In my last life, my niece was kidnapped at her christening by our nanny, Stephanie Lawrence, working together with a hotel janitor named Anthony Chavez. They used every trick they could to keep demanding ransom.

And even after they got the money, they never let my niece go.

My sister was blamed by her husband's family for it, for not being able to keep watch over her own child, and a few months later, crushed by the pressure, she slit her wrists at home and died.

I was driving her husband to hand over the ransom when we had an accident on the way. A car hit us, and I died.

Then I was reborn, back at the christening. Friends and family kept arriving one after another, because my niece was the only daughter and heiress of the Dickerson Group, and plenty of people had come to offer their congratulations.

The nanny, Stephanie, suddenly walked over, reaching to lift the baby out of my sister's arms. I stopped her at once. "What do you think you're doing?"

Stephanie stared at me. "It's time for the little miss to have her formula. I'm taking her to feed her."

"No. If she's being fed, it happens right here in front of me. Nobody takes her anywhere."

My eyes fixed on Stephanie, and I swore to myself that in this life I would never let the tragedy repeat.

This time, I was going to make Stephanie and her partner pay the price they had coming.

...

Something flickered in Stephanie's eyes. "I'm only taking her to feed her. I'll bring her right back."

"And who knows where you'd actually take her? What if you didn't bring her back at all?"

In my last life, that was exactly the excuse Stephanie used — taking the baby off to be fed — before she kidnapped her.

At my words, Stephanie's face crumpled as if she'd been wronged. "I don't mean any harm. I've worked for the Dickerson family for years now. Where would I take the little miss?"

"I don't care. If she's being fed, it's in front of me and my sister."

"There are too many people here, it's too noisy. The little miss won't settle to feed in a crowd like this." Stephanie kept reaching for another excuse.

As she spoke, she stepped forward again to take the baby.

I kept blocking her.

"If the little miss goes hungry, will you take responsibility for that?" Stephanie called out at me.

"Yes. I will."

Then Stephanie suddenly said, "Mr. Heath, I know that back at the house you held a grudge against me because I wouldn't let you take one of Mr. Dickerson's watches. Now you're going after me on purpose, aren't you?"

She was throwing dirt at me.

The moment the words landed, they drew a good number of onlookers closer.

"That was something belonging to Mr. Dickerson. Without his permission, I couldn't let it be taken away." A hurt, wronged look spread over Stephanie's face.

And just like that, she had everyone's sympathy.

"Mr. Heath, come on. All this over such a small thing, going after a servant? That's awfully petty."

"Nanny Lawrence was just doing her job for the family!"

Hearing that almost made me laugh out of sheer anger. I was the heir of the Heath Group. Did I need that watch?

The excuse Stephanie had grabbed for was laughably cheap.

At that point, my sister finally spoke up. "All right, Curt, that's enough. Your niece is hungry. Let Nanny Lawrence take her down to be fed."

Hearing that, Stephanie lifted a hand to wipe her eyes and came forward again to take the baby.

"Sis, don't let her touch Emily. If she's being fed, it happens right here. I don't trust her."

My expression was dead serious. I knew exactly what kind of person Stephanie was.

"Sis, this isn't something to joke about. There are too many people here, too many eyes. What if we lost Emily?"

In my last life, the image of my sister bleeding out from her slit wrists flashed through my mind.

And I swore to myself, silently, that I would never let a tragedy like that play out again.

Chapter 2: Chapter 2

My brother-in-law suddenly clapped me on the shoulder and said with a laugh, “My brother-in-law here just adores his niece. But you don't need to be so tense. Nanny Lawrence is family, we trust her completely.”

“You trust her. I don't. Whatever gets said today, no one takes Emily anywhere.”

My voice was firm, and I spread my arms out in front of my sister.

A flicker of embarrassment crossed my brother-in-law's face.

In the end it was my sister who spoke. “Then we'll do it Curt's way. Nanny Lawrence, bring over the bottle you've prepared.”

Nanny Lawrence didn't like it, but she answered all the same.

Watching her turn and walk off, I let out a breath.

Emily lay in my sister's arms, smiling up at me, and I couldn't help stepping closer to play with her.

But I knew the christening wasn't over. My niece wasn't safe yet.

I scanned the room and still hadn't spotted the janitor, Anthony Chavez.

The murmurs kept rising around me. “Young Master Heath is just too young. Likes to make a fuss over nothing. I hear Nanny Lawrence has worked for the Dickersons almost twenty years.”

“Practically one of the family, really. If you can't trust her, who can you trust?”

I ignored the murmurs.

Before long Nanny Lawrence came back with the prepared bottle. My sister tested the temperature on her hand first, and only when she was sure it was fine did she let my niece drink.

Watching Emily finish the formula, I let out a breath.

Nanny Lawrence shot the baby a vicious look, clearly resentful.

But the moment my eyes went to her, her expression settled back to normal.

Just then the host up on the stage began. “Friends and family, thank you all for taking time out of your busy days to join us for our sweet little Emily's christening. Now let our elders come up and offer Emily their blessings.”

