At the villa entrance.

Natalie Whitmore looked down at the pregnancy test report in her hand, her face glowing with pure happiness. In her mind, she was already picturing the three of them together in the future, a warm little family, laughing around the same table, living the kind of sweet life people envied.

The second she stepped inside, she headed straight upstairs toward the bedroom, dying to tell her husband, Damien Hargrove, the good news.

But halfway there, she paused.

A thought suddenly crossed her mind. Maybe she should hide the report first, wait until Damien got back, and then give him a proper surprise.

Only, before she even reached the bedroom door, a low, intimate sound drifted out from inside.

Breathless. Heavy. Suppressed, yet full of pleasure.

Any adult would know what was happening in that room without even needing to look.

No. No way.

Her blood rushed straight to her head. Natalie shoved the door open with all her strength, and the first thing she saw was a man and woman tangled together on the bed.

And that man—

That man was Damien Hargrove, the husband who had always acted so gentle with her, the one who had sworn he would love her for the rest of his life.

Then she saw the woman’s face clearly.

Natalie’s eyes widened so hard they almost hurt.

That woman... was actually her half-sister, Alvina Whitmore.

"Why are you doing this to me?!" Natalie screamed, her voice breaking on the last word.

The couple on the bed didn’t panic at all when faced with her collapse and accusation. If anything, they just looked annoyed, like she had ruined the mood.

"Why is she back already?"

Alvina shot Natalie a side glance, clearly irritated, then climbed off Damien without the slightest hurry and bent down to pick up her clothes from the floor, putting them on as if none of this was a big deal.

Damien lay sprawled across the bed, not even bothering to sit up right away. He glared at Alvina, frowning hard, his face dark with displeasure.

In a cold voice, he asked, "Weren’t you at the hospital for a checkup? Why are you back so soon?"

Seeing this disgusting pair act like she didn’t even matter, Natalie let out a sharp, bitter laugh. "So what, my bad for coming back too early and ruining your little hookup?"

Damien reached over, grabbed the bathrobe from the nightstand, and spoke in a casual, almost lazy tone.

"Think whatever you want."

"Now you’ve seen it with your own eyes. I can’t even be bothered to explain. Let’s get divorced." Damien Hargrove looked completely unfazed, like this whole mess had nothing to do with him.

"Divorce?" Natalie Whitmore stared at him, her voice shaking. "Damien Hargrove, you’re seriously dumping me for this shameless woman?"

She truly had not seen this coming. He got caught cheating, red-handed, and instead of even a trace of guilt, the first thing out of his mouth was divorce.

She had really been blind, marrying a total scumbag like him.

Everything had happened too fast. The second Natalie pushed the door open, she hadn’t noticed the pregnancy report slip from her hand and fall to the floor. But Alvina Whitmore saw it.

Alvina hurried over, bent down, picked up the report, and scanned it once. Then she let out a mocking laugh.

"Natalie Whitmore, you’re carrying some other man’s bastard, and you still have the nerve to call me out?"

As she spoke, she handed the report to Damien.

Damien glanced at the test result. When he looked back at Natalie, his eyes were full of disgust, no longer bothering to hide it.

"Alvina Whitmore, don’t you dare make stuff up." Natalie clenched her fists so hard her nails dug into her palms. "I’m not the one with no shame, sneaking around as the other woman and wrecking someone else’s marriage."

"The baby you’re carrying isn’t Damien’s. He’s never even touched you. What’s in your belly is a bastard." Alvina curled her lips into a cold sneer.

Damien’s face darkened at once. "Alvina’s right. The child in your stomach isn’t mine. We’re getting divorced, and you can get out of my house right now."

"Damien, what nonsense are you even saying?" Natalie’s eyes reddened as she stared at him, her whole body tense. "I’ve only ever been with you, and that was on our wedding night. How could this child not be yours?"

"On our wedding night, the man who slept with you wasn’t me at all. I was with Alvina the entire night."

He looked impatient, like even speaking to her for one more second was too much.

"I’m done talking. Take that bastard in your stomach and get the hell out of my house."

Damien snatched the pregnancy report from Alvina’s hand, tore it to pieces, then flung the scraps straight into Natalie’s face.

Natalie froze.

Her body shook hard, like she’d just been struck by lightning out of a clear sky. All the color drained from her face as she looked at Damien in disbelief.

"How... how could this happen?" Her lips trembled. "Damien Hargrove, why are you doing this to me?"

