Chapter 1 The Moment Everything Fell Apart
"Get out! You and those bastard children—get out of my house!"
Walter May's voice boomed through the grand staircase like thunder. Molly sat frozen on the marble floor, her hands shaking as expensive shoes pointed toward the door.
She didn't understand how things had gone so wrong so fast.
Six months ago, Molly had been brought to the May family mansion. Her whole life before that was simple—she grew up in a small village, helping her mother with farm work. Then one day, a man in a suit showed up. He told her that she was not who she thought she was. That she was a May. That she had been switched with another baby at birth in the hospital.
The real May family wanted her back.
Molly had been nervous but hopeful. She worked so hard to be the perfect daughter. She learned which fork to use at dinner. She practiced walking in high heels until her feet bled. She read books about art and fashion and all the things rich people cared about. She even accepted an arranged marriage to a man named Adam Herring because that was what her father wanted.
She did everything right.
But today, the doctor had told her she was pregnant.
And the father was not Adam.
That made no sense to Molly. She had never been with any man except Adam, and even that was just awkward kissing that lasted five seconds. She had told the doctor she must be wrong. But the tests were clear. The blood work was clear. She was going to have a baby, and it was not Adam's child.
The news spread like fire in a dry forest. By evening, everyone in the city knew. The newspapers called her a whore. Rich people whispered about her at clubs and restaurants. Adam broke the engagement and called her a liar. Her father looked at her like she was trash.
And now he was throwing her out.
"But Dad, I don't even know how this happened," Molly tried to say, her voice small and broken. "I swear I—"
Walter didn't even look at her. He just turned around and walked back into his office, closing the door with a loud bang.
Molly sat alone on the cold floor. Around her were all her things—the cheap clothes she had brought from the village. The May family had never bought her new ones. They said they were ashamed of her already without wasting more money on her.
She grabbed her old leather bag and began putting things inside. Her hands moved slowly, like they belonged to someone else.
When she looked up at the second floor, she saw her sister Diana standing by the window. Diana was smiling. A real, happy smile.
Molly realized then that Diana had wanted this. Diana, the adopted daughter who had been raised as a real May, had never liked her. Molly was competition for the family name and the family money. And now Molly was gone.
Diana raised her hand and waved goodbye. The smile on her face was mean and cold.
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Seven months later, Molly lay in a hospital bed in Fomanesia, a city far away from everything she had ever known. The pain was intense and terrible. But when the babies came—two boys and a girl—all the pain went away.
She had three beautiful children. Three perfect babies who had done nothing wrong.
Molly named them Alex, Ben, and Claudia.
She worked three jobs to keep them alive. She cleaned houses during the day, worked in a restaurant at night, and did laundry on weekends. Her feet hurt all the time. Her back hurt all the time. But she never complained because she had her three babies.
They were her whole world.
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Five years later, Molly was on a plane heading back to the country where she was born. Northfolk was the capital city, and she had found a job there as a house cleaner. It paid better than her jobs in Fomanesia. Maybe she could finally save enough money to buy a small house for her children.
Molly fell asleep on the plane, exhausted from working double shifts before the flight.
Then the dream came.
In the dream, there was a thick fog all around her. She couldn't see anything clearly. But somewhere in that fog, there was a man. She could feel him. She could hear his voice—deep and smooth like honey. He was saying something to her, but she couldn't understand the words.
She tried to push him away. Her fingers touched something warm and rough on his back. A scar, maybe.
Then the man pulled her closer, and his voice became louder, more real, more alive.
"Ahhh!" Molly gasped and her eyes flew open.
Her heart was beating so fast she thought it might jump out of her chest.
"Mommy! Mommy, what's wrong?"
"Are you okay, Mommy? You scared us!"
"Don't cry, Mommy. We're right here!"
Molly turned her head and saw three pairs of worried eyes looking at her. Alex, Ben, and Claudia were holding her hands, their little faces full of concern.
She pulled them close and hugged them tight. "I'm okay, babies. Just a bad dream."
But as she held her children, Molly couldn't stop thinking about the man in the fog. The dream felt real. Too real. Like a memory.
Like something that actually happened.
For five years, she had tried not to think about how her babies came to exist. She had blocked it out, told herself it didn't matter. The babies were here. They were hers. That was all that mattered.
But now, with the dream still fresh in her mind, questions came flooding back.
Who was that man?
Why couldn't she remember anything about that night?
And why did she feel like something was about to change everything?
"Mommy, are you sure you're okay?" Claudia asked, reaching up to touch her mother's face.
Molly smiled and kissed her daughter's forehead. "Yes, sweetheart. Everything is fine."
But when the children finally fell back asleep and Molly looked out the airplane window at the dark sky, she whispered to herself: "Who are you?"
And somewhere in Northfolk, in a tall building made of glass and steel, a man was about to discove
r that his life was about to be turned upside down by three children who knew something he didn't.