Chapter 1

My boyfriend of eight years, Devin, proposed to another woman. I saw it on social media, my world shattering as I drove.

The shock, the betrayal, and the secret life growing inside me sent a wave of pain through my body. Then, a flash of light, a violent crash. Karly, his new fiancée, had run me off the road.

Bleeding and desperate, I called Devin for help, telling him I was losing our baby.

His voice was cold. "What baby? You're being hysterical."

In the background, I heard Karly laugh. "You were just a placeholder, a charity case. Consider the 'accident' a favor."

Then the line went dead.

But as I faded into darkness, a woman appeared at my bedside. "I'm Arlena Dickerson," she said. "And I'm your mother."

Suddenly, I wasn't an orphan anymore. I was the sole heiress to one of New York's most powerful families, and the woman who stole my life, my love, and my child was about to learn what happens when you cross a Dickerson.

Chapter 1

Haley Dickerson POV:

The screen glowed, mocking me with its perfect, curated happiness. Karly McLaughlin, draped in a white silk dress, her hand raised to show off a diamond that screamed "forever," was smiling into Devin Haynes' eyes. Devin, my boyfriend of eight years, the man who had promised me a future, was on one knee. He was proposing to her. The caption read: "Finally, my true love said YES!"

My breath hitched. The air left my lungs in a painful whoosh. Eight years. Eight years of building a life, building his company, believing every word he said. "She's just an ex, Haley. A past mistake." His voice echoed in my head, a cruel, twisted melody.

My phone, clutched in my hand, vibrated with a text. It was from him. "Haley, I need to talk. Urgent project." He was at the office. Always the office. Always the "urgent project."

The world tilted. My vision blurred. A sharp, piercing pain erupted in my abdomen, a familiar throb that had been a secret joy for weeks. Our secret joy. My secret joy. I put a hand on my belly, instinctively protecting the fragile life within me. But the image of Karly's ring, blindingly bright, burned behind my eyelids.

A car horn blared, jarring me back to the blaring reality. I was driving. My hands, clammy and trembling, gripped the steering wheel. The road ahead twisted, a serpentine path leading to nowhere. Or maybe, leading to an ending I couldn't comprehend.

A sudden, blinding flash of light. Tires screeched. A violent impact. The world spun, a cacophony of shattering glass and twisted metal. My body slammed forward, then back, a ragdoll tossed by an unseen force. Pain, raw and all-consuming, ripped through me. It was everywhere. My head, my chest, my belly. Especially my belly.

I gasped, a desperate, guttural sound. Blood. So much blood. A warm, sticky tide seeping through my clothes. No. Not like this. Not now. Not our baby.

My phone lay shattered on the floorboard, but a sliver of the screen still lit up. An incoming call. Devin. My trembling fingers fumbled, trying to answer. The line connected, but all I could hear was Karly's high-pitched, excited laughter in the background. My heart shattered.

"Devin! Please! I... I need help. I'm in an accident. The baby..." My voice was a choked whisper, raw with desperation.

A pause. A beat. Then his voice, colder than I' d ever heard it. "Haley? What are you talking about? And what baby?"

More laughter. Karly's. Closer now.

"Devin, I'm bleeding! I think I'm losing the baby! Please, you have to come!" My plea was a ragged sob, tearing through my throat. The pain was unbearable, a tearing, wrenching agony that stole my breath.

"Losing a baby? Haley, you're being hysterical. We don't have a baby." His words were flat, devoid of emotion. They cut deeper than the twisted metal piercing my flesh.

"Eight years, Devin! Eight years I've given you everything! And now you're going to deny our child?" My voice cracked, raw with a grief that hadn't yet fully bloomed but was already consuming me.

"Our child? Don't be ridiculous. You were always just a stand-in, Haley. A convenient distraction while I waited for Karly to come back to me. Now she's here, and you're... obsolete." His words hit me like a physical blow, stripping away the last vestiges of hope and dignity.

Karly's voice, sweet and dripping with venom, reached my ears. "Oh, honey, didn't Devin tell you? I've been back for months. You really thought you were special? You were just a charity case, a placeholder. And that little 'accident' of yours? Consider it a favor. You were never meant for anything real, least of all a family."

The connection broke. The phone went dead, mirroring the death of everything within me. The world went black.

A new voice. Soft. Urgent. "Haley? Can you hear me?"

My eyes fluttered open. A sterile white room. The scent of antiseptic. A woman, elegant and poised, stood by my bed. Her eyes, a striking shade of emerald green, were filled with a sorrow that mirrored my own.

"Who... who are you?" My voice was weak, raspy.

"I'm Arlena. Arlena Dickerson. And I'm your mother." Her words, delivered with a quiet strength, were another shock, but this one held a strange, unfamiliar warmth.

My mother. The woman I had believed was dead. The woman I had been told was an orphan.

"My mother? But... I don't..." I tried to sit up, a fresh wave of pain reminding me of the horror. The baby. My baby. Gone.

"Lie still, darling." Her hand, cool and gentle, pressed against my forehead. "There's so much you don't know. So much they kept from you."

A flicker of anger, cold and sharp, ignited within the numb despair. "They? Devin and Karly?"

Arlena's gaze hardened. "And others. But now, it's over. You are a Dickerson, Haley. The sole heiress to one of New York's oldest, most powerful families. And everything that was taken from you, everything that was stolen, we will get back. With interest."

I remembered the anonymous email from weeks ago, an offer to meet a "long-lost relative." I had dismissed it, thinking it was a scam. My life was simple then. My job, my apartment, Devin. Devin.

"I don't understand," I whispered, the words catching in my throat.

"You don't have to understand it yet. Just accept it. Accept who you are." Her voice was unwavering. "Karly McLaughlin is nothing. Devin Haynes is nothing. They thought they could use you, discard you. They thought wrong."

A wave of nausea washed over me, not from the physical pain, but from the realization. Karly's cruel words. "That little 'accident' of yours? Consider it a favor." It wasn't an accident. It was deliberate. And my baby... my unborn child... was murdered.

The numb despair began to recede, replaced by a searing, icy resolve. "My baby," I choked out, tears finally streaming down my face. "They killed my baby."

Arlena's face was grim. "I know. And they will pay. But first, you must heal. Then, you must embrace who you truly are. The Dickerson name carries weight, Haley. Immense power. And it's all yours."

She pulled out a delicate, antique locket from her pocket. It was a family heirloom. "This was meant for you on your 18th birthday. But she kept it. Karly McLaughlin has lived your life, enjoyed your inheritance, stolen your identity. She even tried to steal your fiancé after she believed she had disposed of you permanently."

Fiancé? "What fiancé?" I asked, completely bewildered.

"Jude Sharp. The Sharp Corporation heir. A strategic engagement we arranged months ago, before all this. A strong alliance for the family, but it became even more important now. He is a good man, Haley. You will meet him when you are ready."

My head was spinning. A powerful family, a stolen identity, a murdered child, a strategic fiancé. It was too much. But then, Karly's voice, cold and triumphant, echoed again. "You were just a charity case, a placeholder."

The numbness was gone. The tears, for now, were gone. Only a cold, burning fire remained. "They will pay," I said, my voice barely a whisper, but laced with a steel I never knew I possessed. "Every single one of them."

Arlena nodded, a flicker of fierce satisfaction in her eyes. "That's my daughter."

A new text message appeared on my shattered screen, somehow still working. A different number. "Be careful, Haley. Karly never leaves loose ends. She knows you know."

The threat hung in the air, a chilling confirmation of Karly's malice. But it no longer terrified me. It only solidified my resolve.