"Natalie, take a good look at yourself." Damien’s eyes were full of contempt. "Tell me, what part of you is even worthy of me?"

He lifted his chin, smug and cold.

"I’m from one of Nancheng’s top elite families now. A beautiful woman like Alvina is the only one who’s good enough for me."

Alvina’s heart twisted in spasms of pain. Looking at Damien Hargrove standing in front of her, she only felt one thing—this man was so unfamiliar it was scary.

Damien Hargrove had been switched at birth by a nurse. It wasn’t until three months ago that his biological parents suddenly found him.

Only then did he get his identity back as a rich young master.

The Hargrove family was one of the top elite families in Nancheng.

Even though Damien Hargrove’s parents were only from a side branch of the Hargrove family, Damien Hargrove had still gone from an ordinary guy to a born-rich heir in one leap.

As for Natalie Whitmore, she wasn’t as good at dressing herself up as her half-sister Alvina Whitmore, and on top of that, her biological mother had even been in prison.

In the Whitmore family, her father always sided with the stepmother and Alvina Whitmore, while Natalie Whitmore was left out in the cold.

Now that Damien Hargrove’s status had changed, he clearly felt Natalie Whitmore was beneath him and no longer worthy of standing by his side.

Only at this moment did Natalie Whitmore finally understand. Once a person’s status changed, their heart could rot right along with it.

Tears shimmered in Alvina’s eyes. "Damien Hargrove, you bastard. You trash ex. So you want a divorce, huh? Fine. Let’s see how this ends!"

...

In the blink of an eye, four years had passed.

In the outskirts of Nancheng, inside a two-story house.

After putting away all the medicinal herbs in the backyard, Natalie Whitmore lifted a hand and rubbed her sore lower back, feeling the dull ache spread through her waist.

"Mommy, Mommy, hurry and come with me! Big Brother saw a super huge animal! Come look, come look!"

Just then, an adorable little girl who looked like a doll, with two tiny braids bouncing by her cheeks, came running over on her short little legs and tugged Natalie Whitmore toward the door.

"Lily, where did you run off to play with your brothers again?"

Natalie Whitmore held the little dumpling’s soft hand, her heart instantly turning warm and sweet.

Four years ago, Natalie Whitmore had been pregnant with triplets. The little girl in front of her was the youngest of the three, Lily Whitmore.

Back then, after she had completely fallen out with Damien Hargrove, she had moved out of the Hargrove family home.

Four years ago, she moved out of the Hargrove house and completely cut ties with Damien Hargrove.

Her mentor had already secured her a student exchange spot in N Country through the school half a year earlier, so in the end, she chose to go abroad and continue her studies.

At first, she had wanted to get rid of the baby.

But when she got to the hospital, the doctor told her that her uterine wall was naturally thinner than most people’s. If she went through with an abortion, there was a high chance she might never be able to have children again.

So after all that, she decided to keep the baby.

Putting aside the hardship of pregnancy, these past four years, she had been truly grateful to have three adorable little ones by her side.

It was a kind of happiness and joy she had never known before.

"Mommy, Mommy, hurry, look over there!"

Lily Whitmore grabbed Natalie Whitmore’s hand and pulled her toward a patch of barren ground on the back hill.

Over there, two little boys who looked exactly alike were squatting on the ground, staring at something with bright, curious eyes.

"Dabao, Erbao, what did you two find this time? Another injured little animal?"

Natalie had assumed the three kids were like usual, having stumbled across some hurt little creature again.

But when she stepped closer and took a look, her heart skipped a beat.

Lying on the ground was a man covered in blood.

"Mommy, this man is bleeding a lot. Save him, quick."

Dabao had delicate features, all clean and handsome, and even the way he spoke carried a faint cool-kid vibe.

The boy had a calmness that didn’t really match his age, and there was also something refined about him, something almost naturally noble.

"Mommy, I checked already. He’s not dead yet. Hurry up and save him. If you bring him back, we can earn more medical fees again!"

Erbao looked exactly the same as Dabao, like copy-paste level alike, but his personality was the total opposite. He was much more lively and animated.

Natalie’s expression immediately turned serious. She crouched down and carefully checked the man’s condition.

He wasn’t dead.

His breathing was just very weak.

If he didn’t get treated fast, he could very well die.

Natalie Whitmore lifted her head and glanced at the cliff not far away, her brows instantly knitting together.

She had a strong feeling this man had fallen from up there.

Who exactly was he?

Natalie searched through his pockets once, then again, but found nothing that could prove his identity.

