Prologue

Heavy rain poured through the dark night as Keir drove along the empty road. He wasn't speeding, so when a man suddenly ran across the street, he managed to slam on the brakes just in time.

Keir quickly got out of his car and rushed toward the stranger.

The man was sitting on the wet pavement, completely soaked. In his arms was a small child wrapped tightly in a black comforter.

"Are you okay, sir?" Keir asked with concern.

The man slowly stood up. Because the road was so dark, Keir couldn't clearly see his face.

"Sir... please take this baby," the man pleaded, his voice shaking.

Before Keir could answer, the stranger gently pushed the child into his arms and turned to run toward the nearby forest. After a few steps, he suddenly stopped and looked back.

"Her name is Elaine Chin. She's five years old. If I survive... I'll come back for her. Please... protect my princess."

Those were the last words he shouted before disappearing into the darkness.

Keir had no choice but to carry the little girl back to his car. Both of them were drenched from the rain.

A moment later, he started the engine and drove away.

As he glanced at the rearview mirror, he saw five men sprinting across the road in the same direction where the stranger had disappeared.

Two months passed, but there was still no sign of the man who had left the little girl with Keir.

It was finally time for him to return to New York. He had only been in the Philippines to inspect the construction site of a building his company was developing.

Before leaving, Keir looked at the little girl. She refused to leave his side. Wherever he went, she quietly followed him, holding onto his hand or the edge of his coat. Yet, during the entire time they had been together, he had never heard her say a single word.

She was always silent.

Not knowing what else to do, Keir called his mother, Yana Hasford, to ask for advice.

Instead of telling him to leave the child behind, Yana became excited to meet the little girl.

With no other choice, Keir brought Elaine with him to New York.

His work kept him extremely busy, leaving him with little time to search for her real family. Whenever he finally found a free moment, he searched every record and every website he could find, but there was no trace of any Chin family connected to Elaine.

He even hired a private investigator in the Philippines to continue the search. Months passed, but they found no clues.

As time went by, Elaine grew closer to Keir. She slowly opened his heart to her, and he became the only family she had ever known.

Five years passed in the blink of an eye.

Realizing that every lead had reached a dead end, Keir finally made the painful decision to stop searching for Elaine's biological family.

By then, she was no longer just a child he had promised to protect.

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