Who would've guessed Eleanor would go so far as to erase all my official records tied to our home, without even telling me, to crush my hopes completely?
When my maternity leave ended and I went back to work, I walked straight into a nightmare.
That was when I discovered the truth: I had already been flagged as an unregistered individual, a ghost in the system.
Legally, I did not even exist.
Furious, I confronted Paul and Eleanor, demanding an explanation. But they just brushed me off, tossing out vague excuses like it was no big deal and like I was the one being dramatic.
With no way to restore my original records, I had no choice but to register temporarily under the Wilson family's address. And that decision came with consequences I never could have imagined.
Due to that registration switch, my family's farmland, which spans over eighty acres, was seized by the state.
Just like that, it was gone.
And my job? I lost that, too. Not having legal status meant I couldn't work. I was stuck, trapped in a marriage far from home with no options and nowhere to go, and forced into becoming a full-time housewife, shackled to my mother-in-law's daily insults and endless torment.
Years dragged by.
And when Nathan turned eighteen, he failed the college entrance exam and missed the cutoff by exactly fifteen points.
I remember the way Eleanor clutched his score report in her hand, her voice dripping with blame as she shoved the failure in my face.
"If your selfish mother hadn't refused to register you under her name, you wouldn't have to suffer through this awful repeat year, my poor grandson."
That was the moment everything snapped. How dare she blame me when it was she who had refused to let my son be registered under me in the first place?
Right then, all the bottled-up resentment, disappointment, and bitterness finally erupted.
My son, my own flesh and blood, grabbed a fruit knife and lunged at me.
The blade glinted, a flash of silver coming straight for my face.
I barely had time to scream. "No—!"
"Patient is regaining consciousness. The newborn's vitals are stable. Surgery complete."
The anesthesiologist's voice floated near my ear, pulling me back into the light.
My eyes flew open in a panic, my heart pounding as I scanned the room, desperately searching for my newborn son.
"Bring the newborn out so the family can see," I heard one of the nurses say. "Seriously, doesn't that old woman ever get tired? She's been yelling for two straight hours."
I saw her turn toward the door, cradling my baby in her arms.
A surge of adrenaline shot through me, cutting right through the haze.
I cried out, forcing my voice past the rawness in my throat. "No! Please don't take him out. Please, I beg you!"
The staff froze mid-step. Their expressions shifted instantly, their eyes flicking toward each other, unsure and a little suspicious.
"Amara," the lead surgeon, Dr. Jones, said gently, stepping closer with a warm, careful smile, "your baby's perfectly healthy—six pounds, eight ounces. And he looks a lot like you."
Dr. Jones raised the little bundle slightly so I could see him, her voice softening as she continued. "You've just gone through surgery. Your body needs rest. Your family should look after him for now."
But she must've seen the panic on my face. The dread must have been written all over me, because her tone shifted again, this time more cautious and understanding.
"Your mother-in-law's been completely out of line, but don't worry about her and just focus on recovering. She's not going to hurt the baby."
No, she didn't get it. None of them did.
I watched the nurse inch closer to the door with my son. Every muscle in my body screamed in protest. I wasn't letting history repeat itself.
I reached out, grabbing the surgeon's white coat with all the strength I had left.
"Please," I whispered, then louder, "please don't hand him to my mother-in-law or my husband. You have to give him to Nurse Clara Smith. She's the only one I trust. Please."
Dr. Jones's brows furrowed, clearly trying to make sense of my desperation, but something in my voice must have gotten through to her. She patted my hand gently, reassuringly.
"The maternity nurse is probably more responsible than that old witch anyway," she said with a sigh. "Don't worry. I'll stay with her and keep an eye on your son."
Right then, the delivery room doors opened.
Aunt Clara came rushing in, breathless, and immediately scooped my baby into her arms, holding him tight against her chest like he was her own.
Eleanor stormed in right after her, face thunderous, barreling forward to grab him, only to be blocked by Dr. Jones, who stepped in between them without flinching.
Only when I saw with my own eyes that my baby was safe in Aunt Clara's arms did my body finally give in. The adrenaline drained, and the anesthesia pulled me under once again.
Darkness.
...
"She's still asleep? Are you kidding me? What kind of woman sleeps this long after giving birth?"
"I don't know what's wrong with that crazy old nurse," another voice snapped. "She's clinging to my grandson like a lunatic. Won't even let me hold him."
Then came that all-too-familiar condescending whine.
"Paul, you don't think that old hag got tricked by that little tramp, do you? What if she's planning to snatch the baby and run now that her registration scheme failed?"
Paul let out a groan, clearly annoyed after losing another game on his phone.
"Will you give it a rest already? If you hadn't spent two hours screaming your head off at the nurse outside the delivery room, she wouldn't be suspicious to begin with. Just shut up already. She's starting to wake up. You want to blow everything right now? Think you can fix that mess?"
Eleanor's voice lowered to a hiss, but she kept going.
"I'm just saying that if she wakes up and remembers what the baby looks like, switching them out will be harder."
Paul actually laughed.
"What's so hard about that? I already looked at both babies. They look the same. She won't know the difference."
And that was the moment everything inside me broke.
I heard every word.
The betrayal hit like cold water poured over my spine. My whole body went numb, but inside, it felt like fire—like ants crawling through my veins and gnawing at my bones.
So it was true.
My gut had never been wrong.
The son I'd almost died giving birth to the baby they claimed had 'supermale syndrome' had never even been mine.
They had switched my baby.
All those years. All that pain. All that loss.
It wasn't some tragic misunderstanding. It was planned. Deliberate.
My fury from eighteen years, buried and smoldering, erupted like wildfire.
The machines hooked up to my body began to scream, beeping faster and louder with every second.
"Amara! Wake up! Can you hear me?" someone shouted from the bed. "Amara, please don't scare me. Come on. Wake up!"
