Naomi, seeing that things were turning ugly, simply sat at the door. "I don't care. I can't take care of him. If you make me, I'll die!"

Madeline cried in distress. "What a sin! We're all women, Zoey, why can't you be more understanding of your sister?"

I didn't know when, but the door had already been opened, and many neighbors were peeking in, with some already starting to comment.

"Oh dear, it's not easy being a parent of a special needs child. It looks so heartbreaking.

"Young lady, you'll be pregnant someday too. Think about it from her perspective.

"You're all family. It's just a matter of lending a hand. Why be so particular?"

Lend a hand? At the training center, special needs children come with a parent, and I had to take care of Bennett alone every day while also completing my teaching tasks, often overwhelmed and in a sorry state.

In my previous life, I worked every day. At twenty-six years old, my hair was half gray, and I even experienced symptoms of a threatened miscarriage later on.

I had no choice but to resign and stay in bed, but Madeline still left Bennett with me, leading to a tragedy.

The neighbors didn't care about this, blaming me one after another. In fact, these neighbors weren't close to me and often complained about Bennett being too noisy in the community group.

But at this time, they united to morally coerce me.

It seems that they were all playing dumb.

I smiled slightly and said, "You guys are so sweet. In that case, Aunt Julia, please don't hang your clothes out the window anymore. Bennett needs sunlight, and your sheets block the sunlight from his bedroom completely."

Julia didn't even think. "How can that be? My son's sheets must be sun-dried every day! He's just an autistic child; how can he compare to a healthy person?"

After saying that, she covered her mouth, her face turning embarrassed.

I turned to everyone. "Dear neighbors, my sister-in-law is pregnant, so please don't cook anymore. Our building's exhaust system isn't well-sealed, and we can smell it when anyone cooks. As a noble pregnant woman, how can she be exposed to cooking fumes?"

For a moment, the air was still.

Soon, the neighbors' faces turned ugly.

"It's just a pregnancy, not that delicate. When I was pregnant, I had to take care of a whole family, even my bedridden father-in-law, all by myself."

"Exactly, she's not pregnant with my child. Why should we outsiders follow her demands?"

Hearing this, everyone laughed.

Johnson was holding back his laughter so hard that his face turned red.

Seeing the change in everyone's attitude, Naomi glared at me, her face pale. "They're outsiders, but you're Bennett's aunt. That's different, isn't it?"

I quickly waved my hand. "Bennett's grandmother hasn't said anything yet. What does an aunt like me count for?"

Everyone turned to look at Madeline.

Madeline opened her mouth but said nothing.

Naomi was already extremely impatient. "Fine, fine, Mom, you take care of Bennett. I have an appointment for prenatal care and need to leave soon."

She then asked Johnson to take her to the beauty salon.

Under the watchful eyes of the neighbors, Madeline, anxious to the point of losing her voice, said, "That's not possible. This little rascal hits people. At my age, what if he hits me and something happens? Zoey should take him away."

I was both amused and exasperated. "If you're afraid of being hit, so am I. Why don't you ask the kind neighbors if anyone isn't afraid and let them help?"

Madeline looked around, and the neighbors quickly ran away.

I quickly grabbed my bag and went out.

I didn't know if it was an illusion, but as I left, I saw Bennett out of the corner of my eye. It seemed like he was smiling at me.

I didn't have time to think too much about it; I was already running late.

Before I even got to the office, I was bombarded with calls from Wyatt.

Seeing his call, I was so nervous I almost dropped my phone, my heart pounding as if it were about to jump out of my chest.

With difficulty, I suppressed the fear of being kicked to death by him in the previous life and answered the phone.

His barrage of curses came through. "Damn you, Zoey, why aren't you taking care of Bennett? My wife is pregnant, and she's precious. Can you take responsibility if anything happens?"

Hearing him mention pregnancy, I thought of my poor unborn child.

All my fear turned to anger. "What the hell responsibility? I'm not the one who got your wife pregnant. Were your ancestors chefs? You're so good at passing the buck."

"How can you say that? Weren't you the one taking care of him before? You can't just say you're not going to anymore. You're so unreliable."

"Are Bennett's parents dead? How dare you talk to me about reliable?"

"Anyway, taking care of children is women's business. How can a man like me take care of a child?"

