Chapter 1

After Mom left, no one took care of me.

I lived like a stray dog in that village, begging for leftovers that had already gone sour. I survived on whatever wild fruit I could find in the hills, year after year, until I nearly died trying to escape.

Fifteen years later, I went to a private hospital for a follow-up appointment.

That was where I saw my mother, Vanessa Sterling, again.

We spotted each other from opposite ends of the hallway.

My heart lurched. I dropped my gaze and turned, desperate to get away before she could reach me.

She rushed after me anyway and seized my frostbitten hand.

"What?" she snapped. "You can't even look me in the eye? Too ashamed to face me?"

My chest tightened. My fingers curled instinctively.

Her hand was so warm.

The last time she had held me like this, I had been trembling from head to toe after throwing myself in front of her while Dad beat me.

Slowly, I pulled my hand free.

"You've got the wrong person."

Mom let out a cold laugh and stepped closer.

"Evan. I'd know you anywhere."

Her eyes swept over my faded clothes. Something complicated flickered across her face before it disappeared.

"Fifteen years, and now you just happen to show up here?"

She narrowed her eyes.

"Tell me. You tracked me down, didn't you? What do you want from me?"

I shoved my hands into my pockets and dug my nails into my palms.

"I'm here for treatment. I didn't know you were here."

She clearly didn't believe me.

"A consultation at this hospital costs over a thousand dollars. You grew up in the middle of nowhere. Since when can you afford a place like this?"

She stared at me as if she were waiting for me to crumble in front of her.

Or beg her for money like a starving dog.

I sighed to myself.

I was only here because the hospital was running a free clinical trial for advanced stomach cancer.

But I had no intention of explaining that to her.

I turned to leave.

A man in a suit approached from the side and handed her a folder.

"Ms. Sterling, I need you to approve the minutes from this afternoon's meeting."

Mom glanced at the page and frowned.

"You need me to catch mistakes this basic?"

The man immediately bowed his head and backed away.

Distracted, Mom shot me one last icy look.

"Stay right there. Don't go anywhere."

Then she turned to her assistant and began running through the rest of her schedule.

From what I overheard, she had been working herself sick. She had reserved a private suite here to recuperate. There was also something about a proposed marriage alliance with the Whitmore family.

I quietly retreated into the shadow beside the wall and watched her tear into an employee with effortless authority.

Her makeup was immaculate. Her hair was pinned neatly into place. Everything about her radiated the confidence of a woman who had spent years at the top.

I lowered my head and smiled, cracking my dry lips.

I'd made the right choice all those years ago.

Without me—the living stain of her worst nightmare—she had finally become the brilliant woman she was always supposed to be.

I looked away and ignored her order to stay put.

Keeping close to the wall, I made my way toward the doctor's office at the far end of the corridor.

I raised my hand and knocked.

The door opened from inside.

A slender woman in a white coat stood there.

My breath stopped.

Of all people...

It was Evelyn Whitmore.

The woman I had abandoned without a word two years ago.