got up from the chair. Although she was wearing flats, she was slightly taller than Harmony who was wearing high heels. She lowered her eyes, looked condescendingly at her, then said emphatically, "Your body is beyond saving. Not even Dr. Jameson can save you."

After she said that, Harmony's eyes widened little by little in disbelief.

The next second, she retorted fiercely, "Do you think I'll believe you, Samantha? You're just jealous that I'm the one who can give Tim a baby in the future!"

She was certain that Vincent was capable of curing her. He was a renowned doctor, after all.

Samantha must have said something or used some method to get Vincent to leave without giving Harmony any treatment. It was simply despicable and shameless!

It was pretty laughable for Samantha and she ended up laughing out loud because she could not hold back any longer. She then clicked her tongue and shook her head, "What a pity."

The truth was right in front of her, and yet she still accused others and made up excuses for herself.

"Do you live your life through deceiving others and yourself, Harmony?"

Harmony had once used the exact sentence to mock Samantha, and Samantha's reply was that same sentence, down to the intonation too!

Harmony clenched her hands tightly as if she did not want to believe Samantha.

Samantha didn't care, she continued, "You already have a bargaining chip that you can use to marry Tim—a bargaining chip that you could use to convince the Barker family to accept you. That bargaining chip was the child in my womb. As you said, you could take the baby away from me once I give birth. A mother's nobility is decided by her child, and if Tim has an heir, you'll be firmly entrenched in your position as Mrs. Barker even if you can't have a baby!"

"But the child's dead now. You used Penelope to kill it. You basically destroyed the most important bargaining chip you had!"

When Samantha said those last few words, Harmony's complexion changed dramatically. She could not take it any longer and her body trembled violently.

Harmony could not accept it at first, but after thinking about everything clearly, she realized that there were a lot of things that did not seem right.

That time when Samantha was uncharacteristically provoking her in the elevator seemed to be a ruse—to test if she would not dare to do anything to harm the baby because she really was infertile.

At that time, she was seething with anger but did not dare to touch a single strand of Samantha's hair. That gave Samantha the necessary proof that Harmony did indeed have a fertility issue.

Since Harmony knew of Vincent's medical skills, Samantha used that to her advantage and made Harmony eager to seek the doctor's medical treatment.

To make her trust him wholeheartedly, Vincent acted disinterested and forced her to put in the effort to seek his treatment. That was why she would be brave enough to kill Samantha's child and pave a path for herself!

Harmony would have been better off not thinking too much. The more she thought about everything that happened, the quicker the blood drained from her face.

Then there was Penelope, who seemed to have succeeded in harming Samantha a little too easily...

Furthermore, Samantha's cautious nature was such that Penelope could never have followed her easily without being noticed for several days.

The only explanation was that Samantha deliberately let Penelope follow her!

Harmony looked at Samantha in disbelief as her lips trembled uncontrollably. "Samantha, you... you set this whole thing up from the beginning… you planned every single thing, didn't you?"

That idiot of a woman finally reacted.

Samantha acknowledged it openly. "Bingo! I'm so happy to see you groping in the dark and going on a wild goose chase."

"You..." Harmony's eyes reddened in anger and were almost about to go up in flames. Her bargaining chip was killed by that wretched Samantha!

Furious, she scolded, "You're a monster, Samantha. You didn't even spare the baby. You were willing to sacrifice the baby to set up this entire plot!"

A monster?

It was surprising that Harmony could bring herself to call others a monster.

Samantha's expression did not change in the slightest and she even had a faint smile at the corner of her lips. "Did you expect me to just offer up my baby to you? A baby that was the subject of your scheme? A baby that you were expecting to use as a tool? Can't you think clearly? Or are you just mentally retarded?"

"Besides, are you seriously blaming someone else even when things have come this far?"

Samantha spoke in an extremely contemptuous manner. "The only person you can blame is yourself. You were the one who insisted on showing up around me and making your presence known. You were so determined to tell me the truth to try and deal a blow to me while putting yourself on a pedestal. It was you who couldn't control your own mouth and told me about your filthy plan so excitedly! It'd be such a waste of your breath if I didn't retaliate properly!"

Samantha lifted her foot and approached Harmony. She leaned to the latter's ear and deliberately lowered her voice while saying one final sentence…