Chapter 1

Five years ago, the day my water broke.

The sharp, agonizing contractions rippled through my entire body. Shaking violently, I clutched my phone and called Adrian Vance, begging for help.

"Adrian, the doctor says the baby is losing oxygen. Please, can you come to the hospital?"

On the other end of the line, Adrian’s voice was filled with nothing but cold impatience.

"Having babies is what women are built for, Claire. You aren't going to die. Stop using these cheap tricks to get my attention."

"Chloe is terrified of thunderstorms. I have to be with her."

The line went dead.

I was wheeled into the operating room all alone. I bled out, and my baby suffocated to death.

At that exact second, in the city's most expensive penthouse suite,

He was in bed with his precious first love, Chloe Miller, wrapped in a passionate embrace.

While I, completely alone, signed my own child’s death certificate.

Utterly devastated, I vanished from his world completely.

Five years later, Adrian showed up at my doorstep, holding a massive diamond ring.

"Claire, let's get remarried. Let's start over, okay?"

I didn't even spare him a glance.

His eyes locked onto the little boy standing next to me—a boy who looked strikingly like me—and his voice began to tremble.

"Since when... did you have a child?"