Chapter 1

After our engagement, my fiance, Justin Ford, has someone bring a child back from Verdanne and hand him over to me.

An email arrives along with the boy.

"Nora, I got bored out of my mind in Verdanne and accidentally knocked Cindy up. Since you've always been sweet and obedient, I'm leaving my son with you. Consider it practice. When we come home, you'll be all set to work as our nanny."

Without a word, I hand the child over to the butler.

Seven years later, all the CEOs stationed overseas return to headquarters to report in.

Justin pulls up in a Maybach with a whole entourage, blocking the entrance to the Ford estate where I live.

With a cigarette dangling from his lips, he tilts his head and takes off his sunglasses.

"Did you miss me that badly? Is that why you're waiting out here?"

He takes a drag from his cigarette before continuing, "By the way, Cindy and I got married in Verdanne so we could get our son registered. From now on, you two can treat each other like sisters. Whatever she gets, you'll get too.

"The Shaws and the Fords are practically family anyway. You don't care about a piece of paper, do you?"

With that, he blows smoke ring after smoke ring into my face, leaving me choking with tears streaming from my eyes.

I quickly step back and wipe away the tears.

My son's dad is an extremely jealous man who warned me long ago to keep my distance from the younger men in the Ford family.

If my husband catches his nephew harassing his wife, all hell will break loose in the Ford family.

Chapter 1

Nora's POV

As Justin Ford watched me back away from him, he burst out laughing.

"Come on, drop the act. I know you're only crying because you're so happy to see me."

"I'm back now, so stop playing hard to get," he sneered. "Take good care of Cindy and me, and you can be Mrs. Ford too. No one's taking that title away from you."

Hearing that, I was so angry I almost laughed.

I wiped away the tears his smoke had brought to my eyes, then said in a slow, mocking tone, "Justin, what makes you think you're the only man for me?"

He blew out another ring of smoke and stared at me like I was an idiot.

"You got engaged to me when you were 20. You've been tied to the Ford name ever since, and you've raised my son for years. If you don't marry me, who else would want you?"

At those words, I felt nothing but relief. Thank God I'd dumped this scumbag back then and married someone else.

Years ago, when we said goodbye at the airport, he held me tight and swore, "Nora, wait five months for me. I'll make something of myself, then come back and marry you."

But barely a month after he left, his son with Cindy Tanner was brought to my doorstep. That was when I found out the two of them had been fooling around behind my back all along.

Everyone in Aldermere knew except me. I was the last one to find out.

Every time I thought about it, I had the overwhelming urge to slap him across the face.

Just as I raised my hand, a sweet little voice rang out.

"Mommy!"

My son, Bryson Ford, came bounding toward me with his arms stretched wide for a hug. His dad had meetings all day, so I'd brought him along with me.

I bent down to scoop him up, but before I could reach him, someone yanked him away.

"Who are you calling Mommy? I'm the one who's your mom!"

Cindy stormed out from behind Justin and slapped Bryson twice across the face.

My eye twitched with rage, and I shoved her back hard.

Before she even hit the ground, she tugged on Justin's sleeve and began to sob. "Justin, all I wanted was for my own son to call me Mom. If Nora won't allow it, fine, but how could she lay a hand on me?"

Her cry immediately drew the bodyguards over. They quickly closed in around Bryson and me while Justin stood off to the side, watching coldly.

I shielded Bryson behind me, grinding my teeth as I demanded, "Are you all blind? You're surrounding me over a maid? Do you even know who I am?"

"Enough!" Justin barked.

He stubbed out his cigarette and jabbed a finger straight at me.

"Nora Shaw, who gave you the nerve to talk about Cindy like that? She's Mrs. Ford and this boy's biological mother! Not only did you keep Cindy from being reunited with her own son, but now you're humiliating her in public too?"

I snorted and shoved his hand aside. "A maid wants to play mother to my son? What makes her think she's worthy?"

If I hadn't been softhearted enough to let her stay at the Ford estate all those years ago, she would have starved to death on the street.

Who could have guessed she'd turn around and bite the hand that fed her?

My words only fueled Justin's rage.

He snatched Bryson from behind me and shoved him into Cindy's arms.

The whole courtyard echoed with Bryson's wailing. "You're bad people! Get away from me!"

Chapter 2

Nora's POV

As I looked at Bryson's face, beet-red from crying, I felt as though my heart were being torn apart.

Right then, Cindy dropped to her knees at my feet with a thud.

Stroking Bryson's cheek, she sobbed, "Nora, even if you hate me, you can't turn my son against me. Bryson's still so young, and he keeps calling you Mommy. How could you abuse him behind our backs?"

As she spoke, she pulled up Bryson's shirt, revealing the angry red marks covering his back.

Justin's eyes widened, his expression darkening instantly when he looked back at me.

"Nora Shaw! I trusted you enough to let you take care of my son so you could get some experience raising a child, and you actually whipped him? Just because you couldn't have me, you've turned this vicious?" he snapped.

Bryson's back was covered from top to bottom in long, terrifying marks that looked like whip lashes. Justin couldn't bear to imagine what kind of nightmare his son had endured all these years.

