My wife's nephew, Oliver, got kidnapped.

The ransom was $500,000.

Then my wife froze every card I had.

I called her 999 times.

Not one call went through.

Oliver was tortured for three days.

By the time they found him, he was covered in wounds.

Dead.

I pulled every favor I had and finally found Zara.

In a hotel bed.

With her so-called brother.

"I'm wrecked about Poppy too, but she's gone. We can't bring her back. Holden needs heart surgery, and Poppy's a match. Send the body to the hospital."

So Zara thought the kidnapped kid was our daughter.

I was so pissed I laughed.

Then I sent the body straight to the OR.

"Oh my God. Did Poppy really die like this? Zara, don't look. It'll just mess you up."

Holden Tyndall glanced at the body, disgust flashing across his face. Then he turned to me with an irritated look.

"And you. Why'd you bring the body here? What if you freaked Zara out? You're her husband. You're seriously dropping the ball."

A cold laugh slipped out.

Dropping the ball?

Oliver wasn't even my blood.

But when he got kidnapped, I lost my mind trying to save him.

I called the cops.

Spent three days and three nights negotiating with the kidnapper.

Then, out of nowhere, all my bank cards got frozen.

To scrape together the ransom, I begged everyone I knew for help.

Meanwhile, Holden and Zara had their phones off.

Blocked.

Gone.

The two people who should've cared most were just gone.

And they were the reason the kidnappers killed him.

I sneered. "If either of you had picked up and helped get the $500,000, that kid would still be alive."

Holden's parents, Wilson and Catherine, rushed in and shoved me back, blocking Holden with their bodies.

"This isn't their fault. It's yours. If you hadn't taken Poppy to the amusement park, she never would've been kidnapped. Poppy died because of you."

Wilson's face softened. He cleared his throat, totally calm. "Besides, she was just a little girl. Dead is dead. At least her heart can save her uncle. At least that makes her useful. Otherwise, she would've just been a burden later."

Holden jumped in. "Gideon, if you hadn't spoiled Poppy so much, she wouldn't have been so stubborn.

"Look how that turned out. Cost her life."

Zara's face turned colder with every word.

"I already signed the donation papers. It doesn't matter whether you agree or not."

Holden let out a sigh, but the smug look in his eyes gave him away. "Well, with Poppy gone, I guess I'll have to settle for this.

"Don't worry, Gideon. I'll take good care of Poppy's heart. Your family's generosity won't go to waste."

The corner of my mouth twitched.

"As family, why would I object to seeing a dead child's heart beat again?"

The entire family froze.

Ignoring their stunned faces, I turned and walked away.

At the end of the hallway, I headed straight for the lab.

Three minutes later, I stood there holding a DNA report.

Proof that Oliver was Zara's son.

A cold smile crossed my face.

I'd suspected the truth for a long time.

After we got married, Zara moved Holden, his son, and his parents into my house.

It never sat right with me.

The way she acted around Holden was way too intimate for siblings.

More than once, I'd seen her slipping in and out of his room in revealing sleepwear.

Every time I brought it up, she'd look at me like I was crazy.

"They're brother and sister. What do you think is going on?"

This time, after failing to reach either of them, I hired a private investigator.

What I got back was the last thing I wanted to see.

Photos of Zara and Holden making out in a hotel hallway.

After that, I couldn't keep lying to myself.

Meanwhile, Zara was already pushing the doctors to get Holden's heart transplant ready.

After Oliver's heart was removed, his body was dumped onto the morgue floor like a piece of trash.

From a distance, I watched Wilson and Catherine wrinkle their noses and kick the body aside.

A cold laugh escaped me.

Then I walked out of the hospital.

None of it had anything to do with me anymore.

Ever since Poppy was a baby, Oliver had always found ways to hurt her.

He'd hit her.

Pinch her.

Push her around.

After Poppy learned to call Zara "Mommy," it got even worse.

Whenever he heard it, he'd shove her down and start hitting her.

And every single time, Zara took Oliver's side without even asking what happened.

I was buried in work.

By the time I realized how bad things were, the damage had already been done.

Poppy didn't speak until she was five because of him.

Even so, seeing how his own parents, Holden and Zara, treated him now made me shake my head.

Pathetic.

I'd planned to take Poppy to the amusement park for her birthday.

But the second we stepped outside, Oliver stopped us and demanded to come along.

He hated Poppy.

And Poppy was terrified of him.

I was worried they'd end up fighting and ruin her birthday.

So after thinking it over, I dropped Poppy off at my parents' place.

Then I left with Oliver.

I never imagined it would end like this.

***

For two whole weeks, Zara never came home.

Holden's socials, though, stayed busy.

[The surgery went great. Someone's been freaking out over me. No matter what I say, she won't stop fussing. She seriously cares about me! And the homemade soup from my sweetheart? Insane.]

