"Dad, a nanny this vicious—who knows what she's already done to the baby."

"Bring Brutus out. Let him drag the truth out of her!"

Eric nodded. A second later, an enormous iron cage was wheeled to the center of the banquet hall.

The black cloth was pulled away. Inside, a mastiff the height of a grown man locked its eyes on me and let out a low, eager growl.

The bodyguards unlocked the cage and moved toward me, ready to shove me inside.

The memory of being torn apart by that same beast flashed before my eyes, and I spoke immediately.

"That underwear reeks of breast milk—I'm not even nursing. It's not mine!"

Samuel's face went dark on the spot. He lunged for the underwear in a panic, clearly about to hurl it into the swimming pool nearby.

But Effie was faster. She snatched it away and had someone inspect it.

One look at the stains and her face went livid.

Her eyes dropped to my flat chest, and she backhanded Samuel across the face.

"I know every woman who's nursed my daughter. She is not one of them!"

"Who is this other woman?"

The ring on Effie's hand left a bloody scratch across Samuel's cheek, but he didn't dare show even a flicker of anger.

All he could do was fix me with a venomous stare and keep piling the filth onto me.

"Who says a woman has to be nursing to smell like that?"

"Some women are just born with it—milk in their bodies whether they've had a baby or not, and this sweet, strange scent coming off their skin."

"Doesn't matter how fussy the kid is. The second it gets close to a woman like her, it stops crying. Can't help but cling to her."

"She's barely out of her twenties and she walked in here pulling fifty thousand a month as a maternity nanny. Maybe that's exactly the edge she has."

"That underwear is hers."

Samuel laid it out so convincingly that Effie demanded I strip on the spot for inspection.

I refused outright and pulled out my phone to call the police.

Samuel snatched it from my hand and smashed it on the ground.

"You say it isn't you? Then let someone check. Simple. Why all the resistance? Because you know you're guilty!"

I wasn't about to back down.

"Didn't do it. Period. You want me to strip over some baseless accusation? Fine—then I say you can't get it up."

"Why don't you drop your pants and prove it to everyone here?"

That shut Samuel up. Effie, though, was frowning hard.

She told me, "Samuel would never accuse someone without reason. If you say that underwear isn't yours, find a way to prove it."

"Or step inside and have a conversation with Brutus."

"I find that facing those fangs has a way of making liars honest."

Effie was boxing me in. Strip naked in front of everyone to prove my innocence—or climb into that cage and feed the dog.

The bodyguards had already closed in around me.

The moment I tried to run, they would swarm me, seize me, and stuff me into that cage—a wrongful corpse under the mastiff's claws.

I took a deep breath and made my choice right there.

I reached into my bag and let the documents do the talking.

A diploma from a top university in Westbridge State. A doctorate in economics.

I also had an employment letter from Oceanic International naming me chief securities analyst—but that stayed in the bag. I wasn't about to drag professional business into this.

I held up the two credentials and looked Effie dead in the eye.

"Ms. Walker, I went to school in Westbridge State. Everyone knows what it takes to survive there."

"Six years I bled for a finance doctorate at one of the best institutions on the planet. I pull a seven-figure salary."

"Do you really think I'd take fifty thousand a month to look after a screaming infant around the clock while watching my back for men in the household with wandering hands?"

I said that last part on purpose—to make sure Effie understood exactly how little her nanny job was worth to me.

A man like Samuel Weiss, who lied as easily as he breathed? Only someone born rich and raised brainless would actually believe him.

Sure enough, Effie's eyes softened the moment she saw my two certificates.

Stupid as she was, even she had to understand what a Westbridge State doctorate was worth.

Her sharp gaze was swinging back toward Samuel when a woman burst through the crowd, slapped me three times across the face in rapid succession, and shrieked:

"June Delgado, have you lost your mind? Forging documents to con a tycoon's daughter!"

"When they catch you out, you'll drag our whole family straight to hell—do you even care?"

My cheek swelled instantly from the blows.

Five clear fingerprints stood out against the skin.

I looked hard at the woman in front of me and realized I had never seen her before in my life.

Holding my injured cheek, I kept my expression cold and gave her one warning.

"I don't know you. Apologize and compensate me right now, or my legal team will sue you into the ground."

The woman threw herself into hysterics.

"Heaven strike me down! How did I give birth to a wretch like you?"

"She'll lie to anyone! She won't even acknowledge her own mother!"

"Effie, Samuel—I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't raise her right, this is my fault."

"However you want to punish her, go right ahead. I won't stop you. Better that than letting her keep running scams everywhere she goes!"

The room erupted. Sharp intakes of breath cut through the crowd on every side.

"She's a professional con artist?"

"Her own mother just said so. That settles it!"

"Good thing she showed up in time. We almost fell for it!"

Effie's jaw clenched so hard I could see the muscles work. She turned to me.

"Having fun playing me for a fool?"

"Lock her in with Brutus. Let her have all the fun she wants."

The instant I caught the flash of triumph in the woman's eyes—and in Samuel's—I raised my voice.

"I'm not lying! This woman is not my mother! And my name isn't June Delgado."

"My name is Juliana Perry. She doesn't even know my real name. How could she possibly be my mother?"

That was when Effie noticed: the name printed on the diploma and degree certificate in my hands was, in fact, Juliana Perry.

