Chapter 1

On the day my son was born, Jasper gave me a gift I would never forget.

Because my mother's cooking had disturbed his stepsister Lila's sleep, Lila forced her to swallow a whole bottle of sleeping pills. My mother died in the hospital shortly after.

At the funeral, Jasper held my hand, his voice as gentle as if he were soothing a child. "Quinn, Lila was just being reckless this time. I'll make sure she apologizes to your mom."

Then, he merely grounded Lila for a single week and even drafted a legal settlement for me to sign.

I refused to let it go. I got the surveillance footage from a friend and, before my maternity leave was even over, I took my baby to the courthouse to beg for justice.

The day the verdict was supposed to come, he looked at me and smiled, his tone airy. "Quinn, why go through all this? Lila knows she messed up. That's enough."

"Clinging to this isn't good for your health."

When I didn't back down, he actually used our child to threaten me, forcing me to drop the charges immediately. He told me that if I didn't, the baby wouldn't survive until tomorrow.

That was the moment I finally woke up. I realized that my child and I didn't mean a fraction of what Lila meant to him.

1

Jasper held our tiny, swaddled baby in his arms. His eyes were cold, but his voice was as soft as cotton.

"Quinn, the baby's life or the lawsuit? You have to choose."

My whole body shook, and the hair on my arms stood up. He was actually willing to hurt his own flesh and blood for a stepsister who wasn't even related by blood.

"Jasper, does it really have to be this cruel?"

"I'm not dropping the charges. My mother isn't going to die for nothing."

I was gambling. I was betting that he still had a shred of fatherly instinct left in him.

Jasper's hand paused for a second. He placed the baby back in the crib, his gaze turning icy even though his voice remained sweet.

"Lila didn't mean it. She just has a terrible temper when she wakes up. You know how girls are; they can't always control their emotions."

He slid a check toward me. "Here's a hundred million. If it's not enough, just ask."

"I've already punished her. Be a good girl and let this go. Don't ruin your health over it. Your mom wouldn't want to see you like this."

My mom?

I didn't have a mother anymore because of him.

My stomach churned, and I suddenly felt a wave of nausea, retching bile onto the floor.

"Jasper, my mother wasn't a commodity to be traded. She was a living, breathing human being."

"How old is Lila? Does she not know that an overdose of sleeping pills is fatal?"

Even though it was July, Jasper's words felt like shards of ice stabbing into my heart.

"Quinn, I'm giving you one last chance. Think carefully before you answer."

Jasper's assistant brought over my mother's funeral portrait and her urn.

Jasper whistled for his dog. He didn't stop moving his hand, slowly pouring my mother's ashes into the dog's food bowl.

"Drop the charges, or I'll make sure your mother has no peace in the afterlife. Your choice."

My brain felt like it had been struck by a hammer. My vision blurred as tears flooded my eyes, making the horrific scene before me distort.

"Quinn, my patience is limited. Forget about this, and let's go back to our lives."

His tone was flat, but every word felt like a frozen needle piercing my soul.

I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. The metallic tang filled my mouth, bitter and raw.

Years ago, he was just a stray kid on the streets. My mother was the one who took him in, fed him, and clothed him. She treated him better than her own daughter.

When his wealthy biological family finally reclaimed him, we stayed by his side out of loyalty.

When his enemies kidnapped him once, my mother took five knife wounds to protect him. She nearly died for him.

That was when I fell for him. I watched him go from having nothing to becoming a titan of the city. We got married under the gaze of the entire town.

He had made grand romantic gestures across Chicago, putting up billboards of his love for three days and nights. Everyone said we were the perfect couple.

But the moment that stepsister of his returned, everything changed.

Every bit of kindness he once showed me was tossed away like trash.

His eyes only saw his precious little princess. My son and I, along with the loyalty my mother bought with her life, were crushed under his feet.

I fought back the urge to vomit. I stared into Jasper's bottomless eyes, my voice cracking with agony. "Jasper, do you even have a soul? My mother literally bled for you!"

"Just because Lila had a bad morning, you're desecrating her remains? Are you even human?"

My legs were weak, but I lunged forward with everything I had, clutching the urn to my chest.

I couldn't believe it. The man I once loved more than anything could be this heartless just to protect a spoiled brat.

He reached out to steady my trembling body, his palm feeling sickeningly warm. "Quinn, Lila is still young. She needs to be taught slowly."

"You're going to be family, after all. You need to learn how to get along with your sister-in-law."