Chapter 3

"Dad! You've lost your mind!"

"Give the baby back!"

My daughter chased after me.

Ryan was frantic too.

He got the hotel front desk on the phone and reported me to them.

"My father-in-law's gone crazy and snatched my baby! He's even trying to kill him!"

"Please! Whatever you do, don't let him take the baby out of here!"

The hotel treated it like a full emergency, shutting the front doors at once to keep me from escaping.

They called security to close in and cut me off.

Seeing my daughter about to catch up behind me, I had no choice but to slip into the elevator and hit the button for the top floor.

Soon the elevator stopped at the stairwell on the top floor.

Still holding the baby, I stumbled through the door out to the rooftop.

I turned and locked it, shutting the pursuers out completely, and only then did I get a moment to hold the baby and catch my breath.

Three minutes later, my daughter and Ryan caught up.

They grabbed the door and found it wouldn't open, and, terrified I might harm the baby, they pounded on it and shouted from outside.

"Dad! Calm down, calm down!"

"You were by my side the whole time, from the pregnancy through every checkup. This baby is absolutely your own grandson!"

"To condemn a child over one absurd dream just doesn't hold up!"

Ryan cried and begged me too.

"Dad! The baby really is mine and Norma's! If you don't believe me, take him for a paternity test!"

"I know you don't like me. I can divorce Norma! I'm only begging you to spare Baby!"

But I just kept repeating the same thing to them.

"A dream sent by the ancestors is never wrong. An outside bloodline has entered the family. This child cannot be of Pruitt blood!"

"Sweetheart, don't be upset. Once I've dealt with this bastard, it will all be over!"

Holding the sleeping baby in my arms, I moved step by step toward the edge of the rooftop.

The wind whistled past my ears.

The livestream comments blew up.

What's this dead old man trying to do? He can't really be planning to kill the baby, can he?

Don't! We can testify the baby really is your daughter's!

If you don't believe it, go pull the hospital records, or just get a paternity test done!

Can't the ones above see it yet? This isn't him suspecting his son-in-law of cheating. He clearly hates that his grandson's birth stole the attention he used to get at home.

Even with a paternity test, he'd still kill the baby all the same!

I looked coldly at the comments in front of me.

They don't know a damn thing!

The Pruitts had an only son for three generations running. To hold a grandson sooner, I burned incense and prayed to the Buddha every single day.

After my daughter got pregnant, I cooked her something different and delicious every day, and I even rearranged Ryan's job for him.

All because I was afraid the baby wouldn't have a good life once he was born.

The gifts I'd prepared for him filled the entire nursery.

I looked forward to this child's arrival more than anyone.

That is exactly why I can't accept that someone swapped out my grandson for a bastard!

He deserves to die!