What he didn't know was that the marks had come from a scraping treatment for Bryson's fever.

A few days ago, Bryson had caught a cold and spiked a 104-degree fever. Because of his unusual constitution, medication wasn't an option, so the doctor recommended non-drug treatments instead.

And because of that, every maid and butler on duty that night—even the entire team of nutritionists—had been whipped by Bryson's dad and driven out of the estate.

If he ever found out what Justin and Cindy had put Bryson and me through, even a hundred Justins wouldn't be enough to bear the brunt of his fury.

By then, the men I'd brought were already at the door.

Done wasting my time on these two disgusting people, I pointed at them and ordered, "Take them down. Teach them the Ford family rules!"

Justin's face flushed with rage. Even as he fought off the bodyguards, he kept shouting at me, "Nora, keep acting crazy and see what happens! I swear I'll dump you and throw you out of the Ford estate right this second!"

I let out a cold laugh. "Go ahead and try."

These bodyguards had all been handpicked by Bryson's dad. With them here, no one was going to push Bryson or me around.

Realizing they couldn't gain the upper hand—and seeing that the bodyguards were holding back because Bryson was in her arms—Cindy's eyes darted around wildly.

Without warning, she clamped a hand around Bryson's throat and threatened, "Stop right now, or I'll strangle him!"

Bryson thrashed frantically in her grip, his face turning from blue to purple. His cries grew weaker by the second.

I yanked the dagger from my pocket and drove it into her.

She shrieked and immediately let go.

I lunged forward, scooped Bryson into my arms, and tried to help him catch his breath.

"Bryson? Bryson? Don't be scared. I'm here!"

Bryson was convulsing uncontrollably and gasping desperately for air. I quickly pulled out his emergency asthma medication and was about to administer it.

But Cindy, despite her injury, lunged at me from behind. Like a woman possessed, she clawed and bit at me, screaming, "You bitch! Abusing my son wasn't enough for you? Now you're trying to murder him in front of everyone?"

Justin's face drained of color as he roared, "Nora, don't you dare!"

But he was too late.

I'd already gotten the medicine into Bryson's mouth. Almost immediately, his convulsions subsided, and his ragged breathing began to steady.

Only then did the two of them finally shut up.

But the ordeal had taken too much out of Bryson, and he passed out in my arms. He needed an IV immediately.

I ordered the bodyguards to hold them back, hoisted Bryson onto my back, and ran.

Justin's furious roar thundered behind me. "Nora, you've caused enough trouble! If you walk out now, you'll never be my woman again!"

"Like I care!"

Justin sneered. "Keep acting tough. Once I dump you, let's see who'd ever want damaged goods like you!"

I couldn't be bothered to waste another breath arguing with a rabid idiot. I simply gave the order.

"Back to the Ford residence!"

Chapter 3

Nora's POV

Judging by the time, Bryson's dad would be leading the rest of the Fords in the ancestral rites.

The moment I stepped out of the car, I sent someone to notify him while I rushed into the infirmary with Bryson in my arms.

At some point, Bryson had woken up. His tiny hand clutched my clothes tightly as he tried to comfort me.

"It doesn't hurt, Mommy. Don't cry…"

The more thoughtful he was, the guiltier I felt. If I hadn't brought him back to the Ford estate today, we never would have run into those two lunatics.

"Mrs. Ford, please don't panic. Bryson… he'll pull through!"

When the doctor saw how weakly Bryson was breathing, he was so frightened that his voice trembled.

He'd barely placed Bryson in the treatment room when the infirmary door was kicked open again.

Justin stormed in, carrying Cindy in his arms. The moment he spotted me, a knowing smirk crossed his face.

He looked at me with open contempt. "Didn't you just say you didn't care? Yet here you are, following me right back to the Ford residence."

Cindy curled up in his arms, glaring at me with venom. "Nora, you stole my son and attacked me with a knife, and now you have the nerve to cause trouble at the Ford residence? Aren't you afraid of offending Uncle Hector?"

She scoffed. "Everyone in Aldermere knows that if you cross the head of the Ford family, you won't even know what hit you!"

With that, Justin set Cindy down, shoved the doctor out of the way, and grabbed my arm to drag me outside.

"Nora, since you've always been so hopelessly in love with me, I'll save your skin one more time. Get the hell out of here!"

Seeing Justin manhandle me, Bryson grabbed a nearby water pitcher and hurled it at him.

Justin let out a shout of pain. His expression turned menacingly dark as he grabbed Bryson with one hand and hauled him up into the air.

"You got a death wish? How dare you lay a hand on your own dad!"

Bryson screamed at the top of his lungs, his face turning a sickly blue-purple once again.

I tore myself free and slapped Justin hard across the face. "Let go of my son!"

Cindy snatched up a roll of medical gauze and tried to stuff it into my mouth. "You bitch! If you want to die, don't drag us down with you! How dare you disrupt the ancestral ceremony? You'll pay for that with your life ten times over!"

She went completely wild, slamming me to the floor with a sudden surge of strength.

