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.”

“Who are you?”

Nolan hurriedly walked forward to make introductions.

“I forgot to tell you, Rosa. The nanny was awful, so I fired her. Mrs. Volescu was also responsible for that incident, so she's gone as well. This is Angela Harper. She’s a really good nanny. She can take care of the kids and help you with the household chores.”

When she heard about the chores, Angela clenched her teeth minutely.

I scoffed to myself.

In the previous timeline, Lucy kept having allergic reactions. Thus, Nolan fired Mrs. Volescu, who had been working for me for five years. He had brought in his mistress as a staff member this way as well.

But Angela was not the kind of person who could handle working for her rival in love as a servant.

She had poisoned my food.

Before I nearly died and went back in time, she had even stomped on my face. With hatred in her expression, she said, “I was with Nolan first, so why did I have to hide in the shadows while you lived it up in luxury and showed off your love? I even had to work for you and suffer being bossed around!”

Her face had shifted from viciousness to joyous excitement.

“But once you die, Nolan will marry me. Your villa, your luxury car, your millions in assets, those will all be mine!”

Angela’s arrogant expression from the previous timeline overlapped on her face before me, and I felt myself go cold.

“Wow, you really would bring any piece of trash in here.”

“Madam, I—”

“Get out.”

The tension in the air was palpable. Angela’s face turned livid. In the end, tears gathered in her eyes pitifully.

“Sir, I think the madam isn’t very happy with me. Could you try talking to her?”

Nolan immediately tried to play mediator. He sounded a little displeased as he said, “Rosa, how could you talk to Angela like that? She’s a qualified nanny. How would you know how she would do without trying her out? I’ve already signed a contract with her.”

“Do you think you have the power to say anything here, Nolan?”

My expression was thunderous. I aimed a glare at him and enunciated, “How dare you fire my staff? Have you forgotten who’s in charge of things in this family? It’s me. You married into my family, not the other way. Remember that.”

Nolan’s always cheery expression cracked. I could see a vein pulse at his temple.

After a moment, Nolan forced himself to smile. He turned to Angela and said apologetically, “I’m very sorry. I think you need to leave.”

Angela’s face was red as she stomped off in her high heels.

Nolan looked at me with forced pleasantry and said, “I’m sorry, Rosa. I didn’t think this through. I’ll rehire Mrs. Volescu. I need to handle some matters at the office. I’m going over there for a while.”

The sound of the car’s engine faded into the distance.

I settled into the couch while holding Lucy and used my phone to access the camera in the car.

A quarter of a mile from the villa, the car stopped. Angela entered the car, slamming the door closed in a mad huff. Then, she threw herself into Nolan’s arms.

Tears started to flow from her eyes the second she started talking.

“I’m done sneaking around and hiding! Nolan, look at how that awful woman insulted us. We should just kill her!”

Nolan’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. His expression was dark.

“Just bear with it for a bit longer.”

He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, I could see the violence clearly in them.

“Once I get my hands on the company and the shares, I’ll break her kneecaps myself. Let’s see if she’ll be so haughty then!”

Once the two finished their scheming, they started nuzzling close to each other and kissing.

The noises they made were disgusting.

They were in my new car, which I had only bought three months ago.

Disgust roiled in my tummy, but I forced it down. I saved the video and sent it to my lawyer.

Right then, Sam video called me. He sounded excited as he said, “Madam Bradley, we found Alex! But he’s not in a very good state. He’s badly hurt.”

I shot up from the couch. My hands were shaking uncontrollably. I stared at the screen.

“How dare she hit my son!”

In the darkened room, my once active son was huddled in a corner. He wore a badly fitting T-shirt that failed to cover the patch of bruises on his skinny arm.

Nolan’s mother was pinned to the floor as she cursed.

“I’m only disciplining my grandson. Can’t I even do that? I’ll make my son kill you!”

I gave an order to one of my men with an icy expression on my face. My voice was steely as I said, “Hit her ten times harder than how she hit my son.”

Agonized cries rang out.

I stood by the window and watched the sun set. As I did, I made an anonymous call.

“I heard that you wanted a boy? I have one here. All the papers are in order and perfectly legal. You just need to sign. Come here and collect him at 8 p.m. tonight. Be on time.”