Chapter 1 1

When I visited the hospital to celebrate my sister-in-law Madison Willis giving birth to a daughter, I witnessed someone secretly swap my niece with another baby.

I quietly switched my niece back when the person left.

Eighteen years later, a tearful young girl knocked on our villa's door.

Her voice trembled as she said, "Mom and Dad, I'm your real daughter!"

1

After returning home from work, I sensed a heavy atmosphere in the house.

My parents, my brother Ryland Willis, and her wife Madison looked uneasy.

Silence filled the room.

Holding the dessert I bought on the way, I asked in confusion, "Where's Raelyn? It's the weekend, isn't it? Didn't she come home?"

Raelyn Willis, my niece ten years younger than me, had just started college and usually came home on weekends.

But today, I only saw Ryland and Madison sitting quietly.

My dad waved me over. "Ellen, sit down. Your brother and I have something important to tell you."

"What's with the secrecy?" I walked over, puzzled. "Did Raelyn get bullied at school?"

My niece was always well-behaved; she wouldn't bully anyone.

"No," Madison said, pulling me to sit beside her. Her expression was complicated. "It's much more serious than that."

What?

Something more serious than my niece being bullied?

"Did the Willis family business hit a financial crisis? Or did a company project go wrong?"

"It's not about the company," my dad said.

Ryland nodded, his face heavy with worry. "Ellen, have you ever considered that Raelyn might not be your niece?"

I froze, then turned to Madison. "What, like she's my sister? No way."

"Ellen, don't talk nonsense," my mom said, her voice rising slightly. "What if Raelyn isn't Ryland and Madison's daughter?"

"That's impossible," I said firmly.

Madison's expression grew heavier. "Exactly. How could the daughter I raised for eighteen years belong to someone else?"

Their behavior was so strange that I pressed further. "What's going on? Who said Raelyn isn't your daughter?"