Chapter 1 - The Surprise That Broke His Heart
Ethan Caldwell had spent three weeks planning the perfect surprise.
His six-year-old daughter Lily loved teddy bears.
Not expensive jewelry.
Not designer clothes.
Not the giant playroom inside their mansion.
Just a simple stuffed bear she could hug when she felt lonely.
That was why Ethan smiled as he stepped through the front door that afternoon, holding the pink teddy bear behind his back.
"I can't wait to see her face," he whispered.
Usually, Lily would run toward him.
Usually, she would scream:
"Daddy!"
Usually, the entire house would feel alive.
But today...
The mansion was silent.
Too silent.
Ethan frowned.
"Lily?"
No answer.
Then he heard it.
A sound that made his entire body freeze.
Crying.
Not a small child's complaint.
Not a temporary tantrum.
A broken cry.
The kind of cry that came from someone who had already cried too much.
Ethan slowly followed the sound through the marble hallway.
And then he saw her.
His little girl.
Sitting on the cold floor.
Scrubbing the marble with a wet cloth.
A metal bucket beside her.
Her beautiful dress was dirty.
Her hands were red.
Her cheeks were covered in tears.
Ethan couldn't breathe.
"Lily..."
The little girl looked up.
Her eyes widened.
"Daddy?"
She quickly looked down.
"I'm sorry..."
Those two words hurt him more than anything.
"Sorry for what?"
Lily's lips trembled.
"She said I can't have dinner until the floor is clean."
The teddy bear slipped from Ethan's hand.
And for the first time in years...
The powerful billionaire who controlled a company worth billions...
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Felt completely powerless.
Because someone had hurt the one person he promised to protect.
