Theater: NovelMaster | Language: English | NEW
Synopsis
After they destroyed my face and left me for dead, I took on a new identity. I became an elite baby whisperer, charging millions for my uncanny ability to "translate" what infants wanted.
Unsurprisingly, the Sterling family paid a fortune to hire me to care for their sickly little heiress.
The moment I stepped through the front door, I "translated" the baby's cries:
"The little miss says that dog has to go. The dander is choking her."
"The little miss says the chef needs to be replaced. The food tastes terrible, and she refuses to eat it."
"The little miss says the driver has to be fired. He smells strange, and it's giving her a headache."
...
Marcus and Elena Sterling were skeptical at first. But every time they followed my advice, their daughter's pale cheeks flushed with healthy color. Slowly, their guard dropped.
In three years, I replaced nearly every staff member in the Sterling mansion.
I went from a humble nanny to the couple's most trusted confidante.
Then came the day the little girl suddenly reached out and slapped Elena across the face during playtime.
I threw myself in front of Elena, screaming in terror:
"Ma'am, get back! The little miss says she wants to kill you!"
"She says her real mother was Mr. Sterling's ex-wife, and that a nurse secretly swapped her with the true heiress at the hospital! She says the moment she grows up, you'll be the first person she murders!"
With my "baby translation" paving the way, the Sterlings successfully tracked down their real daughter.
Consumed by guilt, they spoiled her rotten.
So did I.
Because that little girl was my own flesh and blood.
"No way! That German Shepherd has guarded Mrs. Sterling for five years. He's practically human!"
"Ma'am, just look at her! The minute she walks in, she starts bossing everyone around. She's deliberately trying to tear this household apart!"
The woman speaking was Martha, the head housekeeper.
She shielded the barking dog with one hand, turning to look imploringly at Elena Sterling.
Naturally, Elena trusted her more. Frowning, she turned her cold gaze on me.
"Martha has a point."
"Julie, I paid top dollar for you to look after my Grace. You're a nanny. Instead of soothing my baby, you're telling me what pets I can keep in my own house. All this talk about 'understanding baby language'—I'm starting to think you're nothing but a fraud."
Her harsh words didn't rattle me. Cradling the infant in my arms, I stepped toward the open French window.
A gentle breeze drifted in, carrying the fresh scent of cut grass.
"Ma'am, babies have far more sensitive noses than adults. The little miss says the dog hair floating in the air makes it hard for her to breathe."
"Look. She's already stopped crying."
Elena glanced down at the baby in my arms. Grace had indeed quieted down.
The suspicion in Elena's eyes melted into smug satisfaction.
"I guess the rumors are true. You really are an elite baby whisperer."
Elena snapped her fingers at the guards. "What are you standing around for? Take that mutt away immediately. Don't let it bother my Grace for another second!"
With Elena's command, Martha didn't dare say another word.
She shot me a venomous glare before dragging the snarling dog away.
As the barking faded into the distance, I looked down at the sleeping child and smiled faintly.
This was only the first step.
There were plenty more filthy things in this house that needed cleaning out.
By the fourth month, the baby began trying solid foods. She threw up violently after the very first spoonful.
"Ma'am, the little miss says the chef needs to go. The food tastes awful, and she won't eat it."
I had the chef replaced.
By the sixth month, the baby had to go in for her vaccinations. The moment she was placed in the back seat, she wailed uncontrollably.
"Sir, the little miss says the driver has to be replaced. He has a strange odor that's giving her a headache."
I had the driver fired.
In the seventh month, I finally came face-to-face with the master of the house, Marcus Sterling.
I didn't dare look him directly in the eye. I kept my head bowed, my fingernails digging so hard into my palms that they drew blood.
Fortunately, Elena only gave him a brief introduction before handing the baby to me for her nap.
I nodded politely, turning to leave.
Suddenly, Marcus called out.
"Where are you from, Miss Adams? Why do you look so familiar to me?"
My entire body froze. Had I slipped up somewhere?
I turned around with an easy, practiced smile. "You must be mistaken, Mr. Sterling. I grew up upstate."
Marcus gave a slow nod. His dark, unreadable eyes swept up and down my body before waving me off.
Over the next few days, I felt his gaze lingering on me far too often.
