Chapter 1
At the wedding venue, Theo held the twin children of his late first love in his arms and begged me for understanding.
“Mira gave her life for these children. I can’t let them grow without parents. Zara, aren’t you the kindest person?”
In the livestream, I nodded with a pale face.
A year later, gently touching my pregnant belly, I watched Theo Arden’s face shift.
“Abort it. I promised Mira we wouldn’t have kids for three years.”
“You’re still young. We’ll have our own later.”
But in the years that followed, eight of them, I never got pregnant again.
I raised those twins like they were my own.
Until one day, I came home early to prepare for their birthday, only to see Mira, the woman thought was dead, leaning sweetly into Theo’s arms.
“Thanks to Theo switching her medicine, Zara ended up being our nanny for nine years.”
Their laughter echoed through the house as Theo gently stroked Mira’s belly.
“This is her karma for stealing your engagement.”
“Nine years of a honeymoon should make up for the injustice of faking your death. With her here, we’ve had time to travel and now we’re having our third baby.”
By the tall windows, their shadows twined together under the moonlight.
I was locked out of the villa all night, shivering as I made a call.
“Help me get a divorce and I’ll agree to your terms.”
When I walked into the house, the noisy chatter stopped instantly. The looks on their faces made me feel like an outsider.
Theo’s expression froze for a second. “You’re back? Great! Go tidy up the guest room.”
“Look, Mira’s back too. She had an accident years ago and now the sisters are reunited. Let her stay here.”
The others quickly joined in.
“Sis–in–law, you took the engagement back then. You’re not going to fight her for a place to stay now, are you?”
“Yeah, everyone always saw Mira as the real sister–in–law. If you hadn’t stepped in, how would you have become Mrs. Arden?”
Then their eyes landed on the ruined birthday cake in my hands.
“Look at that. She dares to show up with a smashed cake. No wonder, not her real kid anyway.”
“Country girl. No manners.”
I held my breath, ready to say something. But Mira suddenly knelt in front of me.
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“Sis, I wronged you before. You have every right to hate me.”
“But now, I only want to be with the kids. Please, just let me live.”
She cried like a fragile flower and Theo’s eyes filled with pain. “Zara, hurry up and get the guest room ready. The past is the past!”
The past? As I climbed the stairs, I repeated those three words in my head.
In high school, she bullied me until I was skin and bones.
In college, she stole my thesis and accused me of cheating. She even framed my adoptive mother and left her with a heavy debt. Could all of that really be brushed off as “the past“?
When I opened the door, my heart nearly stopped. The twins were tearing up the photo of my adoptive mother.
“Zayn! Zane! Let go of that!”
I rushed over, but one of them tripped me. I fell to the floor.
The photo had already crumbled to pieces and they were still stomping on it.
“Bleh! Not giving it back!”
“You’re the old mommy! Time for the new mommy!”
They laughed while stomping, the peace charm I got from a month–long pilgrimage in Beaufort bouncing at my neck, mocking my foolishness.
Zane suddenly sprayed something rose–scented at me.
My breath caught. My face turned hot and red.
Within a minute, my throat was swelling. I couldn’t breathe.
Curled on the floor, I saw Zayn holding my allergy medicine. I begged, “Zayn, give Mommy the medicine… please…”
Zayn smirked, dangled it in front of me, then turned and tossed it into the bathroom trash can.
Chapter 1
