My husband and my mother-in-law switched my child. I unknowingly raised his mistress' child.

My husband took over my dad's company and I quit my job. I put in countless energy, effort, and money. I helped the child with his studies and I paid for his house and car.

When I thought I could enjoy my old age, I saw my son calling another woman mom. I watched as that woman moved into the house I bought.

I confronted them but was pushed off a cliff by my son...

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the year my child was three.

This time, I wouldn't let them off easily!

...

"Mommy!" my son, Eric Parker's innocent voice woke me up.

I opened my eyes and saw the familiar ceiling. I turned my head and saw Eric's innocent face. I sat up abruptly in bed and grabbed the phone on the nightstand. I checked the time. I realized I had been reborn, back to 20 years ago.

"Mommy!" Eric's voice sounded again. He hit my leg with the remote in frustration.

I looked at Eric's face. I realized I had never really studied his face closely. When I gave birth, many people said the child looked like his father, Luke Parker. They were almost identical. And since my mother-in-law brought the child to me, I didn't think much about it.

After looking closely, I noticed that apart from the lower half of his face, which resembled Luke's, his eyes didn't look like Luke's or mine.

I remembered that I had asked whose eyes Eric resembled in my previous life. At that time, Luke had shown a trace of panic. He said they resembled Eric's uncle and quickly changed the subject. I hadn't paid attention to it then, and the matter passed. Looking back, I realized how foolish I had been to trust him so much.

I looked at Eric and smiled. "Eric, your hair is too long. Let me trim it a bit."

Eric seemed reluctant, but he couldn't resist me. After all, a three-year-old doesn't have the strength to outmatch a grown-up.

After trimming Eric's hair, I took some ice cream out of the fridge and gave it to him. I let him sit in front of the TV to watch cartoons and eat his ice cream.

I carefully collected the hair I had cut and then dialed my mom's number. The call connected quickly.

"Emily, what brings you to call me today?" my mom's voice came from the other end.

"Nothing much. I just suddenly thought of chatting with you, Mom," I said with a smile. "When is Dad free? Let's go out for a meal tomorrow. Just the three of us, no one else."

"No one else? Did you have a fight with Luke? Are you neglecting the child?" my mom asked.

"We didn't fight. I'll leave the child with Luke's mom. I just want to have a meal with you and Dad. It's been a while since we had a nice meal together." I said with a smile, pretending everything was fine. I knew I couldn't show any signs of my true intentions.

"Alright, your dad is free this weekend. We'll have a meal together then," my mom agreed.

The next day, I went to Luke's mom's house without any prior notice.

When my mother-in-law, Amelia Clark, opened the door and saw me, her face was full of panic. "You... why are you here?"

"What's wrong? Can't I come? Mom... are you not welcoming me?" I asked, smiling as I looked at Amelia.

"That's not what I meant. I just meant you didn't call before coming. I didn't prepare anything, and the house is a mess..." Amelia explained quickly. She glanced at Eric, who was standing next to me. "Eric is here too. Oh dear, I haven't prepared anything. Why don't we go downstairs? There are no snacks or treats here. Eric might get upset." She started to head out.

"Mom, why don't we go inside first? Eric said he was thirsty. Let him drink water first," I said with a smile. From inside the house, I heard another child crying.

"Waaah..." A child began to cry.

"Who's inside?" I peeked in, but Amelia blocked me.

"No one. We don't need to worry about it. Eric is thirsty, right? Let's go to the shop and get some water," Amelia said with a smile, trying to push us out the door.

Seeing how anxious she was, I knew she was afraid I'd see who was inside. But I refused to let her have her way.

"Oh, my stomach hurts. I'll just use the restroom real quick," I said, holding my stomach. Without waiting for her response, I barged into the house.

"Hey, don't go in..." Amelia called out in a panic, but she couldn't stop me.

As soon as I entered the room, I saw a child, about three years old, sitting on the floor and crying. His clothes were dirty and torn, and his face was smudged with dirt. He was holding a filthy bun in his hands. When he saw me, he got scared and tried to hide by the leg of the sofa.

"This is..." I tried my best to stay calm.

"Oh, this is my distant relative's child. They had an emergency, so they asked me to look after him," Amelia explained quickly.

"Since there's a child here, why did you want us to leave? Is it okay to leave a kid alone at home?" I asked, pretending to be puzzled.

"I... I just didn't want him to scare you," Amelia said with a smile. "You don't need to worry about him. He likes being alone. By the way, didn't you say you needed the restroom?"

"Yes, I'll go now," I said and headed to the restroom.

I closed the bathroom door and tried to steady my breathing, forcing myself to calm down. The results of Eric's paternity test weren't out yet. I didn't know if this child was my biological son. Maybe he really was just a relative's child, like my mother-in-law said.

When I came out of the restroom, I saw Amelia on the phone. As soon as she saw me, she hung up.

"Who were you calling, Mom?" I forced a smile.

"I was asking my relative to come and pick up the child. Now that my precious grandson is here, I don't have the energy to look after two kids," Amelia said with a smile, shaking her head.

I nodded. "Mom, I need to go out and take care of something today. Please watch Eric for me."

"Alright, Eric can stay here for a while. I'll take him to get some treats," Amelia said as she patted Eric's head. Her eyes were full of affection.

I looked at the child sitting on the floor. I was about to walk over to him when Amelia stopped me. "Don't touch him. He's filthy and afraid of strangers."

