Chapter 1

A woman I' d never met introduced herself as my son' s mother in the parent group chat. I was three thousand miles away with my dying mother. My husband, Jaxon, told me it was just a mistake.

Then, at a school event, he publicly disowned me, telling everyone I was just the nanny.

He pointed to his mistress-the woman who tormented our son-and called her his "real" mother.

My ten-year marriage was a lie. The man I loved let this woman lock our sick seven-year-old in a dark closet, then called me unstable and tried to take him from me.

They thought they had won. They thought I was just a broken housewife with nothing left.

But they forgot who I was before I became his wife.

Today is Jaxon's big promotion meeting. He doesn't know the new Vice President who holds his future in her hands... is me.

Chapter 1

Grace Fox POV:

A woman I' d never met introduced herself as my son' s mother in the first-grade parent group chat.

I was three thousand miles away, sitting in a sterile hospital room, holding my mother' s frail hand while she slept. The antiseptic smell was thick in my throat. My phone buzzed on the bedside table, a persistent, irritating vibration against the polished wood. I' d muted it earlier, but the group chat notifications were relentless.

Another buzz. And another.

With a sigh, I let go of my mom' s hand and picked up the phone. The screen was a wall of notifications from "Ms. Davis's First Grade Parents." Usually, it was just reminders about picture day or bake sales.

But this was different.

A new member had been added. The chat was flooded with welcoming messages from the other moms.

Then, a voice message appeared. It was from the new member. Her name was Kori Whitfield.

Curiosity got the better of me. I pressed play, holding the phone to my ear.

A saccharine, overly bright voice chirped through the speaker. "Hi everyone! Oh my gosh, thank you all for the warm welcome! I'm Kori, Ben Mcdaniel's mom. So excited to finally be in this group and get to know all of you and your wonderful kids!"

The world tilted.

My son' s name is Ben Mcdaniel.

And I am his mother.

My thumb trembled as I scrolled up, checking the member list. Jaxon, my husband, was in the group. And now, this Kori Whitfield. Her profile picture was a cartoon kitten with oversized, sparkling eyes. It looked childish, almost manipulative in its innocence.

I played the message again. "Ben Mcdaniel's mom."

The words echoed in the quiet room, a bizarre, surreal pronouncement that made no sense. For a dizzying second, I questioned my own identity. Was I Grace Fox? Was I Ben' s mother? Was this some kind of sick joke?

My heart began to beat a frantic, heavy rhythm against my ribs. I immediately closed the chat and dialed Jaxon.

He picked up on the third ring.

"Hey, Grace. Is everything okay with your mom?" he asked. His voice was smooth, relaxed. Too relaxed.

"Jaxon," I said, keeping my own voice level, a trick I' d mastered over ten years of marriage. "Who is Kori Whitfield?"

There was a pause. A tiny, fractional silence that screamed guilt.

"Kori... Whitfield?" he repeated, stalling. "I'm not sure. Why?"

"She just joined Ben's parent group chat. She introduced herself as his mother."

Another pause, longer this time. I could hear a faint rustling in the background, like he was moving, shifting away from something or someone.

"Oh," he finally said, letting out a small, dismissive laugh. "That. It's probably just a mistake. You know, another kid named Ben. Common name."

The excuse was so lazy, so insulting, it was like a slap in the face.

"There is no other Ben Mcdaniel in his class, Jaxon."

"Well, maybe she got the name wrong. Look, Grace, don't worry about it. It's nothing. How's your mom?" He tried to change the subject, his tone laced with a forced casualness that made my skin crawl.

For years, I had been the perfect wife, the supportive partner, the dedicated mother. I had smoothed over his insecurities, celebrated his minor successes as if they were monumental triumphs, and built my entire world around him and our son. My calm demeanor was my armor.

But in that moment, something inside me froze over. The warmth I' d held for him for a decade turned to ice.

"She's fine," I said, my voice clipped and cold. "I have to go."

