Chapter 1

It was Kate's first day at kindergarten, but the teacher sent us away.

"Mr. Elliott's son has been here for a year already. Now suddenly there's a daughter?" the teacher said, looking at us suspiciously.

I was shocked.

Kate just reached the age to start kindergarten. How could she have already been here for a year?

After some digging, I found out that the new assistant at William Elliott's company had enrolled her own kid in kindergarten a year ago, using Mrs. Elliott's name.

I went to confront her, but she just waved a marriage certificate in my face, with William Elliott's name right there.

"I know you. You've been pestering my husband for years, haven't you?" she said, her tone full of contempt.

The official seal from the Registry Office and the photo on the certificate were crystal clear.

The date on it was five years ago.

But the truth was, William and I had only been married for three years!

"Mommy, am I really not your and Daddy's real child?" Kate asked, her voice trembling.

On the drive home, Kate looked at me, tears brimming in her eyes.

I gripped the steering wheel tightly. "Of course not, Kate. You're the only precious child we have."

The tears in her eyes finally spilled over, and Kate's voice was full of hurt and confusion.

"Then why does Raelynn's son say he's Daddy's real kid?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"All the kids at kindergarten said the same thing, and they even hit me. They called me a bastard..." she said.

When I saw Kate's face all puffy and swollen, my heart ached even more.

It was her very first day at kindergarten, and this was what she had to go through.

The real shock came when I reached out to Raelynn Atkins. She just snapped a photo of the marriage certificate and sent it right over.

In the picture, the man standing next to her was the one I'd held in my arms so many times.

The official seal from the Registry Office was crystal clear, and the date on it was five years ago.

But William and I had only been married for three years.

Come to think of it, Raelynn just popped up out of nowhere and became William's assistant as soon as she joined the company.

Could it be that he cheated on me?

I forced myself to stop thinking about it.

I pulled out my phone and dialed William's number.

But it was his male assistant who picked up.

"Mr. Elliott is in the middle of a really important meeting, and no electronic devices are allowed inside. Is there anything I can pass on to him for you, Mrs. Elliott?" the assistant said.

"Did William get married before me?" I asked, my voice trembling.

The assistant froze for a second, and once he heard the whole story, he rushed to reassure me.

"That marriage certificate is probably just photoshopped, Mrs. Elliott. Don't worry, Mr. Elliott would never do something like that!" he said.

After hanging up, I felt a little more at ease.

William would never dare pull something like that.

Still, I had to confront him and get some answers.

For now, all I could do was go home and wait for him to finish his meeting.

To make it easier for Kate to get to school, William and I bought an estate in the school district nearby.

Today was the day we were supposed to settle in.

But when I parked in front of the estate, expecting to open the door myself and finally see our new home, I was met with a crowd of strangers moving in and out, hauling luggage that clearly didn't belong to us.

There was a huge banner strung across the front gate.

It read, "Congratulations to Mrs. Elliott on her new home!"

A swarm of reporters crowded the entrance, their cameras all pointed at a stunning woman.

The instant I saw her face, my eyes went wide.

Why was Raelynn here?

The reporters were buzzing with excitement, cameras flashing as they swarmed around Raelynn.

"Ms. Atkins, is the marriage certificate you posted online really genuine? Did you leave showbiz because you found true love?" one of them shouted.

I hurriedly opened my phone and was inundated with hashtags, "Raelynn Atkins and William Elliott", "Raelynn Atkins Posts Marriage Certificate", and "William Elliott: After Five Years, I Can Finally Make It Public"

I opened the trending topic, and right at the top was the exact marriage certificate Raelynn had sent me earlier.

The caption read: [Yep, we've been married for five years.]

The comments section was going absolutely wild.

[Oh, dear, I knew our queen didn't quit the scene just to dodge that troublemaker Briella!]

[Come on, that's Raelynn we're talking about! Briella's been a washed-up celeb for three years and she's still the same mess.]

[I'm a kindergarten teacher, and today Briella actually brought a kid in, claiming it was Mr. Elliott's. Had me rolling!]

[Oh my god, what level of delusional fangirl is she?]

[Back when Raelynn was still in the industry, Briella was always getting cozy with Mr. Elliott. Who would've thought he was already married to Raelynn? Love it!]

[So Raelynn's been living her best life in secret all these years.]

"Ugh, what is all this junk? Get it out of here. William will be mad if he comes back and sees this," Raelynn sneered.

Raelynn wrapped her shawl around herself, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the pile of supposedly 'brand-new' collectibles, clearly unimpressed.

The workers immediately started chucking my things straight into the trash heap.

There, all those antiques and paintings I'd painstakingly collected from all over the world were now dumped together with filthy trash.

"Stop!" I cried out.

I seized the worker's wrist and glared at Raelynn.

"Who are you? Why are you barging into my home?" I demanded, my eyes fixed on her.

"Oh my god, Briella actually had the nerve to show up?" someone in the crowd scoffed.

"Hey, can't you see the banner? It says 'Congratulations to Mrs. Elliott.' Seriously, who do you think you are? You wish you were Mrs. Elliott! What a joke!" another person sneered.

"Are delusional fangirls really so desperate they're trying to fake their way into someone else's mansion now? This is next-level crazy," someone else chimed in.

"This estate must be worth at least nine figures. She's just trying to ride the wave of attention. Typical Briella, always looking for drama," another person sneered.

Smack!

On impulse, I landed a slap square on the mouthy reporter's face.