The moment doubt flickered in her eyes, Samuel stepped forward to close the gap.

"What mother doesn't know her own daughter? She's June Delgado!"

"She'll forge documents if that's what it takes to con you."

"One name? Who knows if she just made it up because she's run too many scams and needed to cover her tracks."

I told Effie to send someone to the police records office and check for herself.

My name was Juliana Perry, and the parents listed on my household registration were absolutely not this woman.

Half-believing, half-doubting, Effie called the records office. The answer came back quickly.

My name was indeed Juliana Perry, and the woman standing before us was not my mother.

But even under Effie's razor-sharp stare, the woman insisted she was my birth mother.

"Sweetheart, I divorced your abusive, cheating father when you were three. I raised you all by myself."

"You can't change your surname just because that bastard promised to buy you a car and a house—you can't just throw your own mother away!"

"He's lying to you! Nobody in this world loves you more than your mother does!"

The woman sobbed through every word, then pulled out a DNA test—and it confirmed she really was my biological mother.

Only then did I remember. When I was little, my father had told me the woman living with us wasn't my real mother.

My birth mother was a gambling addict who'd gotten so desperate at the card table she tried to wager me as her stake.

My father couldn't stomach that kind of depravity. He divorced her, packed us up overnight, and cut her off completely.

We didn't keep a single photograph of her. No wonder I hadn't recognized her.

But no one believed my explanation.

Even Eric Walker, who had been silent until now, rose to his feet.

"Juliana Perry, I'd like to believe you."

"But your mother has been with my household for twenty years. I know what kind of person she is."

"I will not allow a woman who tried to destroy my daughter's marriage and lies with every breath to go on living."

He raised his hand, and the bodyguards moved to shove me into the dog cage.

My gaze caught Effie beside him—the relief on her face plain as day—and something locked into place. I lunged and grabbed the hem of Eric's trousers.

"Mr. Walker, I know who's been sleeping with your son-in-law!"

"It's her!"

Every head in the room turned to follow where my finger was pointing.

When they saw I was pointing at Effie, they all looked at me like I'd lost my mind.

Even Effie herself laughed in disbelief at the accusation.

"Juliana, do you hear yourself?"

"I'm Samuel's wife! You're saying I committed adultery with my own husband? How does that even work?"

Eric stared down at me, eyes full of disgust.

"If I'd known you were such a stupid fraud, I would've had Brutus rip you apart before you ever opened your mouth."

"Drag her to the private beast arena. Tell the fireworks crew the show's cancelled—tonight I'm inviting my guests to watch a woman fight wild animals instead."

Eric's voice didn't waver. The bodyguards seized me and hauled me toward the private beast arena.

I thrashed and screamed explanations, but someone shoved a cloth into my mouth to shut me up.

Just as I was about to be dragged out of the banquet hall, a business card slipped from my jacket pocket and hit the marble with a sharp crack.

One of the bodyguards looked down. His face went white. Hands shaking, he picked it up and carried it straight to Eric.

I straightened my clothes and faced him.

"I'm the chief securities analyst at Oceanic International."

"I came tonight to assess whether the Walker family qualifies for Oceanic International's first domestic investment allocation."

"Ha— haha!" Before I could finish, Samuel doubled over, laughing so hard tears ran down his face.

He clutched his stomach and pointed at me.

"Juliana, your cons are garbage, but I'll give you this—you've got nerve."

"First you're some elite graduate back from overseas, now you're Oceanic International's chief securities analyst."

"Do you even know what those four words are worth?"

"The biggest financial firm on the planet. A janitor there makes more in a month than you earn in a year."

"You're a nanny who wipes up shit and piss—stop putting gold on your face and go perform in the arena."

Effie wore the same sneer. She snatched the business card, tore it in half, and flicked the pieces into the air.

"I've seen this trick a hundred times. You can't just print a few cards and expect people to fall for it."

"You've got a hard mouth, though. I'm worried Brutus alone won't be enough to break you."

"Dad, didn't you just bring back a few lions and tigers from Africa as gifts for the baby's one-month celebration? Why not let them out tonight and give everyone a real show?"

Eric's gaze dropped to the gold-embossed business card on the ground. The watermark caught the sunlight, sharp enough to make him squint.

He still nodded. His men dragged me into the arena.

Lions and tigers that hadn't eaten in days surged to their feet, throwing themselves at the bars, snarling.

Samuel grabbed a fistful of my hair and forced my face toward them.

Then he leaned close, his voice dropping to a whisper only I could hear.

"Juliana, you're clever. You almost got there. Almost touched the truth."

"Too bad you're just a little short on luck. Be a good girl and let the beasts tear you apart, and nobody will ever find out my secret."

He laughed—manic, triumphant—and raised his hand to signal the guards to lift the gate.

I watched it rise, inch by inch.

Death was one step away.

The gate was almost open when a booming laugh cut through from the doorway.

"Mr. Walker! Congratulations on the new grandchild!"

Eric saw who it was—Oceanic Group's representative in Arden—and his whole demeanor flipped. He was on his feet instantly, ushering the man toward a seat, eager to show off the spectacle.

But when Edward's gaze found me in the arena, disheveled and cornered, his face changed completely.

He threw himself past the bars and planted himself in front of me.

"Chief... Chief Analyst Perry!"