Truth Of Adoption

I'm adopted by my parents. They are very nice to me—so nice that they keep praying for my health and happiness before my bedtime every night. Later on, Mom is pregnant with a baby. I hide under my blanket and spend the night crying. Then, I secretly pack the tiny suitcase I've brought with me. But my parents don't send me away. Instead, they treat me even nicer. On the day my little sister, Freya Walker, gets born, Mom takes my hand and pats me gently on the head. "You're an older brother now. That's why you have a little sister to be with you." Dad lifts me over his head while spinning me in circles happily. "You really are our lucky charm, Ash! You'll always be our beloved darling!" Finally, I don't have to keep worrying about getting kicked out. From that day onward, I really think that I've become a part of the family. That is, until Freya smashes my favorite toy car model one day. I'm so angry that I smack her on the spot. She stumbles away from me, soon plopping to the floor. At first, she's stunned for a few moments, only to start bawling immediately after. Mom loses her mind instantly. She shoves me away before scooping Freya into her arms and keep asking her if she's hurt. Dad rushes over and starts strangling me immediately with frighteningly bloodshot eyes. "We've kept you around for so many years, and yet you have the gall to bully Freya? Believe me when I say I'm definitely sending you back to—"

Three years into our marriage, my wife brought home a ten-year-old boy. She said he was the orphaned son of her late best friend. I believed her. I treated him like my own child. Until I found official records listing that so-called orphan as my son. When I confronted my wife, I saw a pinned message on her phone. “Thanks for working so hard, babe. Once Noah is old enough, I’ll make sure Lucas leaves with nothing.” My world collapsed. They thought I was just another fool they could play. They forgot one thing. My last name is Barner. And my father serves as the deputy commander of the Southern Command.

In my previous life, I stood by Robert's side as he grew from the Alpha of a weak, remote pack into the undisputed king of the werewolf world. We raised a child together, and I thought I'd finally found a home that could shelter me from all storms. But when I was bedridden with illness, he couldn't wait to take the child and go find his one true love: my little sister, Bellis. And then came the moment that shattered everything — the child I had treasured with my whole heart calling Bellis "Mom" without a second's hesitation. That was when I finally understood. All those years, I had been living inside a lie — a total, elaborate lie. When I opened my eyes again, I had been reborn, right back to my marking ceremony with Robert. This time, standing at that crossroads, under the gaze of all those guests with their warm, oblivious smiles, I would make a very different choice. What I didn't know yet was that the truth sometimes hides in the small, ordinary moments of life — not in what other people tell you.

The doctor told me I would never have a baby, so we took a fifteen-year-old girl we found on the street out of pity--to adopt her. But as she got older, her wants grew, and by the time she was twenty she wanted my husband. With all the emotional turmoil, should I share my husband with my own adopted daughter?

After my son was abducted, my husband took me to an adoption center to bring home a baby boy born the same year as the child we'd lost. I poured every ounce of love I had into raising him. He had a sensitive stomach, so I pushed through my chronic back pain to cook him special meals every single day. When he spiked a fever in the middle of the night, I carried him twenty miles through the rain to the nearest hospital. When he couldn't focus in school, I was constantly at his classroom door, flattering his teachers and bringing them gifts, just to get them to pay a little extra attention to him. Fifteen years of grinding sacrifice, and it all came down to one moment at his college acceptance party. "I couldn't have gotten into Harvard without my mother's love and hard work," he said into the microphone. He raised his glass, eyes drifting toward where I was sitting. The cameras flashed as I started to rise from my seat, matching his silent lip movements. And then I heard a name I didn't expect. "She is Rachel Lynch." I froze. That was my best friend's name.

The day my seven-year-old daughter needed a blood transfusion was the day my perfect life shattered. The child I had loved, protected, and sacrificed everything for... wasn't mine. My husband had known the truth all along. While I believed our daughter had died at birth, Marcus secretly made me raise the child he had with my best friend. They stole seven years of my life, my love, and my motherhood, all while laughing behind my back. So I walked away. I divorced the man who betrayed me, abandoned the life I built for him, and returned to my true identity, the billionaire heiress I had hidden for love. I swore I would never look back. Until I met a little girl with haunting red eyes and fragile lungs... a child who looked exactly like me. Her name was Lily. And the man raising her was the cold, untouchable billionaire, Alexander Cole. He refused to tell me where Lily came from. I refused to walk away. When I discovered Alexander's family was forcing him to find a wife, I made him an offer neither of us expected. A contract marriage. No love. No feelings. Just two broken adults protecting one little girl. But the more time I spent with Lily, the more convinced I became that she was the daughter I had mourned for seven years. Now my cheating ex-husband wants me back after discovering I'm the hidden heiress he threw away. My fake husband is becoming dangerously possessive. And if the truth about Lily ever comes out... Someone will lose everything.