Chapter 1

My daughter's school organized a family day, and without a second thought, she chose her private tutor to go with her.

I stood in the crowd, watching the three of them look like a perfect, happy family. I didn't say a word.

When Annie spotted me, she intentionally spoke up so I could hear her.

"Miss West, I wish you were my real mom. You're the one I love the most," she told the tutor.

Leo heard her and pulled the blushing woman into his arms, his voice dripping with sweetness.

"I'm with Annie. You're the only one I love, too."

That night, I signed the secret research agreement.

If this ungrateful father-daughter duo wanted someone else, they could have her. I was done.

...

Hearing them say those words out loud made me want to laugh.

In their eyes, I was probably just a redundant character in their play.

Without me, Leo could have married the woman he actually wanted.

And Annie could have had the "perfect" mom she dreamed of.

I turned away from the crowd and went back to our empty house.

Looking at the framed photo of Leo and me on the cabinet, tears finally blurred my vision.

We actually had a happy life once.

When I was pregnant, Leo would come home on time every day just to rub my belly and talk to the baby.

He would stay up all night massaging my swollen legs without a single complaint.

When Annie was born, he ignored everyone else to check on me first.

I remember how difficult she was as a newborn. Our nanny had an emergency and couldn't show up.

I had to get up every single hour to soothe her.

Leo, half-asleep and exhausted, would gently push me back into bed.

"Go back to sleep, honey. I've got this," he'd whisper.

He was a man with a serious obsession with cleanliness, yet he'd change diapers without blinking.

He took care of me through my entire recovery.

Even though he had to work during the day, he'd force his eyes open at night to rock Annie to sleep.

This lasted for weeks until we finally got help.

As she grew up, Leo was never the absent father.

He took us on vacations and made sure every holiday was special.

It felt like a beautiful dream until Yara West appeared and shattered everything.

Yara was the tutor Annie picked out.

Ever since she entered our lives, Leo's world started revolving around her.

The person he cared for was no longer me; it was Yara.

Many times, I'd come home late from the lab only to find the three of them eating together.

They looked so intimate, so domestic.

Yara would give me a bashful, fake-apologetic smile.

"It was getting late, and I didn't want Leo and Annie to go hungry, so I whipped something up."

But we had a housekeeper. Why was she playing housewife?

Because I focused on balanced nutrition, my cooking wasn't as flavorful as Yara's heavy, greasy comfort food.

Annie started being vocal about her distaste for me.

"Miss West's cooking is way better than Mom's. Mom's food tastes like slop. It's disgusting."

Seeing the genuine hatred on my daughter's face, I tried to lie to myself.

I told myself she was just a child and didn't know better.

I tried to win her over by taking her out to her favorite spots.

But no matter how hard I tried to please her, she still preferred Yara.

Yara played the piano, looked elegant, and always acted like a lady.

She'd go to the amusement park with Leo and Annie, looking exactly like a mother.

She was supposed to be a tutor, but she let Annie skip her homework just to go out and play.

She'd buy Annie junk food and candy, not caring that the girl was developing cavities.

I held my tongue and tried to talk to Leo rationally.

But he never took me seriously.

"Yara is a professional. You think you know better than her?" he'd snap.

"Why do you have to be so controlling? You're just jealous of her!"

Leo and Yara spent more and more time together, and Annie grew to adore her.

I knew my daughter felt embarrassed by me.

Even though I was working hard toward my dreams in the scientific field, they both looked down on it.

Leo even told me that my job didn't bring in much money and was a waste of time.

Back when he had nothing, he was my biggest supporter.

Now, he'd changed into someone I didn't recognize.

I didn't understand why, but I could guess.