On the first day I take my daughter, Layla Gibson, to an elite kindergarten, I'm told that Layla hasn't been admitted to the kindergarten at all.

I call my husband, Maverick Gibson, on the spot.

After all, he's the one in charge of enrolling Layla in the kindergarten. How is it possible for her to not fit the criteria to be accepted into the kindergarten?

In an upset tone, Maverick tells me that the kindergarten has gotten it wrong.

"I'm sorry, darling. Our company's assets have yet to reach the minimum requirement that's needed for the kindergarten to accept Layla as a student.

"I was worried that you'd be saddened when you found out about this, so I didn't say anything about this. This is my fault for not working hard enough. Because of me, Layla lost to her peers in terms of education."

After ending the call, I call my dad, who's actually a board member of the kindergarten. At the same time, I have my lawyer draft a divorce agreement.

I'm interested to see which bastard child has taken Layla's spot, which has already been reserved by my dad a long time ago.

My dad, Edward Jones, was extremely efficient. It didn't take long for him to send evidence of Maverick Gibson's infidelity to me.

Overwhelming pain suffocated me as I looked at the photo of the boy who was the spitting image of my husband, Maverick.

Jeremy Gibson was the same age as my daughter, Layla Gibson. His existence proved that Maverick had already been cheating on me while I was pregnant. I had blindly believed that he was deeply in love with me.

If not for this incident, I would never have known that Maverick was lying to me.

I looked at the other name on the document—Rosalia Jones. I grabbed my phone and looked through her social media, which was full of photos of her, Maverick, and Jeremy. They looked so happy together.

On Valentine's Day, Rosalia had posted a photo of Maverick kissing her, their bodies pressed close together. The caption read, "Even though we've been married for so long, he's still as romantic as ever."

That day, Maverick apologetically informed me that he needed to leave for an urgent business trip, standing me up for the candlelight dinner that I had planned for a long time.

On the coldest day of the year, Rosalia posted a video of Maverick anxiously and meticulously taking care of Jeremy while they were in the hospital. Although only his back was visible in the video, I could tell it was Maverick.

I was also at the hospital that day, taking care of Layla, who had a fever.

The night before, Layla accidentally dirtied one of Maverick's contracts. He lost his temper and locked her in the storage shed.

Layla was so scared that she ended up with a fever of 104 degrees Fahrenheit, causing her face and the rest of her body to turn a sickly red.

I kept vigil by Layla's side, tears streaming down my face endlessly. However, Maverick abandoned us, claiming that he needed to work overtime at the office.

Apparently, his so-called overtime work was accompanying his illegitimate son at the hospital.

Maverick had always been strict with Layla ever since she was born. Sometimes, his sternness even bordered on cruelty.

Every time Layla made a mistake while counting, he would hit her palm with a ruler until it became swollen. He would also ruthlessly punish her by making her kneel on the ground for the slightest mistake. His tone was always cold when he spoke to her.

I suspected more than once that Maverick treated Layla like that because he preferred sons over daughters.

When I asked him about it, he frowned and explained, "Layla will inherit the family business in the future. I'm only strict with her because she's my successor. You wouldn't want me to spoil her to the point that she can't fend for herself in the future, right?"

I let myself be convinced by Maverick's words, truly believing that he was being strict with Layla because he had her best interests at heart.

I finally understood that he had lied to my face when I saw how he doted on Jeremy in the video. It became blatantly clear that he preferred sons over daughters.

Just then, Maverick called me. "I found another kindergarten for Layla, darling. Let's get her enrolled the day after tomorrow."

I agreed with his suggestion, pretending that nothing was amiss. After I ended the call, I scrolled through Rosalia's social media again and watched the latest video she had uploaded.

It turned out Maverick, Rosalia, and Jeremy would be going to Morningstar Kindergarten the next day to secure Jeremy's spot.

A cold glint flickered in my eyes. I wasn't going to allow anyone to steal away what rightfully belonged to Layla. As for Maverick, since he decided to betray me, I was going to make him lose everything.