Caught off guard, I ended up with gauze forced into my mouth.

Blind with rage, I stopped caring about anything else and fought Cindy back right then and there.

Over Cindy's shrieks, Justin stared at me in disbelief. "Nora, I only let you raise my son because of the long-standing engagement between our families, and because you were educated and refined. But look at you now! How are you any different from a lunatic? If my son stays with you, he'll only end up just as crazy. Starting today, Cindy and I will raise him ourselves!"

The second the words left his mouth, he sucked in a sharp breath of pain.

Frantic at the sight of them ganging up on me, Bryson used every last ounce of strength he had and sank his teeth into the web of Justin's hand.

He'd suffered from asthma since he was little, and I was the one who had raised him. He was far closer to me than he had ever been to his own dad.

When he was four, he already knew to wave his tiny fists to chase away stray cats for me. He'd stand in front of me and declare in his sweet, babyish voice, "As long as I'm here, nobody gets to bully my mommy!"

Seeing Bryson drenched in cold sweat yet still refusing to let go, a deep ache spread through my chest.

I kicked Cindy to the floor and lunged to grab Bryson back, only for Justin to grab me by the hair and violently throw me aside.

"Nora, you actually turned my son into an ungrateful little bastard who doesn't even recognize his own parents!"

Chapter 4

Nora's POV

"Don't hurt my mommy!"

Seeing me slammed to the ground with blood streaming from my forehead, Bryson yelled and prepared to bite again.

However, Justin saw it coming. He grabbed Bryson by the chin, forced his face toward Cindy cowering in the corner, and squeezed tight. "You little bastard! Open your eyes and look carefully! Your real mother is right over there!"

"She's not my mommy! You're the bad guys!" Bryson craned his neck. His mouth was smeared with blood as he bit at Justin.

The latter completely lost his patience. He threw Bryson to the ground, planted a foot on his chest, and sneered. "Nora completely ruined this kid. He won't even acknowledge his own parents!

"Fine! Since we're here, I'll teach you a proper lesson today on how to apologize to your parents!"

With that, he bore down, grinding his boot into the boy's chest.

Bryson's stifled groans of pain echoed through the room.

"Let him go! You monster! You don't deserve to touch my son!" I screamed till my voice cracked.

I crawled toward Bryson, my voice raw with anguish. "He's having an asthma attack! Can't you see he can barely breathe? If anything happens to him, Justin, you're a dead man!"

As if he had just heard a joke, Justin scoffed, shot me a glance, and then looked back at Cindy, who was covered in blood and looking thoroughly shaken.

A cruel streak flared in his eyes. "Asthma? Can't breathe? He won't even acknowledge me as his father, so why should I care if he lives or dies? Even if I kill him today, it's on you. You're the one who ruined him!"

With that, he grabbed Bryson by the hair and yanked him up onto his knees.

The poor child was so weak he couldn't even stay upright, let alone cry for help.

Driven out of my mind, I lunged toward Justin, wanting nothing more than to kill him.

He kicked me to the ground, then grabbed me and forced me to kneel before Cindy. "The kid turned out bad because of you. It's your fault, so apologize to Cindy on your knees!"

Pinned down, my head was slammed hard against the floor.

Blood ran down my eyelids, streaking across my entire face.

I stubbornly kept quiet while glaring at him with cold fury.

My silence completely set him off. Justin pulled a dagger from the fruit platter, flashed it in front of my eyes, and offered a sinister smile.

"You stabbed Cindy, so by rights, you owe her one. If you know what's good for you, you'd better apologize…" He leaned down close to my face, his voice turning deceptively soft. "... and I'll let everything before this slide. Otherwise—"

Before he could finish, I opened my mouth and spat a mouthful of blood right into his face.

Justin squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them, they were ablaze with rage.

He slowly wiped his face, then roughly yanked me by the hair and gave my cheek contemptuous pats. "Don't blame me for being cruel. I gave you a chance, and you threw it away."

Then he lowered his gaze, kicked Bryson lightly with his boot, and let out a cold sneer. "Watch closely. This is the first lesson I'm teaching you. When people act foolishly, they have to pay the price."

The sharp pain snapped Bryson awake.

The moment he opened his eyes and saw a blade thrusting toward my chest, his pupils shrank in horror. "Mommy!"

I didn't know where he found the strength, but he broke free from under Justin's boot and leaped forward to cover me.

"No!"

Following a squelch, scalding blood sprayed across my face.

I stared blankly at Bryson.

My vision blurred with red, and tears mixed with blood poured down my cheeks in heavy drops.

My heart shattered.

Bryson's lips trembled as he weakly reached out a shaking hand toward me. His voice came out in broken fragments. "It doesn't hurt… Mommy, don't cry…"

Before his bloodstained hand could touch my face, it limply fell.

Justin glared at me with bloodshot eyes, pulled out the knife, and aimed it at my heart again. "You're something else! You actually got my son to die for you?"

Just as the tip pierced an inch into my chest, a gunshot suddenly echoed from behind us.

"Mr. Hector Ford has arrived!"