Then came this morning. Before heading to the office, Marcus slipped into my quarters and pressed a velvet jewelry box into my hand.
"Thank you for taking such good care of Grace. You deserve this."
I took it with trembling fingers.
Two steps out of my room, I slammed right into Elena.
"You dirty little slut!"
Slap!
Her palm struck my cheek with brutal force.
"I hired you to watch my daughter, and you have the nerve to seduce my husband?!"
"Pack your bags and get the hell out of my house!"I hit the floor hard, my cheek burning like fire.
I was stunned by how quickly Elena had found out. But when I looked up, I caught the smug sneer on Martha's face among the gathered staff.
Of course. In the seven months I'd been here, I had purged half the household staff.
I had cut off so many of that old woman's kickbacks. She hated my guts.
Still, this wasn't the time to dwell on that. My plan wasn't finished. I couldn't afford to be thrown out now.
Scrambling on hands and knees, I grabbed the hem of Elena's dress and pleaded desperately:
"Ma'am, please! I'm innocent! I swear I never tried to seduce Mr. Sterling!"
Elena wasn't buying it.
She kicked me hard in the chest and slapped me across the face again.
"Get lost!"
"Martha, have security drag this bitch outside and teach her a lesson she'll never forget!"
Martha grinned wickedly. She signaled two burly bodyguards, who grabbed me by the arms.
Just as they were about to drag me past the threshold, the baby burst into shrill, frantic sobs.
My heart skipped a beat.
In a flash of panic, a vicious idea ignited in my mind.
"Ma'am! Listen to her! I can understand what the little miss is crying about!"
"I don't give a damn if she cries! Even if she screams her lungs out, you're not staying in this house another second! Martha, shove a rag in her mouth and throw her out!"
Martha's wrinkled face beamed with delight. She picked up a filthy cleaning rag and moved to shove it between my lips.
No!
I couldn't be expelled now!
My plan wasn't complete, and my real daughter was still waiting for me!
In a burst of sheer adrenaline, I wrenched myself free from the guards' grip and screamed at the top of my lungs:
"Ma'am! The little miss is saying... she saw it!"
"She saw Martha's daughter, Chloe, in bed with Mr. Sterling!"
The entire grand foyer fell dead silent.
Martha was the first to snap out of it.
She lunged at me like a feral beast, trying to strike me while shouting frantic excuses to Elena:
"Ma'am! She's lying through her teeth just so she doesn't get fired! How could my Chloe ever—"
"In the master bedroom! Yesterday afternoon, while you were out having tea with the other socialites! The little miss was napping right there in the room! She saw everything with her own eyes, and she's crying because she's terrified!"
With every word I spoke, Elena's face darkened another shade.
Martha panicked completely. She tried to force the rag into my mouth, shouting at the guards:
"What are you waiting for?! Throw this lunatic out—"
"Stop!"
Elena's icy voice cut through the chaos. She turned a murderous glare onto Martha.
"Why are you in such a hurry to drag her away, Martha? Let her finish."
Martha froze, trembling from head to toe.
Elena walked over to me and ordered a guard to pull the cloth from my mouth.
I caught my breath and continued:
"Yesterday between two and four in the afternoon. In your master bedroom. The little miss woke up crying, and I rushed to check on her, but Mr. Sterling blocked the door and said he was busy. He told me to come back later. He gave me that box this morning because he thought I figured it out..."
Martha went ballistic, lunging forward again. "You liar! How dare you slander my family?!"
Elena's guards held Martha back. Elena stepped forward and delivered a resounding slap across Martha's face.
The blow was far harder than the one she gave me, knocking Martha clean off her feet.
"Nobody makes decisions in this house except me!"
"Pull the security tapes. Now!"When Marcus returned home, night had fallen.
He glanced at me as I served dinner, looking puzzled.
"Where's Martha?"
Before I could answer, Elena offered a smooth, practiced smile:
"Oh, don't ask. Martha is getting on in years. She took a nasty fall down the stairs this afternoon and suffered a moderate concussion. She's still at the hospital. Won't be back on her feet for a while."
"Julie has been handling things exceptionally well lately, so I figured we'd save ourselves the trouble of hiring someone new. I made her head housekeeper."
It was just a housekeeper.
Marcus nodded dismissively and thought nothing more of it.
