Chapter 1

"You have to be good and do as I say from now on, Anna. No more pestering Uncle Damian."

Yvonne Stewart stared at me with an indecipherable look in her eyes, though guilt and shame were notably absent in them. Anna, my daughter, poked her head out from Yvonne's embrace and peered at me warily.

Then, she called out to me in a high, crisp voice, "Uncle Damian."

She sounded innocent, her words as light as a feather. A dull ache tugged at my heart.

Calvin Chapman stopped before my bed. His voice was full of blame when he said, "Yvonne and I only left Anna in your care because we were busy with work. How could you mess that up?

"You're lucky Anna's fine. What would you have done if she weren't? I don't know what other stunts you'd pull!"

No sooner had Calvin said this than my father, Gideon Chapman—the man I was always trying so hard to please—interjected, "Don't be too hard on him, Calvin. The Chapman blood doesn't flow in his veins, after all. He didn't grow up as well as you did, though I suppose that's just his fate."

As he spoke, he sighed and clapped a hand on Calvin's shoulder, his eyes full of admiration.

My heart went cold.

I was the true heir of the Chapman family, and Calvin, a mere housekeeper's son, was the impostor who had taken my place for the last 20-something years.

The housekeeper had wanted her son to grow up wealthy, so she swapped Calvin and me at birth. She raised me, but tended to beat and snap at me.

She would remind me more often than not, "Look at Calvin! Now, that's what a true heir is like. You're not even good enough to polish his shoes, so remember your place!"

The truth eventually came out, and I was brought back to the Chapman family. Just as I thought my suffering had finally ended, my biological father unexpectedly pushed me away after he determined that I'd lost my memories.

"Are you listening, Damian?" Yvonne's voice shattered the flashback and pulled me out of my thoughts. She added coldly, "Anna said you only crashed into the barricade because you were on your phone while driving.

"Fortunately, she was wearing a seatbelt at the time. Can you imagine what might have happened if she hadn't? You call yourself her uncle?"

I stared at Anna in disbelief.

I'd instinctively veered my car the moment the crash happened so that only the driver's side would hit the barricade. I'd shielded Anna in my arms, and she remained uninjured even as I hit my head on the steering wheel and broken glass sliced my arms.

But now, the daughter I'd so fiercely protected was telling the most vicious lies in the most innocent voice.

"I was not!" I struggled to sit up and ended up tugging on my wounds instead. I gasped at the sharp pain.

"I doubt children would lie," Yvonne countered, her voice climbing to a shrill as she eyed me with enough contempt to drown me. "I never pegged you for the shameless, irresponsible type, Damian! You could at least come up with a better lie!"

The corner of my lips twitched as I flashed Yvonne a humorless smirk. "Children do lie. In fact, Anna has already mastered the art of deception."

Calvin feigned surprise. "How could you say that about Anna, Damian? She's just a child! Were you hoping to get Anna injured so you could claim the Stewarts' and Chapmans' family assets for yourself?"

What absurd argument was that?

And yet, Dad grimaced as he pointed at me and snapped, "I'm warning you, Damian—stop fantasizing! You're better off remembering your place!"