Chapter 1

The scholarship kid who just transferred to my son’s elite private school looks exactly like my daughter—the baby my toxic ex-mother-in-law forcibly snatched from my arms years ago.

My hands shook as I dug up her school records. To my horror, the parents listed under her name were my ex-husband, Brandon, and Chloe, the mistress he left me for!

Back then, they humiliated me and kicked me out because they claimed I was useless and couldn't produce a male heir for their family empire. Who would have thought they had secretly kept and raised my daughter all this time?

But looking at her dry, brittle hair and her pale, malnourished face, I realized she was living in absolute hell.

At the parent-teacher conference, I whipped out her original birth certificate, determined to take her away from them.

To my surprise, Chloe sneered and accused me of forging the documents!

Right in front of my face, she raised her hand and slapped my little girl.

"She’s my kid! I can do whatever the hell I want with her!"

Fuming, I tried to call the police. But she ordered her bodyguards to pin me down, framing me as a child kidnapper.

I begged the teacher and the other parents to call 911, but they were too terrified of Chloe's family influence to help me.

Just as I fell into utter despair, my daughter suddenly burst into tears and threw herself into my arms.

"Ma'am, I know you’re a good person. But please, just run! She’s my mom... you can't win against her!"