In truth, when Elena saw the footage confirming Chloe's tryst with Marcus, she had been ready to tear the house down and confront him.
I had barely managed to hold her back.
"Ma'am, please, breathe! You have to stay calm!"
"You're still recovering from childbirth. When a man strays, the smartest move is to turn a blind eye for now. We have Martha under our thumb, which means Chloe won't dare step out of line."
"As long as she doesn't get pregnant and threaten your position, keeping her close is far safer than letting him chase unpredictable whores on the street!"
Elena's chest had heaved violently as she stared at the damning footage.
She had been a mistress herself before clawing her way into Marcus's bed and taking his first wife's spot.
She knew better than anyone that my words made absolute sense.
Eventually, she cooled down. Looking down at me, she patted my cheek the way one would praise an obedient dog.
"You're a clever girl."
"Stick with me, and I'll make sure you're well taken care of."
I lowered my eyes, offering an eager, fawning smile.
"Thank you, Ma'am. I won't let you down."
I knew right then that I had earned her complete trust. I had embedded myself into the very core of the Sterling family.
All I needed now was the right moment.
At a year old, toddlers hit a turbulent phase of developing self-awareness. They become moody, irritable, and prone to lashing out.
Elena began complaining to me more and more often.
"Julie, look at her. Why does she keep pinching me? What is she babbling about?"
Standing quietly beside her, I answered in a timid, hesitant voice:
"Ma'am... the little miss says... she hates you."
Slap!
Elena's hand cracked across my face, snapping my head to the side. Suppressing her fury, she snarled:
"Nonsense! I carried her for nine months! Why would my own daughter hate me? You must be neglecting her, you worthless piece of trash!"
I didn't dare argue. I simply bowed my head and apologized.
The next day, while being fed, the baby suddenly sank her teeth into Elena's forearm.
"Julie! Julie, get over here right now! Pry her off me! This child has lost her mind!"
I rushed forward, using considerable effort to pry the baby's jaw open.
Elena's arm was dripping with blood.
I gasped, looking horrified.
"Ma'am... the little miss says... you aren't her real mother. She says she wants to go find her real mother."
Elena raised her hand to strike me again.
But when she looked down at the child's scowling, hostile face, and thought about how the baby had rejected her at every turn lately, she glared bitterly at the infant.
"Ungrateful little monster," Elena cursed, trembling with rage. "You don't even recognize your own mother. I'm starting to wonder if you really came out of my womb!"
I knew the time had come.
That night, while playing, the baby suddenly reached up and smacked Elena hard across the cheek.
Before Elena could process what happened, the child raised her tiny hand to strike again.
I lunged forward, throwing my arms around Elena to shield her, and shrieked at the top of my lungs:
"Ma'am, watch out! The little miss says she wants to kill you!"
"She says her real mother was Mr. Sterling's ex-wife! She says a nurse secretly swapped her with the true heiress at the hospital, and once she grows up, she's going to murder you first!"
Elena froze in sheer shock, staring at the little girl with growing horror.
She couldn't even bring herself to touch the child anymore.
Late that night, Marcus returned.
Elena recounted the entire bizarre episode to him.
Marcus turned his sharp, predatory eyes onto me.
"Is that really what Grace said?"
"Julie, if you dare utter a single lie about this, I will make you disappear from the face of this earth."
My body trembled visibly under his terrifying glare.
Yet I held my ground, forcing out a quivering response:
"M-Mr. Sterling, I swear it's what she said. Babies sometimes carry deep sensory memories from the womb. That's why she says these things."
"I was shocked too! You and Mrs. Sterling are each other's first spouses, aren't you? Where could an ex-wife possibly come from?"
At the mention of an "ex-wife," both Marcus and Elena went rigid.
They exchanged a quick, unsettled glance.
Finally, Marcus broke the silence.
"Not a word of this leaves this room."
"Whether this child is truly my daughter or not, I will find out by morning."
His assistant bowed respectfully.
Early the next morning, having unearthed the truth, Marcus and Elena sped off to an orphanage on the outskirts of the city.
There, they found their "true heiress."
All three of them wept as they embraced.
"My baby... my precious girl. Mommy almost lost you forever!"
"Grace has suffered so much."
My own eyes welled with tears as I watched them.
Finally. It had finally worked."Ma'am... what should we do with the other child?" I asked meekly before we departed.
