Chapter 4

"Daddy!"

On camera, a little girl who looked just like my daughter, crying like her heart was breaking.

"Alice, how are you here? You were taken — you were gone."

My mind went blank. This couldn't be real.

"Daddy! I left on my own! It wasn't Mom's fault! It wasn't Valencia's fault!"

My vision sharpened instantly.

The comment section detonated:

[Oh my GOD. The twist!! The kid ran away herself this whole time?!]

[I knew it. This guy looked unstable from the start. The control issues, the obsession — of course the kid couldn't handle it. Of course she ran.]

[What kind of failure as a father does it take to push your own daughter away like this? And now he's doing this?? Unreal.]

I gripped the shovel tighter.

"Alice, don't be scared. Talk to me. Tell me what really happened. Where have you been?"

"Did someone tell you to say this?"

The girl cried harder.

"No! I hate you! You made me study this and practice that every single day. I had no freedom at all. I hate you!"

Angel pulled the girl into her arms and looked at me through the screen, her eyes full of bitter fury.

"Endrick! You heard her! It was you! Your suffocating, relentless love drove Alice away!"

I let out a sudden, easy laugh. "Angel. Where'd you find this little actress?"

[Seriously?? That's your DAUGHTER and you still won't believe her?!]

[Now I know where all those oblivious male leads in bad novels come from. Life really does imitate fiction.]

[Does he have some kind of cognitive issue? He literally can't recognize his own kid?]

"Endrick! She's your child and you won't even take her word for it?! Do you have any humanity left?!" Angel was shaking with outrage.

I just grabbed Valencia by the hair and turned his ruined face toward the camera.

I lifted the bag of quicklime, tilted it slowly over his head. White powder sifted down in a thin stream.

I smiled. "Angel. These past five years — did you really think the light in your study at midnight was for work?"

Angel's eyes went wide.

"Third chance — gone."

I raised the bag high, aiming directly for Valencia's eyes.

"Daddy!!"

The girl suddenly held up a small voice recorder.

"This is what Alice recorded for you!"