I woke up the next day and took out the gold bangle from my bedside table. It was exactly the one that I remembered it to be, and it gleamed brightly under the light.

It was a hefty bangle, too, and it certainly seemed like it was 3.22 troy ounces.

I brought the bangle with me to the hospital first thing in the morning. I then requested for a prenatal checkup and also a thorough examination of my body and health.

The doctors and nurses couldn't help chuckling at that. "You're very healthy, Ms. Owens. Your baby is also very healthy and growing well. You don't have to worry that much about it."

I heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, my baby was still healthy inside me, and its nutrients hadn't been sucked away by the baby in Irene's belly yet.

After that, I went to a jewelry store and had a replica of the gold bangle made in-store, with gold of the same purity and weight. Then, I put it into my bag before hurrying straight home.

Irene and Pierre were home for once, which was odd. Usually, at this time of the day, they would have already been out drinking and partying at the bar.

When Irene saw my bare wrist, she was clearly very displeased. However, she couldn't show it plainly on her face, so she spoke aggrievedly, saying, "It was Mom's death anniversary last night. I dreamed about her.

"But all she did was scold me, saying she regretted ever having me as her daughter. She also said that she would never leave anything of her own for me. Did you also dream about Mom last night, Ingrid?"

There was a hint of impatience in her eyes. I met her expectant gaze and nodded.

"I dreamed of Mom yesterday, too. She said that she left a gold bangle for me."

"Why aren't you wearing it, then? You can't possibly let Mom down!"

Irene grabbed my hand urgently, her face contorted with rage.

I retrieved the bangle from my bag and began putting it on for her. "I know that Mom didn't mean what she said about you. You know that you've always been her favorite child growing up. You deserve all the nice things. I'll just give the bangle to you."

Irene got a fright and stumbled backward, frantically waving her hands. "No way! Mom left that especially for you! I can't possibly take it away from you!"

While speaking, she suddenly grabbed my hand forcefully, snatched the bangle away with her other hand, and forced it over my knuckles and onto my wrist. She didn't stop even though her nails dug so deeply into my flesh that the skin broke, causing blood to trickle out.

She only heaved a sigh of relief after seeing the bangle firmly around my wrist.

"This is Mom's gift to you, so you must cherish it and wear it properly! Who knows, maybe it will even bring health and blessings for your baby too!"

Her tone was sarcastic as she spoke. Then, she turned around coldly and grabbed a bottle of whiskey before returning to her room.

I waited until the sounds of Irene and Pierre's loud and lewd lovemaking could be heard from their room before going out and knocking on the neighbor's door.

I then slid the cursed bangle around the ferociously barking and snarling rabid dog at the door before returning to my room to continue with my aerobic exercises.

Paul and Rose came back in the evening.

At the dinner table, Rose's face was solemn as she asked Irene, "What's with both of you being so rowdy with each other every day like this? Are you not planning to give birth to my grandchild anymore?"

Irene exchanged a glance with Pierre before both of them turned their calculating eyes toward me.

"Don't worry about it, Mom. Our baby will definitely be a very healthy boy," Irene replied. "Why don't you tell Ingrid to stop doing those useless exercises instead? Look at how small her tummy is. I bet hers is going to be a stillborn."

She was already brazenly cursing me like this.

Paul's face darkened. He instinctively wanted to defend me and yell at them, but all of a sudden, Irene clutched at her stomach and screamed that she was in great pain.

Rose immediately got someone to rush her to the hospital. On the way there, Rose even blamed Pierre for not taking good care of Irene while she was pregnant.

Irene was in such great pain that she was completely covered in cold sweat. However, she wouldn't stop glaring intently at my wrist, where the gleaming gold bangle lay.

A hint of confusion appeared in her eyes.

"Aren't you feeling any discomfort at all, Ingrid?"

Irene was the one being rushed to the hospital now, yet she was still concerned about my well-being.

The accompanying nurses looked at me with envy. "You have such a good relationship with your sister. You both even married into the same family and got pregnant at the same time!

"Look, your younger sister is in great pain, but she's still so worried about you!"

I smiled sweetly at the nurses in response. However, I couldn't help scoffing internally.

Irene wasn't the least bit concerned about me. She just thought something had gone wrong with her body, and she was suspicious that her collusion with Mom had somehow run into trouble.

"Look, Rene, you're the one who needs more care now. My baby's fine. I don't really feel him doing anything in my belly."

Upon hearing my words, the expression on Irene's face turned somewhat comical. One moment, she was ecstatic; the next, she was wincing in agony.

Finally, we arrived at the hospital, and the doctor said that her baby was very healthy after a checkup. In fact, it was unusually active.

"It's been moving around a lot in your belly, which explains the pain," the doctor assured her.

Rose's reproach immediately turned into joy when she heard what the doctor said.