I hung up before he could reply.

I stared at the phone, my own reflection a pale, ghostly image on the dark screen. The plan was to stay another two days until my mother was discharged.

That plan was now cancelled.

I booked the first flight back to New York, my mind a storm of chilling possibilities. The entire flight, I didn't sleep. I just stared out the window at the dark expanse of clouds, the single, absurd voice message playing on a loop in my head. Ben Mcdaniel's mom.

The plane landed at JFK before dawn. I didn't go home. I took a cab straight to Northwood Elementary.

Ben was in first grade. He was only seven. A sensitive, sweet boy who still crawled into my bed after a nightmare. The thought of anyone trying to claim him, to confuse him, sent a wave of icy fury through me.

The school was quiet, the morning sun just beginning to cast long shadows across the playground. A portly security guard at the front desk looked up from his newspaper, his expression wary.

"Can I help you, ma'am? School doesn't start for another hour."

"I need to speak with Ben Mcdaniel's teacher," I said, my voice steady despite the tremor in my hands. "It's an emergency."

He eyed me for a moment, then seemed to decide I wasn't a threat. He picked up his phone. "Ms. Whitfield? There's a woman here to see you. Says it's an emergency... a Mrs. Mcdaniel."

A few minutes later, a young woman came hurrying down the hallway. She was plain, with mousy brown hair pulled back into a messy ponytail and a smattering of freckles across her nose. She wore a hand-knitted cardigan over a floral dress-an aggressively wholesome look. She was the picture of a gentle, unassuming teacher.

But the moment her eyes met mine, I knew. A woman's intuition is a powerful, primal thing. This was her.

And the look on her face confirmed it. Her welcoming smile faltered, then vanished completely. Her skin, already pale, turned a ghostly white. Her hands, which had been fiddling with a lanyard around her neck, began to tremble.

"M-Mrs. Mcdaniel?" she stammered, her voice a reedy whisper. It was the same cloying voice from the group chat, but now it was stripped of all its confidence, shaking with pure, unadulterated panic.

She looked so small, so pathetic, it was almost laughable. This was the woman who had so brazenly declared herself my son' s mother in a public forum? This trembling, terrified girl?

"Yes," I said, my voice quiet but carrying the weight of a granite slab. "I believe you were looking for me. You seem to have a lot to say in the parent group chat. I was just curious to hear you say it to my face."

Her jaw worked, but no sound came out. Her eyes darted around, looking for an escape.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about," she finally choked out.

"Don't you?" I took a step closer, invading her space. I was taller than her, and I used it to my advantage, looking down at her. "You introduced yourself as Kori Whitfield. Ben Mcdaniel's mother. I'm Grace Mcdaniel. Ben's mother. So you can imagine my confusion. Tell me, Ms. Whitfield, who are you?"

She flinched, her composure crumbling completely. Tears welled in her eyes. "It was a joke! A misunderstanding!"

"A misunderstanding?" I repeated, my tone dangerously soft.

"Yes! Jaxon... your husband... he asked me to do it!" she blurted out, the words tumbling over each other in a desperate rush. "He said... he said you've been unstable lately. That you're not coping well with your mother's illness. He was worried you were neglecting Ben, and he wanted to... to test you! To see if you were still paying attention! He said you were just a nanny now, that you'd lost interest in being a real mother!"

The lie was perfect. So perfectly crafted to prey on every insecurity Jaxon himself had instilled in me over the years. It painted him as a concerned husband, her as a reluctant accomplice, and me as the unstable, failing mother.

For a moment, the sheer audacity of it left me breathless.

But then, my gaze drifted down. My eyes, cold and sharp, landed on the small, glittering objects dangling from her earlobes.

Diamond studs. Elegant, expensive.

And instantly, I knew. I knew exactly where they came from.

My voice dropped to a whisper, sharp enough to cut glass. "Those earrings," I said. "They' re beautiful. Did Jaxon give them to you for Valentine' s Day?"