Chapter 1

My husband, Jerome Dyson, and I, Winter Montez, drowned in a freak accident out at sea.

Although my body was gone, my soul was still around, and I found myself hanging around my son, Casey Dyson.

I watched as Casey organized a full funeral procession for Jerome and me, looking every bit exhausted and disheartened, like he was barely holding it together.

However, as soon as the funeral procession was over, he threw down the bunch of white lilies impatiently and said, "Oh, my god! Those two old fools are finally dead. They just wouldn't die for years! Luckily, we succeeded this time!"

I was shocked. Old fools? Was he really referring to Jerome and me?

Casey stared at our tombstones, the hatred in his eyes making my chest tighten in shock.

Why did Casey hate us so much? We were both his birth parents! We had invested 20 years of our lives bringing him up to the best of our ability. We had even put his name down as the sole payee and benefactor on both Jerome's and my insurance policies.

Just then, my mother-in-law, Daisy Rothbart, went up to Casey and asked, "Do you think the police will suspect that we were involved in the incident?"

Casey gave her a reassuring look. "Don't worry. I made sure there were no clues left that could ever point to us as the perpetrators. Anyway, the police have already ruled their deaths as a freak accident leading to sudden death. They could only blame it on their bad luck!"

I felt as if I'd just been struck by lightning. So, did that mean that the accident that killed both Jerome and me had been orchestrated all along? And by Casey, our only beloved son, of all people?

I couldn't help recalling then how often Jerome and I kept running into dire and life-threatening situations right after Casey came of age and inherited the family business from us. However, each time, Jerome and I would manage to escape unscathed.

This time, it had also been Casey who had suggested that we go water skiing in the middle of the ocean. As it turned out, our line snapped, and both Jerome and I got caught in the strong currents before drowning at sea.

But why? Why did Casey want to do this to us?

Before I could even start asking myself the right questions, I suddenly saw Casey throwing his arms around Daisy, the woman he'd been calling "Grandma" for years, and crying out, "Mom!

"Finally, I can publicly acknowledge you as my mother now! I'm sorry for letting you suffer for so many years, Mom, watching as I acknowledged other people as my own parents instead of you!"

Daisy was also in tears when she hugged him back.

"I know. However, we must ensure that the Dyson family business is passed down only to those who are related to the Dyson family by blood. I refuse to allow it to be passed down to outsiders!"

I finally understood the entire situation after listening to what Daisy just said.

Back in the days, Daisy had found out that she was pregnant right after her husband, Perry Dyson, had suddenly passed away from a stroke. She had gotten pregnant a whole ten days earlier than I.

Both Jerome and I kept trying to get her to abort the baby, scared for her health, but Daisy started weeping and begging us tearfully so that she could keep the baby. She threatened to take her own life if we forced her to terminate the last baby she had with Perry.

We weren't able to talk any sense into her, so there was nothing we could do but let her keep the baby.

Daisy was well advanced in age, so hers was an extremely high-risk pregnancy. Since she had treated me quite well as her daughter-in-law, I made sure to often send her plenty of vitamins and supplements suitable for pregnant women while she was carrying.

After giving birth, I even arranged for her to go to a very expensive postpartum recovery and retreat center that cost tens of thousands of dollars for the length of her stay.

It was also through Daisy's conversation with Casey that I realized Jerome was not Daisy's and Perry's biological son.

That was the main reason why Daisy had risked her health by getting pregnant so that she could give birth to an heir who was truly related to them by blood. Then, she could take back the family business from Jerome by switching the babies at birth.

However, Daisy had been worried that people would find out about her evil plan, so she had brutally murdered my baby after switching him with her own. This way, her baby would also be able to receive the love and care from the rest of the family as he should.

Daisy had pretended to be completely disheartened and in despair when "her baby" died. She'd then come over to our house to help us look after "my baby" instead.

In other words, the baby boy who died 20 years ago was actually my son, and the child I'd raised for the same amount of time, with my blood, sweat, and tears invested in him, actually belonged to someone else. To think that he even killed Jerome and me with his own hands later on!

I wanted nothing more than to rush up to Daisy and Casey and tear them apart for doing such a thing to us. However, a split second later, I found myself shrouded in darkness.