Chapter 1

A billionaire couple kidnapped my daughter to steal her heart for their own sick child. When I fought back, they beat me until I was blind in one eye.

The tycoon ground his boot into my spine, sneering:

"Your daughter should be honored to give her heart to mine!"

"Don't bother calling the cops. In this city, I am the law!"

Broken and desperate, I knelt before my late husband's gravestone in the pouring rain, clutching his two Medals of Honor.

"David... you saved so many lives for this country. Can you please, just this once, save our little girl?"

What was supposed to be a routine preschool health checkup turned into a secret organ-matching screening for a billionaire.

My five-year-old daughter, Cece, turned out to be a perfect match. Ignoring my desperate screams, Richard Sterling tossed a check for ten million dollars on the ground and had his men rip Cece from my arms.

"I don't want your blood money! Give me back my daughter!"

I tore the check to shreds and threw myself in front of his black SUV.

After my husband David was killed in action, Cece became my entire world. I would die before letting anyone hurt her.

The next second, Sterling shoved me violently to the pavement.

"You don't want the money? Fine. You won't get a single cent!"

He walked away without looking back. As I scrambled to chase after him, his bodyguards grabbed me and dragged me into a blind alley.

"Know your place, bitch. Mr. Sterling isn't someone you can mess with!"

I glared at them through my tears. "This is a country of laws! Where is your conscience?"

The bodyguard sneered. "In Silvercreek, Mr. Sterling is the law."

Then came the kicks and punches.

They didn't stop until my left leg was shattered and my left eye was ruptured. Only then did they spit on me and leave.

The preschool principal, Mrs. Miller, hurried over and helped me up, sighing helplessly.

"Cece's mom, you can't win against him. Just apologize to Mr. Sterling, take the money, and have another baby with someone else while you're still young!"

I stared at her in shock.

"My daughter is five years old! She's a living, breathing human being! You want me to give up just because he's rich?"

Mrs. Miller sighed again. "None of us wanted this, but there's nothing we can do. Mr. Sterling's daughter is dying of heart failure. He will never give Cece back to you."

"His daughter is precious, but mine is too!"

I pushed her away and limped toward the nearest police station.

If the school wouldn't help, I'd go to the police.

I refused to believe Richard Sterling truly owned the entire city.

But I was painfully naive.

After taking my statement, the officers didn't open a case. Instead, under the guise of an "investigation," they drove me straight to Sterling's luxury estate.

Sterling and his wife were lounging in the living room. In the center of the room, my baby girl was tied to a wooden chair.

"Cece!"

I broke away and threw my arms around her.

We had only been apart for four hours, but she was covered in bruises. Six of her tiny fingernails had been brutally ripped out.

My entire body shook as my tears poured down.

"You monsters! You're going to rot in hell!"

Sterling threw his head back and laughed.

"The only one rotting in hell is your daughter! If her heart wasn't useful to me, I would've slit her throat hours ago!"

Cece wrapped her bloodstained little arms around my neck, trembling.

"Mommy, it hurts so bad... They hit me, and they shocked my tummy with a taser."

"They said I don't have a daddy to protect me, so they're going to cut my heart out. But I told them I do have a daddy..."

"Mommy, can you please call Daddy? Tell him to come home and protect us..."

Her crystal tears hit my broken face like burning acid.

How could I tell her that her father had died in combat a year ago?

"Be brave, baby," I choked out, stroking her hair. "Mommy is here. Mommy will save you, and the bad guys will pay!"

Sterling scoffed from the sofa, clearly annoyed.

"I was generous enough to let you see her one last time, and you have the nerve to call me a bad guy?"

He flicked his wrist. Two hulking bodyguards grabbed me by my hair and arms, dragging me out of the mansion and tossing me onto the street.

A crisp new check fluttered down onto my chest.

"Mr. Sterling added another five million. Take it and disappear."

I grabbed the bodyguard's pant leg, sobbing hysterically. "I don't want the money! Please, I'm begging you, just give me my baby back!"

The bodyguard kicked me hard in the chest.

"Mr. Sterling's daughter is running out of time. You need to be understanding."

I watched them shut the heavy iron gates, gasping for air through the blinding pain.

Why did my Cece have to die just so his daughter could live?

Does being rich give you the right to treat normal people like insects you can crush under your shoe?