Chapter 1

It was the holiday season. So, I took my foster daughter, Megan Delgado, to the mansion in Syleria Bay to relax and unwind.

From a distance, I could already see that the mansion was brightly lit.

A woman yanked the door open with an impatient look on her face.

“Who are you? You’re interrupting my daughter’s birthday party. Are you asking for trouble?”

She seemed so sure of herself, so I thought I must have pulled up to the wrong house in the dark.

When she saw that I was just in a plain white T-shirt, the contempt in her eyes intensified.

“How unfortunate for us.” She scoffed. “You’ve ruined my daughter’s mood. A worthless person like you can’t even begin to make up for it.”

Behind the woman, the party guests began to gather around.

They chimed in to support her. “Everyone here is either a high-ranking official or someone famous from the upper class. Look at what she’s wearing. She must have sneaked into the neighborhood.”

“This woman has no idea what’s coming for her. Everyone knows how powerful Melanie’s husband is.”

“Yes. If Melanie so much as complains, this woman won’t be able to pay for her mistake even if she works for the rest of her life.”

Emboldened by their support, Melanie Vallejo grew even bolder.

“Tell you what. I’m not a bad person. If you crawl inside and apologize to my daughter, I’ll forgive you.”

Seeing how pleased she was with herself, my frown deepened.

“So, you’re saying you’re the lady of this house?”

Something had felt off from the start. But she was so loud and full of herself that it threw me off for a moment.

Right then, I finally noticed it. She was wearing the exact clothes and jewelry I left in my room here.

The timing could not have been more telling. Just a week ago, my husband, Richie Delgado, said he was planning a surprise for me. Then, he took the spare key to this place.

He even reminded me specifically to come back tomorrow night.

I figured that arriving a day early would not hurt. I could just act like I did not know anything.

However, I never imagined…

A flicker of hesitation crossed Melanie’s face, but she quickly covered it up and snapped at me. “Who else would it be if it’s not me? You, you frumpy nobody?”

Then, something seemed to click for her.

“You’ve ruined my daughter’s birthday party. You’d better crawl in there and apologize to her. My husband’s on his way home. Do you know who he is? He’s the CEO of Beran Corp! Someone like you can’t afford to offend him.”

The CEO of Beran Corp?

“Are you talking about Richie Delgado?”

Melanie nodded smugly.

“That’s right!”

At that point, I understood everything. At first, I had thought that maybe Richie had lent the house to a relative in a moment of foolish pride. As it turned out, the man I had supported was having an affair!

I married and brought Richie into my family because I could not have kids.

He always acted like the perfect and devoted husband around me. I never imagined that he had been keeping a mistress behind my back. Additionally, he had a daughter who was almost the same age as our foster child!

Noticing that I was silent, Melanie assumed that I was speechless from fear.

“My husband will be here any minute now. Do yourself a favor and get on your knees like a good dog. Otherwise, when he shows up, kneeling won’t be enough to save you. My husband spoils our daughter.”

My chest ached with fury. “I doubt you can afford the consequences of making me kneel.”

Before Melanie could retort, someone in the crowd muttered, “Poor people always cling to pride like it’s worth something. She’s about to lose everything, and she’s still putting on a tough front.”

I locked eyes with the speaker. “What makes you so sure I’m the one who’s about to lose everything?”

They were trespassing, and they had committed theft. I would see if Melanie could still smile when this blew up in her face.

Someone else cackled from the sidelines. “Just leave her be. If she’s in such a hurry to dig her own grave, why bother stopping her?”

“People like her never learn. All it takes is the snap of a finger from the right person, and she’s done.”

Melanie’s smirk started to crack when she realized that I was not backing down.

“Typical trash with stubborn pride. When my husband gets here, even crawling naked to kiss my feet won’t save you!”

Perfect. That saved me the trouble of calling him myself.

‘Richie, you’ve prepared quite the surprise for me,’ I thought.