Chapter 5- Daddy won’t hurt you

Dave took a step forward as he finished speaking, but the little girl backed away even faster. Tears welled up in her eyes again, as though if he moved any closer, she would burst into tears.

Looking at his daughter's frightened expression, Dave felt a wave of desolation and helplessness wash over him.

His daughter was three years old, and he had never been particularly close to her. He had always assumed that he didn't have much affection for her.

But at this moment, when the small child looked at him with such unfamiliar, fearful, and rejecting eyes, he was struck by a profound sense of sorrow and helplessness.

The feeling unsettled him deeply. He crouched down, his tall figure lowering as he gazed at the terrified little girl sitting on the bed.

"Emma, don't be afraid. Daddy won't hurt you."

Suddenly, he found her pitiful. She, too, had been abandoned by that vile woman.

The thought softened his heart further, and his face and gaze gradually grew gentler.

Perhaps because of this change in his demeanor, the little girl stopped retreating further. However, her eyes were still filled with fear and rejection. Her small white teeth bit down on her pink lower lip, trying to mask her fear of him.

Dave Washington had always prided himself on being in control of everything. She was just a little girl, and his own daughter at that—he refused to believe he couldn't win her over.

His long fingers tapped lightly on the edge of her bed as a memory from that morning surfaced in his mind. At the breakfast table, the little girl had told her mother that she wanted to go to Disneyland.

What had that woman said again?

Something about him being too busy with work to take her.

A gentle smile curved his lips as his gaze returned to the little girl on the bed.

"Didn't you say you wanted to go to Disneyland? How about this—Daddy will take you there in a few days when I'm on vacation. Does that sound good?"

The little girl's bright eyes immediately lit up with joy, replacing the fear that had been there moments before. She asked him in her soft, childlike voice, "Really?"

Her happiness made Dave Washington's heart soften even more. He continued negotiating with her.

"Really. And if you stop crying, stop asking for Mommy, and sleep on your own like a good girl, Daddy will finish his work as quickly as possible and take you there."

"Wow! That's amazing! We're going to Disneyland!"

In the end, she was just a simple, innocent child. Dave's sugar-coated words melted away the little girl's reservations, and she began clapping her tiny hands and cheering excitedly on her princess bed.

What had started as a casual promise to coax her into sleeping peacefully now felt like a genuine commitment as Dave watched her joy. He realized he truly wanted to take her there.

There was a time when her mother's happiness had been just as simple. Back then, even a small, spontaneous gift from him could light up her face. She would dive into his arms, her bright eyes sparkling as she laughed uncontrollably.

But somewhere along the way, things had changed. They had grown distant. Those days when she would cling to him, act playfully, and repeatedly profess her love now seemed like a distant memory—one that hadn't been revisited in a very long time.

The realization cast a shadow over his recently softened mood, darkening his thoughts once again.

This time, however, he didn't let it show on his face. He didn't want to scare the little girl. Instead, he kept the bitterness and anger bottled up, quietly simmering within.

That night, after initially fumbling to deal with his crying daughter, Dave Washington eventually managed to interact with her more smoothly.

Thanks to his promise to take her to Disneyland, the little girl was no longer as resistant to him, though she wasn't particularly close either.

After all, they hadn't spent much time together over the past three years. It was unrealistic to expect sudden intimacy overnight.

Still, for someone like Dave—who had always prioritized his career, never bothered with family life, and was taking care of his daughter alone for the first time—getting her to stop crying and sleep peacefully was already quite an achievement.

Once his daughter fell asleep, he returned to his bedroom, took a shower, and let all his pent-up anger and frustration come pouring out.

He swore to himself that he would make that woman who had put him in such a difficult position pay dearly.

She might be able to hide for a while, but could she hide forever?

She wanted a divorce? He was determined not to let her get what she wanted!

As he plotted ways to punish her, the suffocating weight in his chest finally eased a little.

Earlier that evening, he had asked his daughter about Aunt Adeline, trying to find out who she was. But the little girl only knew her as "Aunt Adeline" and didn't know her full name. If he had her full name, he could have immediately sent someone to investigate and dragged that woman back home tonight.

Unfortunately, his daughter didn't know anything more, so he had no choice but to give up for now.

It was at this moment that he realized something shocking: despite being married for five years, he knew almost nothing about his wife. He didn't even know who her closest friends were, leaving him utterly clueless about where to look for her now that she had disappeared.

For a man who was used to being in control of everything, this sense of helplessness was deeply unsettling. On the contrary, it only fueled his frustration further.

That night, Dave Washington barely slept. Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw the scene from the banquet: her unapologetically announcing her desire for a divorce in front of everyone, humiliating him. Then he saw her tear-streaked face as she stood by the entrance of the ballroom.

Suddenly, her tearful face morphed into the face of his daughter in the adjacent children's room. The image of those two crying faces, one big and one small, snapped him awake every time he tried to sleep.

Tossing and turning the entire night left him exhausted. The next morning, he woke up feeling nothing like his usual refreshed and energized self. Instead, he felt drained and fatigued.

But Dave Washington was still Dave Washington—the man who held the fate of the Washington Group in his hands. After a quick shower and donning his pristine suit, he was once again the cold and ruthless Washington the world knew.

Stepping out of his bedroom, he surveyed their nearly 200-square-meter luxury apartment. It was silent, eerily so, and utterly lifeless.

Normally, at this hour, the apartment would be filled with the aroma of his favorite coffee. In the kitchen, not far from the dining area, there would be a certain woman bustling around, preparing breakfast.

She knew he loved coffee, so she had bought a coffee machine and made him a fresh cup every morning. He had grown so accustomed to her brewing it that he could no longer tolerate the coffee made by his secretary at the office. Eventually, he had no choice but to send the secretary to their home, where his wife spent an entire morning teaching her how to prepare it.

Even so, no matter how closely the secretary followed her instructions or used the same ingredients and methods, the coffee never tasted the same.

In the end, he had to settle for what the secretary made. The flavor wasn't quite right, but it came close enough. After all, he couldn't possibly bring his wife to the office every day just to brew coffee for him.