As I took my newborn daughter from the nurse, I heard the voice of the baby in the next bed echoing in my head. “Don’t take her, Mommy. I’m your real baby!”

The doctor and nurses did not seem to hear a thing.

I thought I was hallucinating due to my fatigue, so I continued nursing my baby girl.

“How dare you cry, you burdensome wretch? I’ll pinch you if you keep crying!”

The baby’s grandmother picked him up and walked outside, but the voice came again, crying, “The mean old lady is taking me away. Mommy, look over here quickly! Look at the birthmark on my left ear!”

I froze.

My first child, who had died in an accident, had a birthmark on his left ear.

I reached out and threw the curtains open before coldly looking at the old woman.

"Hi. Please keep your voice down. If you need to be loud, go outside."

The old woman felt embarrassed at my words. She grabbed the bag the pregnant woman had left behind and yelled at the baby, “Not only are you a mother-killing jinx, you’re an embarrassment, too! I’m selling you off once we get home!”

She barged past me while viciously pinching the baby in her arms.

I only caught a glimpse of the baby’s left ear. There was an oval-shaped birthmark.

The baby cried out in agony. “Ow! It hurts so much. Mommy, please save me!”

Unbothered, I looked away and rocked my baby daughter gently in my arms.

“Rosa, what happened? How did you end up in labor while I'm on a work trip?”

My husband, Nolan Grey, entered the ward while panting. He ran directly into the old woman carrying the baby.

“Watch where you’re going! You hurt my elbow. I demand compensation.”

The child’s voice in my head turned louder and shriller. It sounded close to tears, yet joyful.

“Daddy! It’s Daddy! Daddy, it’s me, Alex!”

Nolan looked around in search of the source of the voice. His gaze was one of confusion.

“Look down, Daddy! I’m the baby that old woman is carrying!”

Nolan looked at the baby and was taken aback. He hurriedly said apologetically to the old woman, “I’ll take you for a check-up. Please wait for me outside.”

Nolan strode over to my bedside and said agitatedly, “Rosa, did you hear that? The child that the old woman was holding said he’s our Alex!”

I frowned and leaned forward to sniff at Nolan. Then, I said hesitantly, “It doesn’t smell like you’ve been drinking.”

Nolan’s shoulders fell in dejection.

“I’m serious. Didn’t you see that? The kid had a birthmark just like Alex’s!”

I was unmoved as I replied, “That doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a coincidence.”

He looked up at me and asked, puzzled, “Did you really not hear that?”

“What did the kid say?”

Nolan’s eyes shone as he clutched my hand. “He said he’s Alex reincarnated! He’s our Alex, but reincarnated as the baby from the next bed because he was a step too late! Goodness! I can’t believe there’s actually such a thing in this world. Rosa, let’s take him home!”

Nolan’s face beamed with excitement.

In sharp contrast, my expression got even colder.

“Get it together. Alex died in that sailing incident. Besides, that child has a grandmother.”

Once the housekeeper, Mrs. Volescu, helped me into the wheelchair, I told Nolan, “Stop being a busybody. Let’s go. We’re going back to Florinberg.”

“Didn’t you hear what that woman said? Our child is going to be sold off!”

I looked straight at Nolan, and he immediately froze.

“I-I heard it in my head. Alex has a light case of asthma. His grandmother thinks he’s a burden.”

I remained silent. Nolan became excitable again as he suggested, “We can hire the child’s grandmother to be a nanny. She can take care of you while making money to raise the child.”

“No,” I said decisively.

Nolan frowned. “Rosa, you’ve always been so kind. How could you leave him to die?”

“You haven’t even taken one look at your daughter,” I said, interrupting him. “Is Lucy your baby or that kid?”

“Lucy, of course!” Nolan blurted out. He sounded tense. Quickly, he reached out to take our daughter.

But I moved to avoid him. I looked at him inquisitively.

“With the way you’re acting, I want to do a paternity test.”

Nolan’s hands hung frozen in midair as he rushed to explain.

“Trust me, Rosa. Alex and Lucy are my only children. It’s just that I miss Alex so much—”

My expression was steely, my gaze cold.

Nolan could not help but gulp.

All of a sudden, I spluttered and burst into laughter. The iciness melted away as I teased, “Look how worried you are. I was just joking. I know what kind of man you are. How could I not? But that old lady can’t ever be a nanny. We can bring the kid home, though.”

