Quietly, he had his assistant look into her. Twenty-three. Single mom. Street vendor. No family nearby. Struggling to hold on.
Then Noah’s cough worsened. The clinic diagnosed bronchitis and gave Grace a prescription she couldn’t afford. She left with Noah wheezing, promising him she’d find a way.
On the bus home, her phone rang. It was Linda Park—Daniel’s assistant. He wanted to speak to her about a job.
The next day, in her only nice dress, Grace walked into Carter Dynamics feeling completely out of place. Daniel stood when she entered and asked about Noah immediately.
When she admitted she couldn’t afford the medicine, he made his offer: he wanted to hire her as Liam’s evening caretaker. Liam was happier with her than with anyone else, and Daniel needed someone gentle and trustworthy in his son’s life.
“You could hire a real nanny,” she protested.
“My son smiled more in five minutes with you than in years with me,” Daniel said softly.
He offered a generous salary and health insurance—three times what she made selling food on the street. Her pride faltered, but Noah’s struggle echoed in her ears. She agreed, as long as she could still sell empanadas on weekends. Daniel accepted immediately and paid for Noah’s care that day.
At the Carter home, Grace stepped into a world she’d never imagined—huge gardens, glittering hallways—but what mattered was Liam. Within two weeks, he’d changed completely. He ran to her after school, handing her a drawing of four stick figures: a man, a woman, a boy, and a baby.
“That’s us,” he said. “You, me, Noah, and Dad.”
Grace swallowed hard. “Honey, I’m just your babysitter.”
“But Dad’s never here,” Liam said simply.
Daniel started coming home early—mostly to see Liam laughing, but also just to see Grace. Evenings turned into shared meals, origami lessons, and gentle laughter echoing through a house that had felt empty for years. Daniel hadn’t tasted food like hers since before his wife “died.” Slowly, painfully, he began to feel like part of a family again.
One evening, washing dishes side by side, he asked, “Why don’t you have someone?”
Grace told him Noah’s father left the moment he learned she was pregnant. Something in Daniel clenched at the thought.
Then the outside world struck. Evelyn Brooks, mother of Daniel’s late wife Olivia, demanded he stop whatever “nonsense” he was involving his son in. She threatened legal action if he continued to let a poor young woman get close.
Daniel refused. He took Grace to dinner to talk away from Liam—then confessed he’d fallen in love with her. Grace admitted she loved him too, but feared she’d never fit into his world. Daniel insisted she was the piece that made it whole.
Just as they let themselves imagine a future, an elegant woman stepped up to their table.
“Daniel. Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”
His face drained.
“This is… Olivia,” he whispered. “My wife.”
Olivia Brooks-Carter—the woman he’d buried.
Calm and icy, Olivia revealed she’d faked her death to run away with her tennis coach and avoid a scandalous divorce. Now that she’d been abandoned and her money was dwindling, she came back to reclaim her old life. When she saw photos of Daniel with a poor street vendor, she returned to secure her status.
Shattered, Grace fled the restaurant. Daniel chased her into the rain, swearing he’d believed Olivia dead. Grace only saw one truth: he was still married.
“I won’t be someone’s mistress,” she whispered before climbing into a cab.
Olivia demanded he remove Grace from their lives or her family would sue for custody. To protect his son, Daniel made the most heartbreaking choice. He let Grace go.
Three months later, Grace built a small empanada stand with her savings. Noah grew stronger. But she cried at night, and photos of Daniel and Olivia at galas tore her apart.
Then Linda appeared at her door. Without Daniel’s knowledge, she revealed the truth: Liam was falling apart—barely eating, fighting at school, crying for Grace every night. Olivia was never home. Daniel was miserable.
“Please,” Linda whispered. “That boy needs you.”
After a sleepless night, Grace went to the estate. Liam, thinner and hollow-eyed, ran straight into her arms.
“I knew you’d come back,” he cried. “Mom.”
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