The comments were all congrats and jealousy.

[Congrats. She's a keeper!]

[Your girlfriend treats you so well!]

I stared at the hickey on Holden's neck in the photo and laughed.

The kidnapping case was going nowhere.

But none of them seemed to care.

The medical examiner needed the family's approval to perform an autopsy on Oliver.

Besides me, no one in that family answered.

When I got to the hospital, the body was gone.

I figured the medical examiner had already taken it.

I was about to leave when I overheard a conversation nearby.

"How'd the body end up in a dumpster? If a stray dog hadn't dragged it out, we never would've found it.

"It's this badly damaged. How are we supposed to explain this to the family?"

I froze as the staff wheeled over the mangled remains.

No matter how much I hated Oliver, the sight still turned my stomach.

A staffer caught me staring and looked away, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry. This was on us."

"Can we check the security footage?" I asked.

Before anyone could answer, a voice cut through the room.

"Forget it. The body's been found. No need to waste the hospital's time."

Zara strode over, a group of police officers right behind her.

The second she arrived, she turned on me.

"This is your fault too. You couldn't even take care of Poppy's body. What are you good for?"

Her eyes filled with blame.

"No wonder you got Poppy killed.

"What a waste. Now that the body's been damaged, we'll probably never find any clues."

Holden let out a long sigh and reached for my shoulder.

I stepped aside.

He stumbled forward, hit the floor, and yelped in pain.

"Holden!"

Zara rushed over, furious.

She shot me a vicious glare.

I laughed.

Then I pulled out a divorce agreement and smacked it against her face.

"Let's get divorced."

I'd put up with all of it because of Poppy.

But after Poppy was born, Zara never cared for her. Not once.

I worked to keep the family afloat and raised Poppy by myself.

I thought Zara had postpartum depression, so I spoiled her. Let everything slide.

But with Oliver, she was suddenly mother of the year.

When he got sick, she stayed up all night with him.

When he bullied Poppy, she forced Poppy to apologize.

And when she thought Poppy had been kidnapped and killed?

She didn't care at all.

I was done.

***

Rage lit up Zara's face. She swung at me.

"You're seriously bringing up divorce?"

I caught her wrist and pushed it away.

She snapped, "Because I froze your money? I only did that because guys get weird when they have cash! You never made me feel safe!"

My face stayed cold.

Zara finally softened. "None of us wanted what happened to Poppy. We need to move on. We're still alive. We can have another kid.

"I'll give you a son, okay?"

"We're never having another child."

I shoved her aside and looked at her like she was a joke.

Zara was about to blow up again when Holden leaned over and whispered something in her ear.

Her expression changed instantly.

She grabbed the divorce papers, signed them without a second thought, and tossed them at me.

"Fine. Let's get divorced. It's not like I want you anyway. Just don't come crying back when you regret it."

I found out pretty quickly why she was so confident.

The second I got home, my secretary sent me a message.

Without telling me, Zara had moved most of the company's assets into a shell company under my name.

Once the divorce went through, I wouldn't just be walking away with nothing.

I'd be stuck with a mountain of debt too.

I stared at the evidence on my phone and let out a cold laugh.

When I looked up, Zara was wrapped around Holden's arm, a smug grin plastered across her face.

"It's not too late to change your mind. Otherwise, I'll leave you with nothing."

I laughed in her face.

Then I told my staff to throw all their luggage out of the house.

"Get out."

I ripped our wedding photo in half and threw the pieces in Zara's face.

My expression never changed. I looked at her like she was a stranger.

Holden took a deep breath. A cruel smile tugged at his lips. "This is Poppy's ashes. Zara and I decided to scatter them in the ocean. What do you think?"

So they had the body cremated but they couldn't wait to get rid of it.

Were they really that scared the police would find something that led back to them?

Zara nodded. "Poppy always loved the ocean. I'm sure that's what she'd want."

Then she shot me an annoyed look. "Look how much he cares about Poppy. Now look at you. You don't even know how to be a father."

Watching them tag-team me, I suddenly laughed. "Zara, did you forget? When I called about the ransom, I only said our child was kidnapped. I never said it was Poppy.

"Our family didn't only have one kid. There was also your precious NEPHEW..."

I put extra bite into 'nephew.'

Zara just sneered. "You think everyone's as spoiled and out of control as Poppy? Oliver's a good kid. He'd never run off, and he definitely wouldn't get kidnapped."

She checked the time, impatience pinching her face. "We're throwing Oliver a birthday party at a five-star hotel tonight, so we're leaving."

I frowned.

A question suddenly hit me.

Why were they so sure the body was Poppy's?

Then I looked up and got my answer.

As Holden turned to leave, he shot me a smug grin and tugged down his collar.

A pendant hanging from a thin cord slipped into view.

I froze.

Wasn't that the pendant my parents gave Poppy?

Why the hell did he have it?