Nolan’s posture loosened. His voice was a little croaky as he said emotionally, “I’m so lucky to have a wife like you, Rosa.”

I opened my mouth to reply. “On one condition.”

He glanced at me, his hands balling into fists by his sides.

“Once we find a suitable candidate to adopt that boy, we’re sending him away.”

Nolan’s lips pressed into a line. He was quiet for a moment before agreeing.

On the way home, I emotionlessly pulled out some of Jackson’s hair. Jackson was the name Nolan had given the child we had brought home in the previous timeline.

Mrs. Volescu, under the pretense of heading out for groceries, passed the hair sample to my trusted assistant, Sam.

I was busy taking care of Lucy. Meanwhile, the new nanny was clumsily feeding Jackson. She was doing such a bad job that Jackson nearly choked.

“You’re so clumsy. Are you trying to choke him and kill him?”

Nolan frowned and hurriedly pushed her aside. He was gently burping Jackson.

He did not spare Lucy a single glance.

I watched all this coolly.

It was all so obvious, but I had not noticed it in the previous timeline, because I had taken care of Jackson even more closely than he had.

Jackson had the same birthmark as Alex. Moreover, he sounded exactly like Alex and could recount all of Alex’s memories from his five scant years of life. At least, the voice we heard in our heads could.

I had believed that Jackson was Alex reincarnated.

However, I was proven wrong when Angela Harper poisoned Lucy and me.

She had looked down on me and told me the truth, as if giving alms to a pitiful beggar. “Never thought that Jack’s my child with Nolan, did you?”

Even then, I had carried some meager hope. I had hoped that Jackson, the “reincarnation” of Alex, would avenge me and Lucy.

However, before I was completely gone, Jackson, who had just learned to walk, stepped on my arm on his way into Angela’s arms.

He called her “Mom” so sweetly that there was no way he was my Alex.

My gaze was icy cold as I carefully watched Nolan burping Jackson.

Suddenly, I spoke up.

“Nolan, do you still hear anything from the child?”

Nolan was caught unawares but managed to say, “Of course!”

He answered so quickly, as if he was terrified that I would not believe him.

“Alex is telling me that, on the day his boat capsized, he shouldn’t have snuck out of the cabin to watch the dolphins. He’s terrified of being alone and really regrets not listening to us.”

My heart thudded painfully in my chest.

The boat had capsized in the middle of the night. I had found a Post-It note with Alex’s childish handwriting saying, [Mommy, Daddy, I’ve gone out to see the dolphins. Don’t worry about me.]

Afterward, I had spent a lot of money trying to dredge something up. But all that was found was a tattered corner of Alex’s shirt.

I covered my face, eyes wet with tears, and yelled, unable to handle it anymore, “Send him away!”

Nolan was shocked.

I croaked out, “There’s no such thing as what you’re saying. How could you hear Alex’s voice in your head? You just miss him too much. You’re having hallucinations. It’s better to send him away.”

“It’s real!”

“Then why are you the only one who can hear it?”

Nolan was stumped at that, too. He did his best to salvage the situation. “I don’t know. Maybe I can get him to say something more?”

I heard that child’s voice in my head again. “Mommy! Can you hear me?”

I acted as though I had heard nothing. My expression was nothing but calm.

Nolan kept on trying.

In the end, the child’s voice became Nolan’s low and grouchy one. “What in the world is going wrong?”

I clenched my fists and said impatiently, “If you say that this is Alex reincarnated, then where was he before this?”

Nolan’s jaw dropped. “Um. He was in heaven, of course!”

I almost believed those words.

“What’s heaven like? Was he happy there?”

“Of course, he was happy. There’s a lot of great candy in heaven. He had kind angels taking care of him.”

Candy.

Alex had inherited my taste in food. He preferred spicy food and never ate candy when he was alive.

“Alright.”

I stopped Nolan from continuing to prove that the voice was real. I said wearily, “I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”

I closed the door and sent my assistant the coordinates to a certain location.

“Call off the search team in Shoreton. Send people to search this location in Somerville. Do a complete sweep!”

I had a feeling Alex was still alive. Maybe Nolan was hiding him.

Based on the candy and angel comments, I could guess where Alex was being hidden. Back in the day, when Nolan had married into my family, his mother had cut ties with him. I would bet that Alex was at her house.

I tossed and turned all night. I wanted very much to fly straight to Somerton to join the search, but I could not leave Lucy.

