Chapter 1

I stared intently at the photo.

The gift that my daughter, Emilia Webb, was holding was a bracelet. It was a one-of-a-kind piece I had searched half of Erovir for just last week as my wife's birthday present.

When Lucy Webb received it, she adored it so much that she couldn't put it down. That very night, she carefully locked it away in the safe.

But now, it had been given to another man.

My fingers felt cold. I was still frozen in shock when a notification popped up in the parents' group chat announcing that a new member had joined.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Emilia Webb's father, Idris Sherman."

"I've been busy with work and overseas until now, so our nanny has been taking care of my daughter. I hope we all get along in the future."

Everyone in the group chat got excited immediately.

The parent who had shared the post immediately tagged him and asked, "Are you Emilia's dad from the post? Oh my gosh, we finally get to meet the real person!"

Idris replied with a smiling emoji. "That's me. I just posted it on a whim. I didn't expect it to go viral."

The group fell silent for a second before it was flooded with compliments.

"I knew it. A child that outstanding must have an extraordinary father."

"Idris, my son is five this year too. He's Emi's deskmate. Let's keep in touch!"

My fingers trembled as I typed a message into the chat. "I bought that bracelet. Emilia is my daughter. Who are you?"

The moment my message was sent, the lively atmosphere in the group came to an abrupt stop.

A few seconds later, Idris replied, "Come on, man. Aren't you something? You saw that my daughter is the heir to Webb Group and started daydreaming? I know you've looked after Emi for a few days, and you've gotten attached to her, but you should know your place.

"Just focus on doing your job as the nanny. You'd better get rid of any inappropriate thoughts before they get out of hand."

The nanny?

I couldn't help but frown.

I had labored day and night to raise Emilia with my own two hands. Since when did I become the nanny?

The other parents started ridiculing and mocking me in the group chat.

"Seriously? Are nannies these days so delusional? Does he think he can climb up to a different social class by doing this?"

"This is hilarious. He looked after the kid for a few days and thinks he's the master of the house?"

"Saying stuff like this online is one thing. I'd never imagined anyone would be thick-skinned enough to say this in real life."

My breathing grew ragged, and my whole body shook with anger. I quickly took screenshots and sent the entire chat history to Lucy.

I texted, "What's going on?"

Her reply came almost instantly.

She first sent a cute sticker making a soothing motion.

Then, she immediately followed it with a voice message in her usual gentle tone. "Honey, don't be mad. I don't even know this Idris guy. You know how it is. There are always gold-diggers trying to marry into money. He probably got Emi's photo from somewhere and is trying to scam us.

"Just ignore him. The more attention you give people like that, the worse they get."

Her explanation sounded perfectly reasonable.

After all, even after we got married, there had never been a shortage of men openly or secretly throwing themselves at her.

Still, I had never doubted her.

To the outside world, Lucy was a self-made businesswoman and a rising star in the business world. But in reality, she had once been a student sponsored by my family.

Webb Group had only been established after we got married. My dad, John Leander, had used the Leander family's connections and resources to support Lucy as she built the company.

To protect her pride, we had never made that public.

She loved me and this family. I had always believed that without question. That was why I had let our daughter take her last name instead of mine.

With that thought, the anger I'd been feeling dissipated considerably.

Another voice message from Lucy came through. I detected a hint of intentional pleasing in her voice.

She said, "Honey, there's no point getting upset over someone like him. By the way, didn't you say you couldn't make it to Emi's parent-teacher meeting tomorrow because of an international conference? How about I go instead?

"While I'm there, I'll report this to the kindergarten. I'll make sure they deal with it seriously."