Elena spat in disgust.
"That child? She's the spawn of an animal! Serena Vance that dead whore—even from beyond the grave, she tried to ruin us!"
"I'm showing mercy just by not drowning the little brat. Dump her back in an orphanage and tell the director to make her life miserable!"
Marcus, however, spoke in a quiet, detached voice.
"She's dead and buried, Elena. It's just a child. Don't let it work you up."
"Find a decent foster home for her."
Elena wanted to protest, but I gently squeezed her hand from behind while tucking the blanket around the "real" heiress.
She swallowed her grievances and pulled the newly recovered child tighter against her chest, choking back a sob:
"My sweet angel. No one will ever hurt you again. Mommy won't let you suffer another day..."
Once the true daughter was brought home to the Sterling estate, Marcus and Elena showered her with unimaginable luxury. Mansions, luxury cars, trust funds, and company shares were signed over to her name in endless streams.
I stayed by her side, watching her grow day by day.
Yet Elena never let go of her hatred for the fake heiress. Behind Marcus's back, she paid people to ensure the child was "taken care of" in the worst ways possible.
On the day of the true heiress's first birthday, the Sterling manor blazed with glittering chandeliers.
I stood behind Marcus and Elena, holding the well-behaved birthday girl in my arms.
The little girl wasn't shy at all, happily babbling:
"Daddy. Mommy."
Her sweet voice melted both their hearts.
Elena took the baby into her arms, refusing to let go.
"Yes, my darling girl, Mommy's right here."
The family of three was just about to cut the towering cake together, and the high-society guests were raising their glasses as the celebration reached its peak.
Suddenly, Martha burst through the heavy double doors of the banquet hall.
She screamed at the top of her lungs:
"Serena Vance! I knew you weren't dead!"
Martha rushed toward the stage like a madwoman before security tackled her to the floor.
Still, she shrieked at the ceiling:
"She's a demon! She planted that fake baby in your home just to get her revenge!"
"Mr. Sterling! Mrs. Sterling! Wake up!"
The entire ballroom fell into a stunned, pin-drop silence.
The name *Serena Vance* was like a slap across the face.
Elena whipped her head around, glaring at me with wide, horrified eyes. The silver cake knife slipped from her fingers, clattering loudly against the marble floor.
Marcus's expression morphed instantly into something cold and lethal.
Ignoring the hundreds of elite guests, he ordered his men to drag Martha and me down to the basement.
Down in the concrete cellar, Martha's head was still wrapped in bloody bandages. Looking utterly unhinged, she pulled a crumpled stack of documents from her coat and slammed them on the ground.
"She's not Julie Adams! That small-town background is complete bullshit!"
"And worst of all, that baby isn't yours, Mr. Sterling! She's a bastard Serena dragged in from god knows where! Here is the DNA report—black and white proof! Let's see you lie your way out of this one!"
The report fluttered to my feet. The conclusion was printed in bold, undeniable letters:
[The probability of biological parentage between the tested parties is 0.00%.]
Marcus and Elena's faces drained of color.
Even if I had an explanation for everything else, the fact that the beloved heiress wasn't biologically related to Marcus was an unforgivable offense. It was a death sentence.
Before Elena could even scream or raise a hand against me, Marcus drew a sleek handgun from his assistant's holster.
He pressed the cold barrel directly against my forehead.
Click.
The safety was off.
A single squeeze of his finger, and my skull would be blown apart. My daughter would be cast aside as an orphan once more, doomed to a life of misery.
"Any last words?" Marcus hissed.
I didn't look at the gun.
I simply looked down, turning the page of the DNA report to confirm the details.
In that moment, I knew I was safe.
Above me, Marcus let out a soft, mocking chuckle.
"Serena Vance..."
"You really are an idiot, aren't you? Did you honestly think you could fool me with this?"
BANG!
The gunshot echoed deafeningly off the concrete walls.
But I wasn't the one who fell.
It was Martha.
Her eyes bulged wide, a gaping red hole dead center between her brows. Her body collapsed stiffly to the floor, staring at nothing.
Elena was scared out of her mind. Pointing at me, she screamed:
"Why?!"
"Marcus! She's the one you were supposed to shoot!"
Chapters (4)
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Watch & Promotions
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