Chapter 3

As the days passed, my baby bump became more and more obvious.

Thanks to my son's smart strategies, my scavenging business was thriving.

My son said, "Mom, quick. Under the bench by the lake at the park on the west side of the city, there's a Patek Philippe Starry Sky watch. Dad thinks it's off by 0.01 seconds, so he ditched it."

I headed over, and as he said, I found a chilly watch box wedged in the crack under the bench.

My son urged, "Mom, at the café on the top floor of the Skyline Center, behind the potted plant by the window, there's a pink diamond necklace called Heart of Eternity. Dad says it annoys him just looking at it."

I went there, pretended to sip my coffee, and when nobody was paying attention, I pocketed the necklace.

My son smiled, "Mom, this time it's a big one. The keys and property deed for Unit A at Eastside Residences. They're sitting right on top of the mailbox at the entrance to the villa complex. Dad says the lawn isn't green enough."

I hopped in the Porsche I'd just scavenged and sped over to Eastside Residences.

When I grabbed the heavy set of keys and the red property deed from the top of the mailbox, my hands were shaking.

Eastside Residences was insanely expensive. Each villa was worth millions.

He tossed it all because the lawn wasn't green enough?

What kind of person was Tavian, anyway?

My life had been completely transformed.

I went from a broke, desperate pregnant woman with only five bucks in my pocket to a rich lady living in a mansion, driving a luxury car, and having a bank account bursting with eight digits.

My favorite thing every day was lugging my baby bump around the city, chasing after my son's inside info to hunt down all the treasure spots.

One day it was a trash can, the next a park bench, or even a mall locker.

The locations were wild, but no matter where I went, I always struck gold.

I was actually starting to get a real kick out of this whole treasure hunt thing.

But after the excitement wore off, what hit me next was an even deeper sense of confusion.

Tavian's name weighed on me like a mountain.

I started obsessively searching online for every scrap of information about him.

He was the head of Sterling Group, a young tycoon who'd already topped the rich list, and a business legend, cold and ruthless, with a reputation for being absolutely cutthroat.

What really made him infamous was his severe germaphobia.

Word was, he never shook hands with anyone, swapped outfits more than ten times a day, and even had his office air filtered through seven layers.

Would someone with a germaphobia so legendary really throw priceless treasures into a grimy trash bin himself?

It made zero sense.

Besides, I started thinking back on how I got to know Osric.

We met at an ordinary industry cocktail party.

Osric was a low-level staffer at a small company, and I was a no-name designer.

A big shot like Tavian would never show up at a place like that.

Our worlds would never overlap.

But then, why exactly did the child growing inside me say his dad was Tavian?

"Mom, stop overthinking." My son's voice cut through my thoughts. "Don't you remember? That night at Midnight House, you drank too much and wandered into the wrong room."

My mind reeled as the realization hit me.

Midnight House? I wandered into the wrong room.

Suddenly, a rush of blurry, broken memories flooded my mind.

It was my birthday, and Osric had stood me up. So I went to the bar alone, drowning my sorrows in drinks.

I must've blacked out, and then, I thought I wandered into a luxurious room with a man whose face I couldn't make out.

When I woke up the next morning, my head was pounding, and there was no one beside me. I assumed it had all been a crazy, ridiculous dream.

Not long after, Osric came to apologize, doing everything he could to win me back. Eventually, we ended up getting together.

And then, I found out I was pregnant.

I always thought the baby was Osric's.

Now that I thought about it, it all added up.

The time and the place matched up.

Was the guy that night actually Tavian?

Holy crap, I was pregnant with the nation's top billionaire's baby.

I felt my stomach drop at the realization, totally rattled.

My son said, noticing how anxious I was, "Mom, what are you so afraid of?

"Dad's not a bad guy, he's just, you know, kind of proud and awkward. He's definitely known about you for a while, but he's too shy to approach you directly, so he's been sending you money in this roundabout way."

"How could he possibly know about me?" I still couldn't believe it.

"I've got tricks up my sleeve, Mom. Don't stress about it. Get ready, because today we've got something huge," my son teased.

"So, what is it this time?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

He grinned, "It's the transfer papers for ten percent shares in one of Sterling Group's companies. Dad thinks the CEO's receding hairline is ruining the company's image."

I froze. His excuse was as ridiculous as ever.

My heart skipped a beat when I heard the share transfer.

This wasn't just about giving me money anymore.

He was handing me a stake in a company, a real shot at a future, and some serious security.

What exactly was Tavian planning?

I had a gut feeling there was a massive secret hiding behind all of this.

I couldn't keep playing along with this scavenger hunt anymore.

I needed to step up and meet this mysterious baby daddy face-to-face.

I was going to ask him straight up what his deal was and what he was really after.