Chapter 1

I was scrolling through videos on my ride back from a business trip.

A clip suddenly stopped my thumb. A newborn baby had been abandoned by the roadside in the freezing winter, his skin cracked and raw with frostbite, crying his tiny heart out.

As a new father, I felt a heavy ache in my chest and zoomed in.

My breath hitched. The baby looked identical to my newborn son, Theo.

That made no sense. I had booked a presidential VIP suite at the most prestigious postpartum retreat in the city, staffed with twenty-four-hour private nurses and care teams.

My wife was resting and avoiding screens, so I immediately called the facility's manager, Brenda Ramos.

She answered with a warm chuckle. "Don't worry, Mr. Mercer. Your wife and baby are doing wonderfully. Little Theo just fell asleep."

A second later, she sent me a photo of a sleeping baby.

I stared at the unfamiliar little face on my screen, and the blood in my veins turned to ice.

I had only been gone on a business trip for four days. How on earth had my son been replaced?

01

The moment I stepped off the train, I raced directly to the street where the baby had been found.

"Officer! That's my baby!" I pushed through the gathering crowd.

A police officer immediately stopped me. "Sir, this infant was abandoned on the curb. We're about to take him to the local child welfare shelter. Do you have proof he's yours?"

My hands trembled as I unlocked my phone. I pulled up Theo's birth certificate and the photos taken right after his delivery.

After checking the records, the officer looked at me with mild reproach. "Mr. Mercer, you need to watch your child more carefully. Leaving him in this freezing cold for half an hour is life-threatening."

I nodded repeatedly and thanked him.

I wrapped little Theo tightly inside my heavy coat and rushed to the postpartum center.

I needed to know what the hell was going on.

When I pushed open the door to our VIP suite, our nanny, Martha, was organizing baby supplies in the living room.

She had worked for my family for twenty-three years and was practically a second mother to me.

Before leaving on my business trip, I had personally entrusted my wife and newborn son to her care.

Hearing the door open, she looked up.

Her eyes landed on the shivering bundle in my arms. Her brow furrowed instantly, her face twisting into pure disgust.

"Why was Theo dumped on Sycamore Boulevard?" I demanded, out of breath. "Thank God I saw―"

Martha cut me off, her voice harsh and sharp. "Declan, Theo is resting peacefully right here in the nursery. Why are you dragging a stray bastard back from the streets?"

"A stray?" I froze in disbelief. "Martha, what are you talking about? Look at him! This is Theo!"

She lunged forward, trying to yank the baby out of my grip. "You must have lost your damn mind on that trip! Throw this trash out right now!"

She pulled with so much force that I almost dropped him.

My head was spinning. "Martha, look at him closely! He is Theo!"

Martha jumped back as if she were looking at toxic waste.

Right then, the bedroom door swung open.

My wife, Valerie, walked into the living room. The sight of her eased my racing pulse for a fraction of a second.

A mother would always know her own baby.

Instead, Valerie pointed a trembling finger at the child in my arms and shrieked.

"Declan Mercer! Did you cheat on me and bring your mistress's bastard home to replace my baby?"

I stood there, completely stunned.

Valerie glared at me with pure venom. "Get rid of this little bastard right now, Declan! Or I'm divorcing you!"

I couldn't believe my ears.

As if sensing the hostility, Theo let out a heartbreaking wail, his tiny fist clutching desperately at my collar.

Valerie and Martha were supposed to be the people closest to me. Why were they teaming up to reject my flesh and blood?