Chapter 1

My dad frowned. “Who taught you that word?”

I put on a clueless look. “Mom said she was going to fake her death and elope with Mr. Lewis. She told me not to tell you.”

“Fake her death and elope?” My dad gritted his teeth. Every word was full of anger. He radiated such rage that everyone kept a distance away from him.

A moment later, he muttered to himself, “Thank goodness… she’s still alive.”

My dad looked disappointed that my mom had deceived him, yet surprisingly, there was a hint of relief.

My heart sank. My dad’s feelings for my mom were not something I could destroy with just a few words.

But truthfully, my mom was the other woman!

Without my mom’s lies, my dad and his crush, Quiana Sullivan, would have been a perfect match.

After spending those years by my mom’s side, I finally learned the secret she had been hiding all along.

My mom was the real daughter whom my grandfather acknowledged and brought home.

For the first ten or so years of her life, she worked in the fields and lived among chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep.

She had no understanding of high society. Before she could even prepare, my grandfather had sent her straight to an elite private school.

My grandfather expected that she would marry for the good of the family.

Soon after my mom enrolled, she became a target for bullying by wealthy students. Quiana, the fake daughter, reached out to her with kindness. She patiently helped my mom improve from the bottom of the class to earning the teachers’ praise. She also taught her how to dress and do her makeup, as well as how to carry herself at high-society events.

Over time, the world that had once belonged only to Quiana and my dad slowly became a world for three.

But then, Quiana was diagnosed with stomach cancer and had to go abroad for treatment.

She did not dare say goodbye to my dad in person, so she entrusted my mom with a letter for him.

The letter said that if my dad was willing to wait for her, he should call her.

It included her new phone number.

But my mom secretly hid the letter from him.

She also had someone forge evidence showing Quiana with another man and made it look like she had abandoned my dad before going abroad.

My dad drowned himself in drink night after night. My mom took advantage of it and drugged him.

She became pregnant after that night. They married because of the child, and after the wedding, my dad reined himself in and devoted himself to being a good husband.

This time, when Quiana returned to the country, my mom feared the truth would be exposed, so she staged a fake death.

In my past life, my dad believed it without question. He thought that his once pure and gentle crush had killed my mom out of jealousy. In his rage, he drove the Sullivan family into bankruptcy.

Quiana’s parents could not withstand the blow and collapsed. On the way to the hospital with her parents, Quiana was involved in a car accident and died instantly.

After Quiana’s death, my mom returned to us.

But she accused me of lying on purpose. She said I had misled my dad about the Sullivan family and caused Quiana’s death.

She persuaded my dad to lock me in a cold storage room and secretly set the temperature to −58°F.

Having returned to the past, I would no longer be my mom’s pawn. I would make her taste what it was like to lose everything.

With that thought, I took out the letter Quiana had once left for my dad.

“Dad, does eloping mean Mom ran away with Mr. Lewis and doesn’t want me anymore? I found this in her drawer. I can’t read it, so I don’t know where she’s hiding. Can you help me? Let’s go find her together, okay?”

The familiar handwriting on the envelope made my dad freeze.

His hands shook as he opened the letter.

After so many years, he saw the letter from the woman he loved for the first time. The pain struck him like a knife.

He pressed the letter to his chest and wept like a child.

Every word he spoke was an apology.

The promise he had made so long ago had been broken because of someone else’s deception.

I gently patted my dad’s shoulder. “Dad, don’t cry. Does Mom not want us? Did we make her upset?

“My teacher said that if you do something wrong, just saying sorry is enough. Let’s go apologize. Mom will definitely forgive us!”

Tears streaked my dad’s face. “Can saying sorry really fix everything?”

I nodded firmly. “Yes. If we’re brave enough to say sorry, she’ll forgive us.”

My dad thought for a moment. Then he called the Sullivan family.

But they told him that Quiana had never come home.