Chapter 1

We'd just arrived at the vital records office to pick up the birth certificate for my grandson, Nicholas Shepherd.

Without warning, my son-in-law, Paul Cranston, started scowling. He slammed the birth certificate down onto the counter and yelled, "Everyone, don't you think this is unfair? Yes, I married into my wife's family, but I'm still a man, and I have my dignity! Why must my child take his mother's last name?

"My family may be ordinary and not as rich as theirs, but does having money give them the right to ignore a person's basic rights? My parents worked hard their whole lives to raise me, but now, their grandson can't even take their last name! Just think about how hurt they'd be!"

Everyone else began whispering among themselves. Some people had already raised their phones and pointed them at me.

Dumbfounded, I tugged on Paul's arm. "Didn't we already discuss this clearly from the beginning, Paul?"

But he violently shook off my hand. "When did I ever discuss anything with you, huh? I don't care. Either way, my son is not taking your family's last name!"

All the clueless spectators began voicing their agreement.

"He has a point. Even if he's a live-in son-in-law, he's still his own person. It's customary for a child to take his father's last name."

"So what if they have money? That doesn't give them the right to bully others."

"She looks like a perfectly reasonable old lady. Who would've thought she'd be such an overbearing woman?"

I started shaking with rage.

I wanted to remind Paul about the ten million dollars and the apartment the Cranstons accepted from us. He'd also once said ingratiatingly to me, "It doesn't matter what last name the children take, so long as you're happy, Mom."

At that moment, it wasn't just anger I felt. I was deeply disappointed.

Meanwhile, Paul noticed my reaction, and his eyes flashed with smug delight.

Then, all of a sudden, he shoved aside the security guard who was trying to calm him down and charged toward the stairwell at the side of the building, the one that led upstairs.

"So be it! You Shepherds won't stop until I die, right? If you want my son to take your last name, you're going to have to do it over my dead body! I'm going to jump off this building and let my death prove that even a live-in son-in-law has his pride!

"I'd rather die than submit to you like a man with no dignity!" Paul hollered, his voice choked with despair.

Gripping the stair railing, he acted as if he were about to rush upward.

Several security guards immediately surrounded him, struggling to restrain him. The situation descended into complete chaos.

Even more people had gathered to watch. The buzz of their chatter filled the place, and almost everyone had their phones raised.

Wholly outraged, I shouted at Paul, "Does Lucy know what you're doing?"

With a gloating look in his eyes, he retorted, "Of course she knows! A woman like her doesn't get to decide anything. If you keep forcing my hand, I'll die right in front of you!"

A clerk rushed over to me and tried to reason with me.

"Ma'am, please listen to me!" He positioned himself between the crowd and me. "You can see what the situation is like right now. Your son-in-law is extremely emotional right now. If something bad does happen, it won't matter whether he's just faking it. Either way, there will be unthinkable consequences.

"Once that happens, it will no longer be a simple matter of whose last name the child takes. Not only you and your family, but everyone else here will get dragged into a huge mess!"

The clerk spoke in a rush, but every word seemed to strike me in the chest. "Who cares what last name the child takes? At the end of the day, he's still your grandson. You're related by blood, and that won't change.

"You seem like a very reasonable woman to me, ma'am. Why don't you just take a step back and agree to a compromise—at least until this crisis is resolved first, okay?"

My anger was still burning inside of me, and my heart had grown cold from severe disappointment.

I'd been backed into a corner. If I refused to change my stance, things would only get even more out of hand. Once this incident was posted online, the entire Shepherd family would be reduced to a laughingstock. Who knew what kind of other adverse consequences might follow?

A deep sense of helplessness washed over me.

All my life, I'd been a proud woman who refused to give in to anyone. Never did it ever occur to me that the son-in-law I'd welcomed into the family with great generosity would end up plotting against me.

I grabbed the pen, which felt like lead in my hand, and filled in the amendment form. My hand paused over the line to fill in the new name, but in the end, I wrote out the name Nicholas Cranston.

Paul grabbed the form and checked it himself. Then, he purposely turned to the clerk with an aggrieved expression, saying hoarsely, "Thank you… Thank you, everyone, for standing up for me… I-I had no choice…"

I turned around and left without sparing him another glance.

Once my husband, Felix Shepard, and I got back to our house, we could only stare at each other in silence.

Sighing, Felix advised me to just drop it. All that mattered was that Lucy and Nicholas were both happy and healthy.

But I couldn't just forget about this. I went straight to Lucy's place to confront her. I wanted to see if she knew anything about what her beloved husband had done.

If Paul had told me the truth about her stance, then I wasn't going to go easy on her either.