A Life Left Behind

On our 40th wedding anniversary, I discovered that my beloved husband, Derrick, had been cheating on me. Even our marriage certificate had been forged.

The woman he cheated with was his foster sister, Jasmine.

I confronted Derrick with the evidence, but he only looked irritated.

"I've already treated you well enough in this lifetime. Jasmine is my true love. I will marry her and have children with her."

Even my son tried to convince me.

"Just be grateful. My real parents never went public with their relationship all these years for your sake. You are old now. What else can you do?"

That was when I learned the cruel truth. The Mafia heir I had raised with my own hands was not even my biological child.

Back then, Jasmine and I gave birth on the same day. To make sure Jasmine's baby would inherit the Mafia family my father left to me, Derrick secretly switched our children.

Because of their negligence, my biological child later died from a simple cold.

The cruelest irony was that I had raised Jasmine's son as my own and helped him reach the top of the Mafia hierarchy.

When the truth finally hit me, I coughed up blood and fainted.

When I opened my eyes again, I had gone back in time to the very day I gave birth.

The wails of a child tore me from sleep.

"Look at our son, Lily. Isn't he just precious?"

Derick smilingly cradled a baby in his arms, standing at the foot of my hospital bed.

Blinking away confusion, I took in Derick's youthful features and realized: I had been given a second chance at life.

I had come back to the very day they had taken my child from me.

The thought fueled a surge of adrenaline that pushed the pain aside. I reached out, desperate to take the baby from Derick.

"Hand him over to me, now!"

"Okay, okay, easy there, dear." With a smile still playing on his lips, Derick passed the baby into my arms.

I wasted no time peeling back the swaddle to inspect his thigh. There it was, a faint birthmark.

This child was not mine.

He was the secret offspring of Derick and Jasmine!

Rage bubbled up inside me.

Derick, oblivious, continued his charade. "Look at those long legs; he's got that from you! He's going to be a model, and not just that, a formidable Mafia boss one day!"

I scoffed at the irony.

I had poured my soul into raising him, grooming him.

To ascend as the leader of the country's most feared Mafia.

Still, for 40 years, he, Derick, and Jasmine had played me for a fool.

When I uncovered their lies, they had the audacity to threaten me, to demand my grace over their illicit romance.

While my true heir, my flesh and blood, had perished in the cold, uncared for, all because of a simple cold.

The thought alone made me want to rip them apart!

Nevertheless, my priority was clear: I had to find my real son.

Taking a deep breath to quell the storm inside, I turned to Derick. "What about Jasmine? She was due as well, wasn't she? Did she have a boy or a girl?"

A shadow of guilt flickered across Derick's face. "She's had a son, too.

"Her husband's gone, and she can't swing the cost of a private room. Look after the kid for a bit, I'm going to check on her in the regular ward."

I did not say a word against it.

With that, Derick was up and out the door like a shot.

I let out an icy laugh. The moment he was gone, I waved over one of my guys I trusted and slipped a nurse some cash.

Minutes later, I was cradling the baby, standing in Jasmine's room.

She and Derick had been summoned away by the nurse.

There was my boy, just left on the bed, nothing on him but a scratchy washcloth.

I did not think twice. I switched the babies back without missing a beat.

As I held the tiny bundle and the baby snuggled tight against me, tears came unbidden.

He seemed to connect with me right away, nestling into the warmth of my chest.

Yes. Even on our first meeting, I knew in my gut that he was my flesh and blood!

In my previous life, Derick had his fling with his so-called 'sister' Jasmine before he ever knew me.

All the while, unaware of the truth, I was running the mafia business and raising their child myself.

They were busy dreaming about their love child and blowing through the cash I made, which ended up costing my son his life.

I poured my soul into making their kid my successor, and they just sat back and enjoyed the spoils.

My boy and I? We were just pawns in their perfect life!

Fate handed me a do-over, and this time, Derrick and Jasmine would be dealt with a well-deserved retribution!