Chapter 1

Upon hearing the system's words, I immediately returned to the book world. It dropped me into a ward where a five-year-old child was sitting on a bed.

Although I had appeared out of thin air, there was only a hint of surprise on the boy's pallid and young face. He scrutinized me with dark eyes before stuffing one hand into his pocket while arrogantly offering a card to me with his other hand.

"Stay and be my mother. I'll give you ten million dollars."

The young child's refined and proud air was a carbon copy of Caleb Finley's.

The system explained, "Ms. Rockworth, this is the child with both your and Mr. Finley's genes. His name is Arthur Finley, and he'll be six years old this year."

I was shocked as I looked at the card that Arthur was offering me. "Do you know who I am?" I asked.

Arthur stared at me unwaveringly. He had a sense of maturity about him that didn't match his childish appearance. "I know that you're my mother," he said. "I've seen your photos in the album that that person keeps in his safe."

My shock only intensified when I realized Arthur was unwilling to refer to Caleb as his father. I wondered if their relationship was strained.

"Mr. Finley and Arthur do not share a close relationship. Mr. Finley didn't visit Arthur even once when the latter was hospitalized for a week for his surgery," the system explained.

I frowned. Caleb seemed to be quite irresponsible as a father. When it came down to it, Arthur was still his child.

Arthur's little hands were clenched into tight fists as he looked at me. "So, are you willing to stay and be my mother?"

I choked on my words for a few seconds, not knowing how to answer him. I was all too aware of Caleb's temper. When I was kidnapped a few years ago, he turned the entire city upside down, even though I had only been away from him for less than half an hour.

He wore his usual expression even as he broke the kidnappers' legs and left them on the curb. He then knelt next to me, took my hand, and used a towel to clean the parts where I was touched by other people again and again.

Caleb's love was as crazy and dark as him. He wanted to start a family and raise a child with me, but I faked my death and escaped, leaving him for six whole years. If I agreed to Arthur's request, I would surely run into Caleb again. I couldn't imagine what Caleb would do if we encountered each other again.

Panic flickered in Arthur's eyes at my silence. "Are you not satisfied with the money I'm offering you? If 10 million dollars isn't enough, how about 100 million dollars? I can start an IOU slip. I'll pay back every single cent I owe you once I'm all grown up."

Arthur pulled out a piece of paper and wrote a long string of zeroes on it before handing it to me to sign. In the next second, a maid rushed into the ward. She tossed the bottle of medicine she was holding aside and snatched the paper out of his hand before ripping it to shreds and throwing it into the trash.

"You're being foolish, Mr. Finley! This is the 9,999th evil woman who did plastic surgery to trick you! I'll tear her disguise off right now!"

The maid then lunged toward me and tried to pull my hair off my scalp.

Ignoring his own pain, Arthur hastily climbed off the bed and stood in front of me. His brows knitted together as he scolded, "Who said you could touch her? Do you really think that I can't recognize my mother?"

The maid pursed her lips. "Mrs. Finley passed away six years ago, Mr. Finley. How could she be her?"

"Shut up! Mommy didn't die! That person personally told me that Mommy is a strategist. She had to play the role of his first love, which was why she intentionally faked her death to trick us."