My name is Alistair Thorne. At forty-two, I was a man who seemed to have everything—until the night everything went silent. My wife, Seraphina, a world-famous cellist, died four days after delivering our twin sons, Leo and Noah. Doctors called it a “postpartum complication,” one no one could fully explain.

I was left alone in a $50-million glass mansion in Seattle with two newborns and a grief so heavy it felt like breathing underwater. Noah was strong and calm. Leo wasn’t. His cries were sharp, rhythmic, desperate—like an alarm that never shut off. His tiny body would tense, his eyes rolling back in a way that chilled me to the bone.

The specialist, Dr. Julian Vane, dismissed it as “colic.”
My sister-in-law, Beatrice, had another theory. She said it was my fault—that I was too emotionally distant—and insisted the boys needed a “proper family environment.” What she really meant was that she wanted control of the Thorne Trust and expected me to hand over legal guardianship.

Then Elena arrived.

THE GIRL NO ONE NOTICED

Elena was twenty-four, a nursing student juggling three jobs. She spoke softly, blended into the background, and never asked for more money. She made only one request: permission to sleep in the nursery with the twins.

Beatrice despised her.