The next morning, I took Layla to Morningstar Kindergarten to process her enrollment. With Dad's assistant helping me, I successfully reclaimed Layla's spot at the kindergarten.

I sat in a corner after sending Layla to her assigned class. I didn't have to wait long before I spotted Maverick, Rosalia, and Jeremy.

Maverick had one arm wrapped around Rosalia's waist while he held Jeremy's hand with his free hand.

Irritation prickled within me when I saw the happy smile on his face.

"What? My son's spot was taken by someone else? What are you doing?" Maverick demanded furiously.

Before I could say a word, Layla suddenly ran into the room and hugged Maverick's leg ecstatically. "Daddy! Are you here to walk me to class? I'm so happy!"

Rosalia shot a confused look in Maverick's direction. "Who's this girl, honey?" she asked.

Maverick's expression twisted slightly before he kicked Layla aside like she was a piece of trash, causing her to stumble to the floor. "This girl must not have a father of her own, so she's just going around and calling any man she sees 'Daddy'."

Layla scraped her elbow when she fell to the ground, breaking the skin and drawing blood. She began sobbing quietly.

My heart felt like it was breaking as I swiftly helped her back to her feet.

I glared at Maverick furiously. My voice trembling, I shouted, "You're worse than a beast, Maverick! It's one thing for you to cheat on me, but how dare you not acknowledge Layla as your daughter?"

Drawn toward the sound of my raised voice, the other parents looked at us. Some of them knew who Maverick was and began whispering among themselves.

"Is Mrs. Gibson here to catch Mr. Gibson red-handed?"

Some of the parents looked at me with disdain in their eyes.

"The woman standing next to Mr. Gibson is the real Mrs. Gibson. She's the heiress of the Jones family, but she married Mr. Gibson out of love."

"The Jones family didn't approve of their marriage at first, but they finally acknowledged Mr. Gibson after he worked hard for many years. Apparently, the head of the Gibson family will be dropping by today to see his grandchild."

"Does that mean she's the mistress? I can't believe she even brought her illegitimate daughter with her to steal Mr. Gibson's son's spot."

"As expected, all mistresses are shameless to a fault. I can't believe she would do something so despicable."

"Look at her little bastard child. She looks so devious. I bet she's going to grow up to be a homewrecker too."

A bottle of water was thrown at my head.

The woman who threw the bottle shot a look of disdain at me before saying, "Mrs. Gibson is virtuous and capable. Everyone knows that she's been helping Mr. Gibson run the company for the past few years. You're nothing more than a lowly mistress. Do you really think that we'll be fooled by your lies?"

Layla's eyes were glistening with tears when she looked up at me and asked, "Why doesn't Daddy like me, Mommy? Am I really a bastard child?"

Fury and despair raged within me as I stared into Layla's terrified eyes.

It now made sense why Maverick had insisted that I become a housewife after I gave birth to Layla, using the excuse that my body was weak. I had been replaced by Rosalia a long time ago in his circle.

A chill spread through my limbs. I glared at Maverick with bloodshot eyes and said coldly, "I'm giving you one more chance, Maverick. Who's the real mistress?"

Maverick looked at the other parents apologetically and said, "She's actually my son's nanny. She's mentally unwell, so I hope you don't take her words to heart."

He then stared at me with a warning look in his eyes, saying, "Violet, if you continue to cause a commotion, I'll have no choice but to fire you!"

The tense expression on Rosalia's face softened a little when she heard Maverick's words. "So, this is the nanny that you've been talking about. How dare she steal Jeremy's spot for her own child? I'm guessing that this isn't her first time doing something so heinous. We should call the police to arrest her!"

The other parents voiced their agreement.

"We have to call the police. She'll only cause more trouble if we let her roam around freely."

"Just look at the skimpy way she's dressed today. I bet she wanted to seduce Mr. Gibson."

Maverick sighed loudly before saying, "I only hired her at the time because I pitied her for having to raise a child by herself. I didn't expect her to develop such lofty ambitions."

