Six months passed.

My daughter, Maya, filled every empty space in my life.

Then the rumors started.

Quiet at first.

Whispers in the kind of circles that never really keep secrets.

A message from an old friend.

“Something’s wrong with the baby.”

I ignored it.

Until she said one thing that made me stop.

“The blood test doesn’t match.”

Then everything unraveled.

The child Tiffany had claimed as the future of the Sterling empire…

Wasn’t Michael’s.

The DNA test confirmed it.

The “heir” they built their world around wasn’t part of the family at all.

Tiffany was gone within days.

Escorted out.

Replaced like she had replaced me.

Just faster.