Sticking to her duty as a doctor, she gritted her teeth, used every bit of strength she had, and dragged the man back home, settling him into a room on the first floor.

"Mommy, I’ll go get the gauze and the disinfectant for you."

"Mommy, I’ll go fetch some water."

"Mommy, then I... I’ll stay here with you."

Hearing that, Natalie’s heart softened, warm all over.

This house had been left to her by her grandmother before she passed away.

Not long ago, Natalie had just returned to the country with the little ones, and after coming back, she made this place their home.

This time, she had returned for two reasons. First, the children were old enough to start school. Second, there was something she had put off for far too long, and now it was finally time to look into it.

Before long, the eldest brought over the medical kit.

Natalie opened it and took out a cloth roll from inside.

When she unfolded it, a neat row of silver needles came into view.

"Mommy, are you really gonna start doing the needle thing now?"

Lily Whitmore scooted a little closer to her eldest brother, clearly wanting to watch but also totally chickening out.

The eldest reached out and pulled Lily Whitmore into his arms, shielding her like a proper big brother.

"That’s right. Good kids, you all go outside first. Mommy needs to do acupuncture and save him."

"Okay, Mommy!" the three little ones answered in perfect sync.

Once the kids had filed out of the room, Natalie Whitmore took off the man's clothes, leaving only his briefs, then started placing needles into several key pressure points on his body.

The man was seriously well-built. His eight-pack was right there on full display, the kind of body that practically screamed raw masculine energy.

But while Natalie was working, her gaze suddenly froze on a red birthmark on his chest.

Her breathing hitched at once.

That mark... it looked way too familiar.

In the very next second, her mind flashed back to that night four years ago, their wedding night.

Her hand had pressed against a man's chest, and in that dim, shadowy light, she had seen a dark red birthmark there too.

But four years had already passed, and the lighting that night had been awful. She couldn't clearly remember what shape the birthmark had been.

At that thought, Natalie's brows pulled tight. She quickly grabbed a damp towel and moved back to wipe the man's face, wanting to get a proper look at what he actually looked like.

The wet towel slowly cleaned away the dirt and grime on his face, little by little revealing his real features.

He had a broad forehead, a high, straight nose, and thin lips.

His features were sharply defined, almost like they had been carved by hand. Even with injuries on his face, his looks were still completely unaffected.

He was seriously handsome.

Natalie studied him carefully. The more she looked, the more she realized that it wasn't just that he was good-looking.

He looked familiar. Really familiar.

As she stared, the faces of her twin sons suddenly flashed through her mind.

A trace of confusion rose in her eyes. Why did her boys look so much like the man lying in front of her?

Could it be... this was the man from that night four years ago, the one who had been with her on her wedding night?

The thought made Natalie's heart drop hard.

After finishing the acupuncture treatment, she drew a small vial of his blood, then turned and left the room to run a test.

The second Natalie was gone, the three little ones sneaked into the room like tiny thieves on a mission.

"Wow, this uncle is crazy handsome!"

Lily Whitmore stared at the unconscious man, her big black eyes sparkling so hard they practically popped out pink little heart bubbles.

"Hey, sis, don’t go all heart-eyes over some random guy!"

Second Brother shot his little sister a disgusted look, then glanced at the man on the bed before turning to Eldest Brother.

"Big Bro, don’t you think this guy kinda looks like us?"

Eldest Brother narrowed his gem-dark eyes slightly and said nothing.

He really did look like them.

"Yeah, yeah, exactly! This handsome uncle looks so much like us... do you think he could be our daddy?" Lily Whitmore asked, so excited she was practically glowing.

"Sis, tons of people in this world look alike. Doesn’t that bad guy look like us too?" Eldest Brother’s babyish voice was soft, but there was a calm steadiness in it.

"That’s true... the jerk who dumped Mommy looks like us too. But he’s definitely not our daddy."

Lily pouted, her small face scrunched up, then looked at the man lying on the bed and said in a sweet, childish voice, "Brother, I just really, really want to know what our daddy actually looks like!"

He wanted to know too.

Eldest Brother’s pretty big eyes blinked fast. Then he lifted his little legs and ran straight toward the lab.

That lab had been put together by Natalie Whitmore in a rush.

Ever since he got old enough to understand things, he had pieced together bits and pieces of the truth about his background from Mommy’s chats with Godmother.

Their father was unknown.

Now this man they had rescued looked so much like them.

Could he really be their father?