Chapter 1

I was about to ask who she was when I realized she had already blocked me.

I assumed it was a prank or some lunatic chasing attention, so I ignored it.

To attend my son's engagement party, I made a special trip to Saks Fifth Avenue to buy a suitable evening dress.

I had just picked out a custom long gown.

Before I could ask the sales assistant to take it down, a hand with glittering rhinestone nails reached over and snatched the dress away. "I'll take this one. Wrap it up for me."

I turned toward the speaker. A young woman dressed in the latest couture collection and carrying a designer bag stared at me with open disdain.

She looked me up and down, then suddenly reacted as if she had discovered something shocking. Pointing at me, she screamed, "It's you!?"

"You know me?" I asked with a frown.

She let out a cold laugh, pulled out her phone, opened a screenshot, and shoved it in my face. "What are you pretending for? You were the one who secretly took photos of the dowry my fiancé prepared for me and posted them online to show off, right? I wasn't even finished cursing you out online, and now you've got the nerve to show up in front of me?"

The post on her phone was mine.

So she was the one who had sent me those insulting messages. She was also my son's fiancée, Scarlett Harper.

Before I could speak, she raised her voice and shouted toward the store entrance. "Everyone, come take a look! This is what a mistress looks like these days. Completely shameless!

"She secretly took photos of the 700,000-dollar dowry my fiancé, Nathaniel Cole, prepared for me, claimed it was for her, and posted them online while pretending to be some socialite!

"Why don't you take a look at yourself? You're already so old, and you're still trying to seduce a rich young man. It's disgusting!"

Her voice rang so loudly that my ears hurt just standing beside her.

Suddenly, I remembered how Nathaniel had looked during our video call the night before. His face had been full of joy, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Mom, Scarlett is a gentle and kind woman. She even feeds stray cats on the street. She never raises her voice, and she's very sensible. You'll definitely like her when you meet her," he had claimed.

Then I looked at the woman in front of me, practically spitting as she spoke and looking down on everyone around her. I simply couldn't connect her to the words gentle and kind.

In the short time she had been shouting, a crowd had already gathered outside the store.

Many people who did not know the truth quickly took her side and began pointing at me.

"She's still doing this kind of thing at her age. She has no shame at all."

"She looks like a professional mistress. She's made a career out of being the other woman!"

"What is that guy thinking? Leaving a young, pretty girlfriend for someone old enough to be his mother?"

"Maybe this old woman has some special skills in bed. Hahaha..."

Their words were vicious, and fury burned inside me.

But the woman standing in front of me was still my son's fiancée, and she had clearly misunderstood the situation.

I forced myself to remain calm and tried to explain. "Your name is Scarlett, right?"

"Oh, so you even looked up my name." She shot me an arrogant glance. "You think posting something online can force your way into our lives? Keep dreaming. A piece of trash like you isn't even worthy of carrying my shoes. You're only fit to crawl under a bridge and find a homeless man!"

Her filthy insults came one after another, each one testing the limits of my patience.

I genuinely began to wonder if there had been some kind of mistake. How could this possibly be the girl Nathaniel had described?

I took a deep breath, suppressed the anger rising in my chest, and spoke coldly. "Listen carefully. I'm not a mistress. I'm Nathaniel's mother. In other words, I'm the biological mother of the fiancé you're talking about."