Chapter 1

My daughter, Lily King, had never liked shopping, so when she suddenly insisted I take her out to buy clothes.

And even threatened to throw herself on the floor and bawl if I refused. I had no choice but to go. She even insisted that her father stay home and that only I could go with her.

Everyone knew I spoiled Lily rotten. Whatever she wanted, I gave her.

We shopped nonstop until evening. I was exhausted, but Lily still said she hadn't had enough and wanted a late-night snack.

When I came back with soup dumplings, I heard her secretly calling my husband.

She said, "Dad, did you have fun with Emily? Mom will be home in half an hour. Hurry and tell Emily to go home. Mom will be upset if she sees you two together!"

In that instant, my whole body went cold, like I'd been dropped into ice water. My head buzzed.

I couldn't believe my ears.

The husband I had loved all my life and the daughter I had treasured with all my heart had joined forces to deceive me.

Emily?

That was the vocal coach I had hired for Lily.

She was a student at Maplewood College, pretty and petite, and the phone in Lily's hand had been her birthday gift.

I still remembered how my husband had refused when I asked him to pay her back for the gift.

Lily refused too. She said she didn't want to be so formal with Emily.

She said Emily was her favorite, and that she felt like Emily was family.

Looks like now I was the outsider to my own daughter.

"Mom?" Lily stood up and saw me, panic filling her eyes.

I steadied myself and forced out a smile. "I turned around for one second and lost my good girl."

She was still a kid. Whenever she lied, her eyes darted everywhere. "I... I just missed Dad, so I gave him a call..."

She tried to walk past me like nothing had happened, but I grabbed her by the arm.

Then I pulled her into my arms. My voice trembled as I asked, "Do you love Mom?"

Lily's soft little face rubbed against me like always. "Lily loves Mommy the most, and Daddy too!"

Looking at her smiling face, I felt dazed. She had my husband's eyes and mouth, and my nose and face shape.

I had always seen her as the greatest pride of my life.

I never thought my own daughter would scheme against me like this.

While Lily wasn't paying attention, I tapped on Emily's profile picture with trembling fingers.

I remembered she had a boyfriend, but I was always too busy with work to keep up with other people's social posts.

Her pinned post was a photo captioned [Two-Year Anniversary].

In it, two hands were clasped together.

As I stared at the screen, my hand started shaking harder and harder, and my breathing turned ragged.

I couldn't stop the tears. They streamed down my face.

There was a callus on the second knuckle of that hand, a feature I knew better than anything.

That was my husband, David King, the man I had dated for three years and been married to for eleven.