"Violet Bailey, you don't have to show up for work starting tomorrow," Maverick declared.

I looked at Maverick's icy expression as I listened to the other parents hurl a neverending barrage of insults at me. My heart ached so terribly that I found it hard to breathe.

Maverick and I had been childhood sweethearts. His parents passed away in an accident during his freshman year in university. To make it worse, he was saddled with a huge amount of debt, so he was forced to drop out.

I knew how important it was for Maverick to have a good education, so I dropped out as well and started working to pay for his tuition.

Maverick wanted to start his own business after he graduated, so we were forced to live in a small, cramped basement unit. To attract more clients to invest in his business, I discarded my reservations and wore skimpy dresses, working as a hostess and drinking with his potential business partners.

Eventually, I lost count of how many times I threw up.

Maverick's eyes were bloodshot when he hugged me tightly and swore that he would treat me right for the rest of my life.

He thought that Rosalia was the heiress of the richest family in the country. He had no idea that when I left for a "business trip" some time ago, I had actually gone to reunite with my family.

I was the real heiress, not Rosalia!

I grabbed my marriage certificate from my bag and brandished it.

"Maverick, no matter how stubbornly you deny the truth, you can't deny that I'm your lawfully wedded wife! Not only did you use our money to pay for your mistress' expenses, but you also had an illegitimate child with her.

"I'm going to file a lawsuit against you! When I'm done with you, you won't have a single penny to your name!"

The other parents began whispering among themselves as they studied the marriage certificate in my hand.

"Is that a real marriage certificate? Could she really be Mr. Gibson's real wife?"

"If so, Mr. Gibson's a terrible man."

However, Maverick wasn't flustered in the slightest even as he looked at the marriage certificate I was holding. He scoffed and said, "You're even more mentally unstable than I expected, Violet. Do you really think that you can become my wife just by forging a marriage certificate?"

He looked at a staff member who was standing nearby and said, "Bring me a laptop and a projector."

It didn't take long before Maverick pulled up another certificate on the projector.

I stared at the screen with wide eyes, my entire body shaking with disbelief.

The projector displayed a page on the Vital Records Office's website. It showed a certificate that proved Maverick and Rosalia had registered their marriage a few years ago.

"As expected, she really does have a loose screw. She's crazy enough to forge a marriage certificate!"

"How disgusting. She's willing to do anything to raise her status. Fortunately, Mr. Gibson was well-prepared."

Rosalia slapped me hard across the face, the sound ringing loudly through the air. She scoffed and asked, "How dare you come up with something so despicable just to climb your way up the social ladder?"

She then grabbed a stack of hundred-dollar bills from her bag and threw it in my face. "You love money, don't you? Take this and get out right now! If you try something like this again, I'll send you directly to the police station!"

The other parents began to praise Rosalia.

"Mrs. Gibson is such a kind person. She's willing to forgive the nanny even though she did something so terrible."

Layla rushed forward when she saw me being attacked, screaming, "Don't touch Mommy, you horrible person!"

Rosalia stumbled a few steps backward when Layla rammed into her.

Jeremy, who had been standing behind her, roughly shoved Layla to the floor and then kicked her. "You brat! How dare you hurt Mommy? I'm going to kill you!" he shouted, his words dripping with disdain.

Layla wrapped her arms around her little body when Jeremy kicked her stomach, whining in pain.

"Layla!"

My heart felt like it was breaking apart when I saw Jeremy hurting Layla. I grabbed him and shoved him aside.

"This evil lady hurt me, Daddy!" Jeremy exclaimed. "Hurry up and take revenge for me!"

Maverick slapped me hard across the face, causing my cheek to go numb. He then clamped his hands around my neck and hissed, "You shameless bitch! How dare you raise your hand on my only son? If anything happens to him, I'll make you pay with your life!"

My face turned ruddy from how hard Maverick was choking me, and I nearly suffocated. My consciousness began to fade as he squeezed tighter.

It was then that I was struck by the realization—he was really trying to kill me!