I was almost laughing with anger. "There's no reasoning with you. If you don't like it, go ahead and sue me."

Unable to do anything about me, he threatened viciously. "I'm telling you, you're Bennett's aunt. Mom is old, and Naomi is pregnant. From now on, Bennett is belonged to you! If anything happens, I'll come after you and make sure you pay!"

"That's hilarious. It seems you've outsourced both filial piety and pampering your wife. How dare you."

After saying that, I hung up the phone and blocked him.

"This guy is really sick! His wife wanders around freely, expecting me to be their nanny and take care of their child. When I refuse, he even threatens me.

No, I have to get away from this crazy family immediately!"

Today, without taking Bennett, my work was much easier. After work, I even had the energy to try the new trendy restaurant downstairs with Johnson.

We hit it off and decided to move out of the house as soon as possible and return to our one-bedroom apartment.

Johnson was very happy with my change and wholeheartedly agreed.

In the previous life, I always advised him that we were all family, and since he was a boy, it didn't hurt to give in to his sister more.

Living again, I realized how pathetic I had been.

After talking with the tenant, it turned out his lease was up, and he didn't want to renew. We could move back in about a week.

When we were satisfied and arrived at the rental house, we found that Bennett had caused a big problem.

It turned out that Julia often hung her sheets out the window upstairs, and to avoid blocking her own light, she hung them very low.

Bennett's room was right below hers, so his room was dark all day long.

Moreover, Julia believed in hand-washing clothes without wringing them too dry, so water dripped continuously, and Bennett couldn't open his window all day.

In the previous life, after six months of rehabilitation with me, he finally managed to say a complete sentence, and the second sentence he said was, "I need sunlight."

Today, Madeline was home alone with Bennett and got punch several times. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore, locked Bennett in the house, and went out dancing.

Bennett, taking advantage of Julia's nearly dry sheets, set one corner on fire. The flames quickly spread to the twenty-fifth floor, and the waste piled up in Julia's home acted as an accelerant, soon engulfing her house in flames.

When the firefighters arrived, Bennett was hiding in the bathroom with a wet towel.

Fortunately, there was no one at home on the twenty-fifth floor, so there were no casualties. However, after the fire was extinguished, the property damage was estimated to be over a hundred thousand dollars.

Julia, in a rage, followed the police to find Madeline, who was dancing fervently with an elderly man.

Without a word, Julia slapped Madeline hard. By the time we got home, Madeline's face was already swollen.

Since she was Bennett's guardian, the police required her and Bennett's parents to compensate the neighbors for the losses.

Naomi screamed, "Compensate for what? Don't you know he's a fool? Fools aren't responsible for killing or setting fires."

Madeline agreed, "Yes, if you want compensation, go after him. Do whatever you want."

But their ignorant arguments were quickly stopped by the police, and the once close mother and daughter began to blame each other.

"Zoey took care of him for so long without any issues, and you messed it up in just one day. You're asking for trouble!"

"And you're his biological mother. I've never seen you take care of him for a single day!"

"At least I didn't go out flirting with old men at your age. Do you have any shame?"

"I have no shame? Do you? You also..."

At this point, Naomi's eyes widened, and Madeline suddenly deflated, changing the subject. "Isn't it because Zoey refused to take care of him anymore? If you want money, ask her. I don't have a penny!"

Madeline didn't dare get angry at her daughter, so she took it out on Bennett, grabbing his ear. "Not only do you drag people down, but you also cause such big trouble. See if I don't beat you to death!"

But Bennett had an episode. He shouted and grabbed whatever was nearby, throwing it at Madeline. She couldn't dodge in time, and her swollen face got more injuries.

Neither she nor Naomi dared provoke Bennett anymore, and neither was willing to pay up, so they came to me.

After hearing them, I shrugged and said that all our savings went into buying the house, and now we were broke.

Johnson fiddled with his figures, nodding.

Julia was relentless, splashing paint and throwing rotten eggs at our door that night, cursing for five hours with her hands on her hips.

Despite Madeline and Naomi acting tough in front of Johnson and me, they were actually very timid when facing outsiders.

In the end, the two were defeated. Madeline reluctantly took out her stash and barely managed to come up with over a hundred thousand for compensation to Julia.

I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking they would learn from this and settle down for a while, but I still underestimated their shamelessness.