I heard the ping of a phone notification.

I looked at the message. My assistant, Sam, had sent me the results of the paternity test.

There was a 99.99% chance of a direct paternal relation of Nolan and Jackson.

I subconsciously gripped the fabric of my top within my fist, wrinkling it horribly. The disgust I felt was unbearable.

I breathed in deeply. It was time to head into the office.

In the expansive office, Nolan was focused on his work, his gold-rimmed glasses nearly buried in the screen.

He suddenly looked up to see me, and his eyes flashed with panic.

He swiftly closed the window on the computer and got up. He pulled me to a seat with him on the couch.

“Rosa, what are you doing here? Do you feel tired? You should be resting at home. Besides, Lucy and Alex are both still so young. They can’t leave you. You should rest at home tomorrow. Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of the company.”

Nolan had said this to me in the previous timeline as well.

It had taken a lot of time and effort to wean Lucy. But after that, she kept having to be admitted to the hospital because of allergies.

I had been exhausted, so I had no choice but to let Nolan deal with the company’s affairs.

Before I could blink, my position as president had been stripped, and my shares had been transferred away.

My lawyers, the people I trusted, had all called me numerous times. But back then, my phone line was tied up by doctors’ calls.

When I came back to myself, my gaze had darkened.

“I already said that I only ever have one Alex.”

Nolan paused in rubbing my shoulders.

“But you’re right. Lucy needs me right now. I’ll bring her along next time.”

Mrs. Volescu suddenly called, her video popping up.

I immediately got a sinking feeling in my gut.

“Mrs. Grey, Lucy is sick! I’m driving to the hospital now!”

I heard Lucy coughing, and the sound made my heart wrench.

I could see a rash on Lucy’s body. Her face was twisted up in agony. She was suffocating.

My heart pounded in my chest as I rushed downstairs to get into the car. I slammed my foot on the gas pedal.

“Turn around and go to the nearest children’s hospital. Look for Dr. Andersen!”

The security system at home only had the past one minute recorded and ready for replay.

However, my spy cam had recorded the footage of the nanny sneakily putting something on the milk bottle.

The results returned very swiftly. The doctor solemnly said, “It’s capsaicin.”

A ringing started up in my ears.

“Capsaicin?”

“That’s right. Based on its intensity, this did not come from a normal chili pepper. It’s much more potent. An adult might not be able to handle it, much less a baby.”

I touched Lucy’s boiling hot forehead and suddenly recalled that this had also happened in the previous timeline.

With all the times she had an allergic reaction and went to hospital, I thought she simply had a weak constitution.

Regret and rage roiled within me.

I had been given a second chance to get things right, but I still could not protect Lucy.

My phone vibrated with notifications of many new messages.

[Madam Bradley, there have been unusual transactions in your account. Would you like to put a freeze on your account?]

[Madam Bradley, there seems to be a malicious buyout happening with the company funds.]

[Madam Bradley…]

Blood rushed to my head, making me dizzy.

I clutched my phone so tightly that my knuckles turned white. I took a deep breath.

“Carry out the plan as we discussed. Collect evidence.”

Once the call was cut, I threw the phone hard at the wall. The device cracked, and glass tinkled to the floor.

“Nolan Grey, I’ll make you regret ever being born!”

...

Thankfully, Lucy had been brought to the doctor in time, and she was mostly fine.

I didn’t trust anyone else. I started caring for Lucy myself. I changed her diapers and fed her. I did not let her out of my sight for a second.

Nolan had not expected the nanny to get caught. When he took time off to see Lucy in hospital, he said casually, “Rosa, why did you pick a private hospital?”

I casually answered him. “I just randomly picked this one in my rush. By the way, have you heard anything from Alex today? Let’s hear it.”

“Oh, um. Yes, I did hear something.”

I got even more information from him, and I confirmed that he was mimicking Alex’s style of speech.

I had to find my dear Alex as soon as possible. He must be waiting for me.

A few days later, Nolan came to pick me and Lucy up from the hospital.

Before we walked through the front door of our home, I heard a familiar voice coming from the living room. My heart sank.

When I opened the door, I could not find Mrs. Volescu.

Instead, Angela was sitting like a queen on the couch. She was watching TV as she rocked the baby’s cradle.

When she saw me, her eyes flashed with cruel jealousy before the look faded. She smiled and nodded at me.

“Sir, Madam, welcome home.”