After They Stole My Life, Reborn I Called Another Man Dad Chapter 01

After They Stole My Life, Reborn I Called Another Man Dad Chapter 01

It happened during the newborn’s final checkup before discharge.

My older brother, Austin Miller, expertly peeled the plastic ID band from my wrist and fastened it around the wrist of the baby lying beside me.

“Sorry. Chloe’s the only little sister I recognize. In our last life, she was afraid you’d resent her, so she ran away and ended up getting kidnapped. This time, I’m going to protect her.”

My biological mother stood beside him and silently gave her approval. She even helped him cover their tracks as they switched my ID with the other baby’s.

I was left alone on the side.

I didn’t cry. I didn’t fuss.

It seemed they’d forgotten that in our previous life, after Chloe disappeared, they had blamed me for coming back at all. On the night of a blizzard, they had thrown me out of the house.

I’d frozen to death in the snow while they held a memorial service for Chloe Miller inside their mansion, even though there had been no body to bury.

I thought bitterly, Maybe this was karma after all.

Now, I could only watch as they carried the fake daughter away.

Maybe this was for the best.

This time, we’d go our separate ways.

…

When the nurse carried me out of the hospital, the Miller family’s car was still parked by the entrance.

The man who had come to pick me up had nothing with him. He wore a wrinkled black shirt, and his eyes were bloodshot from exhaustion.

It wasn’t until the nurse tentatively called out twice, “Mr. Vance?”

that he seemed to snap back to reality.

He hurried over.

When he reached out to take me, it was obvious he’d never held a baby before. His arms were stiff as boards, and he had no idea where to support the back of my head.

I caught the faint smell of cigarette smoke clinging to his sleeve, mixed with the hospital’s lingering scent of disinfectant.

He stared down at me for a long moment before frowning.

“Why does she look even more wrinkled than she did yesterday?”

The nurse couldn’t help laughing.

“All newborns look like that. Give her a few days and she’ll fill out.”

“Oh.”

He nodded, then immediately started asking more questions.

“Has she eaten today? What about her jaundice? Is she going to cry all night?”

The nurse looked a little helpless.

“Babies cry. That’s what babies do.”

The man was silent for a few seconds. Then his voice dropped.

“Her mother is gone. From now on, it’s just going to be me. I’m scared I won’t understand why she’s crying.”

That was when I learned his name.

Ethan Vance.

His wife, Sarah Vance, had suffered a sudden complication during childbirth. Less than two hours after their daughter was born, Sarah had died from an amniotic fluid embolism despite every effort to save her.

Just yesterday, Ethan had been downstairs handling the paperwork for his wife’s death.

Today, he had to come pick up his daughter alone.

And his biological daughter was lying in my biological mother’s arms.

Ethan carried me toward the exit.

As we passed the parking lot, I heard my older brother’s voice.

“Mom, is Chloe hungry? Where’s the ready-to-feed formula? I’ll grab it.”

I opened my eyes.

Not far away, my biological mother, Eleanor Miller, sat in the back seat of the car with a tiny pink bundle in her arms.

Austin was leaning against the open car door, carefully shielding Chloe from the sunlight outside. Sweat had already gathered on his forehead from how anxious he was.

He looked like a completely different person from the boy who had just ripped the ID band off my wrist.

Eleanor looked down at Chloe and gently rocked her.

“Shh, sweetheart. Don’t cry. Mommy’s right here.”

In my previous life, when the Millers had finally found me, my biological mother had held me exactly like that.

She had bought me new clothes and brushed my hair herself. When she learned that I’d never had a birthday party as a child, she’d cried and promised that she’d make up for every birthday I’d missed.

Later, after Chloe disappeared, those same promises had turned into accusations.

“If it weren’t for us bringing you home, Chloe never would’ve run away!”

“Why did you have to come back? You were doing just fine without us!”

And then, on that night when the blizzard buried everything in snow, she’d thrown my coat outside and told me to get out.

I’d pounded on the mansion door for two straight hours.

She never opened it.

As if she’d sensed something, Eleanor suddenly looked up.

Through the car window, her eyes met mine.

I didn’t cry.

I didn’t reach for her the way an ordinary baby might have.

I simply stared at her in silence.

Her expression changed slightly.

Then, in the next second, she pulled Chloe even tighter against her chest.

The car window slowly rolled up, completely cutting off my view.