"I'm so sorry, Irene. I was wrong about you both."

The next morning, Irene came up to me to flaunt the designer bag that Rose had bought for her.

"See this, Ingrid? There are just some things you can't force in life. Your baby isn't even as active or moving around as much as mine, even though you're so careful about your pregnancy. You were just born to be a useless piece of trash!"

She continued belittling me relentlessly, but I showed no reaction whatsoever to her provocations. After all, we were only about three months pregnant, yet her belly was already twice the size of mine, and she was often quickly out of breath from just walking around.

In fact, when Pierre tried being intimate with her yesterday, he felt the baby kick and punch him in the belly as soon as he leaned over her. His face remained swollen until the next day, and he looked somewhat displeased and unkindly at Irene the whole time.

"But Pierre, don't you think that this means we're going to have a very cute and lively baby? I bet it's definitely going to be a boy!" Irene said, wearing a sycophantic smile as she looked at him.

However, she didn't realize that Pierre was already installing various dating apps on his phone and scrolling through the profiles one by one.

I almost couldn't keep my laughter to myself.

Sure, her baby was going to be a very lively one. I just hoped she would still say the same thing when she finally gave birth to it.

When Irene saw Pierre leaving in a huff, she turned to me and took out her frustration on me instead. "It's all your fault! Who told you to take so many extra supplements and vitamins—"

"What does your baby being lively have anything to do with me?" I asked, looking at her curiously.

She quickly realized that she had just said something she never should have, and changed the topic at once. "Look at you, taking all those supplements and vitamins, and your baby still isn't making any movements in your belly! You might as well just abort it instead!"

Then, she gritted her teeth to bear with the pain and took another swig of whiskey, finishing the whole bottle in one go, smiling maliciously at me while she did.

Did she really think that the whiskey she was drinking would directly impact the baby in my belly?

I smiled back at her and said, "I think I've had a healthy pregnancy. My baby's just a little quieter than yours. That's all."

At once, Irene burst out laughing and looked at me like I was stupid. Her gaze then travelled to the gold bangle around my wrist.

"Well, you're going to be really disappointed then! The villa is going to be mine!"

She then struggled to her feet, her swollen belly leading the way, and shoved me with all her strength.

However, nothing happened to me. On the contrary, the inertia from her trying to shove me down backfired on her, and she lost her balance and toppled back on the ground instead.

Rose immediately ran down the stairs when she heard Irene's cries and screams. Irene pointed a finger at me and yelled, "Mom! Ingrid was jealous of my healthy baby and shoved me to the ground!"

Rose didn't even ask me for an explanation before she slapped me hard. "You might both be pregnant, but it's obvious that Irene is carrying a boy! Otherwise, it wouldn't be this active in her belly! Don't you dare harm my grandson ever again!"

That night, Rose yelled and cursed at me for two whole hours.

When Paul finally came home after work and saw my swollen face, his eyes were immediately filled with pity and heartache.

"I'm going to talk to Mom about moving out on our own. Your sister and my brother have been going overboard lately!"

I shook my head. Irene would never agree to let me move out of her sight. She would want to make sure that I was always wearing the gold bangle. In fact, Paul might even get a good earful from Rose instead.

But since Irene was going to play dirty, I wasn't going to hold back either.

…

Oue due dates were approaching.

I had an album on my phone that was full of photos from private investigators over the past few months, showing Pierre cheating on Irene with various prostitutes in bars and clubs. I sent every single photo to her using a secondary burner account.

Soon enough, a scream came from the next hospital ward.

Irene's belly had gotten unusually big over the past few months, and strange noises often came from it. Pierre couldn't stand it and seldom ever came home at night.

Even after both of us were transferred to the hospital wards to prepare for our delivery, he never came to see us even once.

Irene's water broke because of how angry she was when she saw the photos, and she began going into labor.

My contractions also began right at that moment.

The doctors wheeled us both into the delivery room. When I woke up again, I heard the doctor heave a sigh of relief and say, "They're both healthy little boys. Congratulations!"

Irene nearly jumped up from her bed. "What? That's impossible!"

My baby suddenly let out a bark, giving the nurse handling him a great fright and making her drop him to the floor.

However, my son landed expertly on his limbs and began crawling around on the floor, baring his sharp teeth at us.

Irene squealed with mocking laughter. "Haha! Look at what you gave birth to, Ingrid! It's a monster!"

She then pointed to the baby boy lying quietly in the crib next to her and said, "Now look at my baby! He looks exactly like the heir to the Connor family! Mom is going to faint from shock when she sees the monster that you just gave birth to!"

I couldn't believe my eyes. How was this possible?

Wasn't the use of the cursed bangle to transfer the neighbor's rabid dog's characteristics to her baby? Why did my baby end up like this in the end?

Had I somehow gotten it all wrong from the start?