I shook my head, ignoring Amelia's attempt to stop me. I went straight over and picked up the child. Luckily, he was just timid and shy. He wasn't too scared and didn't resist.

"Grandma..." The little boy looked timidly at Amelia, as if seeking her approval.

"This child likes me a lot," Amelia said with an awkward smile.

"This poor child. Sitting on the floor on such a cold day, he could easily catch a cold," I said as I placed him on the sofa. I touched his bony arm. "His nails are so long. They should be trimmed."

Before Amelia could speak, I took out the nail clipper from the cabinet and started clipping the child, James' nails. "This kid's family is something. They don't take good care of him. So careless."

"Yes," Amelia said, nodding absentmindedly.

There was a knock on the door. Amelia heard it and immediately went to open the door.

"You're finally done. You can take your grandson back now," Amelia said eagerly.

The cousin, Ivy Coolins was a slightly plump elderly woman. She smiled and said, "Thank you, Aunt. I'll take my grandson back now." After she finished speaking, she came over to me. She picked up the child before he could react. The child seemed to reject her. He cried and struggled, clearly showing resistance.

"This brat!" Ivy's face flashed with displeasure. She slapped the child forcefully while walking out the door. "I'm leaving now."

"Okay, take care," Amelia said with a smile. Then she let out a sigh of relief as if a burden had been lifted, revealing a satisfied smile.

"Mom, I need to head out now. So, I'll leave Eric with you. I'll come to pick him up later," I said with a smile. Then I stood up and waved goodbye to Eric.

"Oh, is that so? I was hoping you could stay a bit longer," Amelia said with a laugh. She looked completely different from her earlier anxious self.

"I wish I could stay longer too, but I really can't. Thanks for helping, Mom," I said with a smile.

After leaving Amelia's house, I walked to the parking lot. As I was about to drive away, I saw Ivy. She was in a corner scrolling through short videos on her phone. The child she had taken was sitting on the ground. A pet leash was tied around his neck, and the other was tied to a water pipe.

I couldn't bear to watch such a scene. But I couldn't confront her without knowing whose child it was, so I chose to drive away.

I didn't go to see my mom right away. Instead, I went to the person responsible for my paternity test results to get them. I also handed over the nails I had clipped from that child and asked them to rush another paternity test.

Perhaps because of the shock from my past life, when I saw that the paternity test result between Eric and me was not biological, I wasn't very sad. I wasn't particularly upset, either. It felt more like useful evidence to me.

The image of James I saw at Amelia's house earlier flashed through my mind. He was wearing ragged clothes and tied to a leash. I didn't dare think further. I feared I would break down.

When I arrived at my parents' house, I saw they had already prepared a table full of dishes.

Mom saw me and immediately waved me over. "Emily, the food is ready. Come eat," she said.

Dad saw that I came alone and smiled. "You really didn't bring Eric over. When your mom said that, I thought she was joking. You usually can't bear to be away from Eric," he said.

"Today it's just the three of us. No one else," I said as I sat down.

"What are you saying? Eric and Luke aren't outsiders," Mom reminded me.

I just smiled at Mom's reminder and didn't say anything. I didn't have the crucial evidence yet. I could only wait.

"Did you have a fight?" Dad asked as he picked up some food for me. When he saw me shake my head, he raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't come here for no reason. Go on, tell us what's going on. We're family. It's tiring to beat around the bush."

I smiled and nodded. "Dad, I want to go back to work at the company," I said.

"Oh? Work?" Dad looked at me in surprise. "Didn't you say before that you didn't want to work so you could take care of Eric? Why the change now?" he asked.

"Yes. Can you really bear to leave Eric? Are you okay with making Luke worry?" Mom teased.

I forced a smile. "He is three years old now. He'll be going to kindergarten. I've already picked out a school for him. After that, I probably won't have much to do. I'm just looking for something to keep me busy. I can't let all those years of studying go to waste," I said.

"It's great that you're thinking this way," Mom said with satisfaction. "I've told you before that you shouldn't limit your life to just your family. You should also develop yourself in the workplace. You used to refuse everything, which made me so frustrated. I'm glad you've come around now!" she said happily, placing a steak on my plate.

"Does Luke know about this? Is he okay with it?" Dad asked. "Never mind, he'll be taking over the company soon. He'll find out eventually," he said.

"He doesn't know yet. I'll tell him later. Besides, this isn't something that needs his approval," I replied. "By the way, don't let him take over the company just yet."

"What's wrong? Do you have an issue with it?" Dad asked, looking at me in confusion.

"I just think it's too soon. It feels rushed. I need to sort out the company's affairs first. Otherwise, I feel a bit uneasy. Maybe I'm just a worrier. After all, this is a family matter," I said with a smile, pretending to be relaxed.

"I don't know what you're up to, but I'm glad you're interested in managing the company," Dad said as he adjusted his glasses.

That evening, the first thing Luke did when he came home was to question me.

"You went to have dinner with your parents today?" Luke asked as he loosened his tie, trying to appear indifferent. "Why didn't you invite me?"

"Weren't you busy with clients? I didn't want to disturb your work. Besides, I just wanted to spend some time with my parents. It wasn't a big deal," I said calmly while scrolling through my phone. The photos my hired detective had sent me showed Luke in a hot spring with a pretty woman.