Chapter 2

Diana scooped Tobias up without a moment's hesitation, her eyes full of concern.

"Sweetheart, how did you get hurt so badly?"

Then she rounded on me.

"How are you supposed to be watching these kids? If something happens to Tobias, can you even take responsibility for that?"

She didn't spare our daughter a single glance.

I stared at the familiar face hiding behind that stranger's mask, and something bitter twisted at the corner of my mouth. She'd hurt her own flesh and blood to protect someone else's son. This was the woman I'd torn my family apart to marry.

Tobias shot my daughter a provoking look and piped up.

"Mommy! She hid your photo and pushed me, and now my knee really hurts."

Every servant in the room turned on my daughter and me with open contempt, looking ready to lay hands on us themselves. That was how it always went. Because Diana and Marcus treated us like dirt, the staff had picked up the habit too, until my daughter and I had become fair game for anyone in the house.

My daughter held up the torn pieces of the photograph.

"Tobias's mommy, I didn't hide your picture. This is a picture of my mommy. I look at it when I miss her. But Tobias..."

Diana's gaze caught on the familiar face in the photo and held there for a moment.

Before she could say anything, Tobias jumped in.

"That's my mom! My mom looks like that sometimes!"

Diana shot me a quick glance, a flicker of panic in her eyes, terrified I might have noticed. Only when I showed no reaction did she let out a small, relieved breath.

Marcus strolled over in a hand-tailored designer suit, every inch the pampered young heir. He shot Tobias a look of mock anger.

"What's wrong with you, brat? That's not your mother!"

Then he turned to us with an apology.

"So sorry about that. Kids get confused about who's who. Don't take it personally."

Tobias pouted, and Diana's heart melted instantly. She rounded on me again.

"It's just a torn photo! Was that really worth shoving my baby? How are you supposed to be watching these kids? If you can't handle the job, get out! Some washed-up driver, walking all over my son!"

Tobias burrowed into Diana's arms and made a face at me.

This was the same woman who used to trail after me, who could never bring herself to say a harsh word to me. Now, hiding behind a stranger's face, she humiliated me without a second thought.

Something in me let go of the need to keep playing along. I said quietly, "Fine. I quit."

The words made panic flash across Diana's face. Before she could stop herself, she blurted, "Then how will you support your daughter?"

Marcus immediately plastered on a fake smile and stepped in.

"Oh, come on, my wife's always babied our son. She was just a little harsh—don't take it to heart, Cooper.

"Back when I had that car accident, my wife stayed by my side all night, worried sick. She even tore into a few doctors and nurses. But that's just her—she cares too much about us. She means no harm."

Two years earlier, I'd driven out to pick up Marcus, dead drunk. He'd grabbed the wheel in a drunken fit, and we'd plowed into the back of a truck. He walked away with nothing worse than a scraped eyebrow and got a VIP room with the best doctors in the hospital.

I ended up with broken ribs punched through a lung, stuck in a crowded ward next door, operated on by an intern. I nearly bled out. The doctors issued a critical notice.

As I hovered on the edge of death, I heard Diana's voice, frantic, coming from the operating room next to mine, and for one desperate second, I thought my dead wife had come back to me. I held on to that last breath, praying she'd turn and look my way.

But Diana never so much as wavered behind that mask. She turned, gave me a distant smile through the pool of my own blood, and said, "Sorry, sir. You have the wrong person."

I lost every scrap of hope that day. I barely made it through.

Diana. You really are heartless.

My thoughts snapped back to the present. My daughter was on her knees, apologizing frantically.

"I'm sorry, Tobias's mommy. It's all my fault. Please don't fire my daddy. He already works so hard..."

Diana let out a small, satisfied breath. "Tell you what—let my son push your daughter once too, and we'll call it even."

Catching Marcus's helpless look, she pouted and burrowed into his arms. "Honey, you're just too kind-hearted. Tobias is the light of our lives. I won't stand by and let anyone push him around!"