The camera swung to Emily, lying in her cradle. At the start she'd been lively enough.

Now she was fast asleep.

It didn't sit right with me. Emily had barely taken a few sips of the bottle, so how had she dropped off all at once?

On any ordinary day, a baby falling asleep after feeding was nothing unusual.

But here, now, it felt wrong.

One by one Emily's elders came up, all smiles and laughter, praising her, some tucking red envelopes beside her.

Someone brought a longevity locket.

When it was my turn, I gave Emily a five-piece gold gift set, a gold bottle, gold chopsticks, and the rest. People's eyes lit up when they saw what I'd brought.

“The heir to the Heath Group, of course his gift is grand!”

“Right? A five-piece gold set, ha…… practical and impressive……”

Looking at Emily lying in the cradle, “asleep” so deeply, I said suddenly, “Sis, the way Emily's sleeping seems off……”

Before my sister could answer, Nanny Lawrence cut in. “Young Master Heath, you really do like your jokes. Babies sleep most of the time. It's just loud in here. Why don't I take her to a room to rest for a bit.”

As she spoke, she moved to lift the child.

I was about to stop her.

And right then the “fire” alarm went off.

That wailing whoop-whoop sound tore through the room.

The sprinklers in the hall opened up fast, spraying water down over everyone, and someone let out a shrill scream. “Fire! Everybody run!”

With that, the whole place broke into chaos.

Everyone bolted for the exits, heedless of anything else.

My first move was to grab my niece, but out of nowhere a burst of spray hit me in the face.

A searing sting flooded my eyes, and all at once I couldn't see.

“Quick, somebody, help!”

I shouted, frantic.

At the same time my sister's frantic voice came. “Where's Emily? Where is she!”

“My daughter's gone!”

My sister's voice was full of panic.

Never mind my eyes. Someone was already at my side. "Young Master Heath, what do you need?"

"Your eyes... let me get water to rinse them."

"No. Seal every exit in this hotel, right now. No one leaves."

"Yes, Young Master Heath."

For this life, I'd brought a lot of my own men in ahead of time.

Once they cleared out, I tilted my face up into the water from the sprinklers and washed my eyes clean.

Even so, the burn kept stinging through.

The whole floor was chaos.

Somewhere in the crowd I saw my sister, searching in a panic.

I pushed toward her fast. The moment she saw me the tears started down her face. "Curt, Emily's gone."

I dragged in a breath. I should have seen it coming. If Nanny Lawrence meant to steal my niece, of course she wouldn't have prepared just one plan.

She'd fallen back on her backup.

Which meant my earlier guess was right. There'd been something in the formula Emily drank.

Sleeping pills, most likely, mixed straight into it.

Craig was shouting too. "Search everywhere, I want my daughter found—"

"Sis, Craig, calm down. My men have already sealed every exit. Not a fly gets out of here now."

At that, some of the panic drained out of them both.

"Also, Sis, call the police."

"Craig, get someone on Nanny Lawrence now. And send people after a hotel janitor. His name's Anthony Chavez."

They both stared at me, confusion on their faces.

I cut in fast. "No time to explain. Just do what I said."

The crowd was still frantic.

Still running everywhere.

I grabbed a microphone. "Everyone, I'm Mr. Heath, of the Heath Group. I've already had it checked. There's no fire. Someone hit the alarm by accident. Everything's fine."

I knew the one thing I couldn't allow was chaos in this room.

Chaos was exactly what Nanny Lawrence and her people needed to slip out in the confusion.

"Really?"

"Of course it's real. Do you smell any smoke anywhere?" I said.

People sniffed the air. It seemed to satisfy them.

Then I called over the hotel manager.

He came right up. "Mr. Heath, we've swept everything. No problems."

"If there's no problem, then we'd like to leave," someone said.

"Right, I don't want to stay here. I want to go home."

"Please, don't rush off. My niece is missing. I believe someone has kidnapped her. I'm asking all of you to stay and cooperate with the investigation."

That set the room off again.

"Don't worry. Cooperate with me, and afterward every one of you will receive a gift as compensation."

Once the crowd had settled, my sister came over and told me she'd called the police. Officers would be here soon.

I gave a short nod. Not long after, Craig came back with Nanny Lawrence, and he told me, "Curt, we couldn't find that Anthony Chavez you mentioned."

My chest dropped at that. Anthony was the key man in Nanny Lawrence's kidnapping.

He could not be allowed to get away. But he'd worked here for years and knew every corner of this hotel. Finding him would be anything but easy.

"No. We have to find Anthony Chavez."

The baby wasn't with Nanny Lawrence, I was sure of it. She'd handed Emily off to Anthony the moment the chaos hit.

And now Nanny Lawrence was playing frantic and pitiful. "It's my fault. I failed you. I didn't keep the little miss safe."

"I was wrong, I'm to blame! Punish me, please."

She came forward confessing, tears spilling out on cue.

"Someone shouted fire and I got scared and ran. I should have carried the little miss out with me."

Her sobbing swelled louder as she spoke.

It drew every eye in the room straight to her.