###Chapter 2

As the youngest chairperson of the Wallace Group, my career had gone smoothly over the years.

Yet in the process of building my business, I’d spent so much time away on trips that I knew I’d neglected my husband and daughter. I’d always felt guilty about it.

This time, with my daughter facing attackers, I couldn’t get to her immediately and the guilt was almost suffocating.

And now, seeing this scene at the hospital, my anger surged through me like wildfire.

With a cold, sharp expression, I dialed the director’s number.

My tone was icy. “Mr. Lark, I heard from your nurse that a big client came today, so there was no time to treat my daughter’s injuries. I want to know, what kind of important guest makes you throw my daughter into the hallway?”

Mr. Lark’s voice faltered, betraying a hint of panic. “Ms. Wallace, it’s all a misunderstanding! There’s no big client! There were just many children brought to the hospital today and it was my oversight. I’ll immediately arrange the best room for your daughter!”

He asked, “Which nurse dared to talk nonsense? I’ll fire her immediately!”

A few minutes after hanging up, my daughter was moved into a private room.

I called Mr. Lark outside and gave him a scolding. “What’s the matter? Don’t you want to be a director anymore?”

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he lowered his head and explained, “Ms. Wallace, it was all Mr. Clawn’s idea. He asked us to give the VIP room to other children.”

Just then, my husband emerged from the adjacent, most luxurious VIP room.

“Honey, why did you come back so suddenly?” Zack’s eyes were filled with shock and a hint of guilt.

He forced a smile, walked over and took my hand. “I saw a child who was badly injured and I couldn’t bear it, so I asked the hospital to attend to him first. I was just about to ask Mr. Lark to assign the best doctor for Yuna.”

He was always careful about his appearance, yet several buttons of his white shirt were undone and the fabric was wrinkled.

“You’re really so caring, thinking to help someone else’s child first.” I stared at him with a mocking look.

Zack casually buttoned his shirt, pretending nothing was wrong. “Ever since we had a daughter, my sense of responsibility as a father has only grown stronger over the years.”

I was about to ask him whose child he had abandoned ours for, when suddenly the phone at his waist rang.

“Ah, it’s Mr. Sullivan from our partner company wanting to discuss something. I have to go. Thanks for taking care of Yuna, Honey.”

Mr. Sullivan? Wasn’t he supposed to be out of town inspecting sites these past few days?

Watching Zack’s retreating figure, my eyes darkened.

“Mommy… Mommy, where are you?”

My daughter’s pitiful sobs pulled me back to reality.

I hurried into the room and saw her wrapped in bandages, her face pale and thin. My heart ached.

Why did she look like she’s malnourished? But everything she ate and used should be the best…

“Yuna, recently you—”

“Mrs. Clawn, you’re back?”

The sound of small footsteps approached. I turned to see the nanny, Judith, holding a lunchbox at the doorway.

Ignoring her ingratiating smile, I snatched the lunchbox straight from her hands.

When I opened it, a surge of anger shot through me. The cold lunchbox contained only a few dry pieces of bread.

“You usually feed Yuna this? And now that she’s injured, how could you take care of her like this?”

A flicker of panic crossed Judith’s face and she quickly forced a smile. “Mrs. Clawn, Miss Yuna asked for this over the phone earlier. She said she wanted to try the taste of dry bread. Right, Miss Yuna?”

My daughter pressed against my back, clutching my clothes and timidly nodded, clearly intimidated by Judith.

Judith’s smile widened as she said, “You stay with Miss Yuna, I’ll go to the supermarket to buy ingredients and cook at home!”

With that, she turned and left for the supermarket.

I watched my daughter grab the bread and shove it into her mouth as if she hadn’t eaten for days. My heart ached. I fed her a sip of water. “Eat slowly, baby. If you want more, Mommy will have the hotel bring it to you.”

Immediately, Yuna stopped chewing, afraid I’d be angry and quietly put the bread down. “I’m full… I don’t want any more, Mommy.”

Her timid, obedient manner made me pull her tightly into my arms.

But then Yuna cried out in pain and pulled her arm back.

I quickly rolled up her sleeve—and the sight of bruises across her arm pierced my eyes with shock.

“Yuna… who bullied you?”

###Chapter 3

Yuna dodged my touch. “Mommy, I accidentally fell at kindergarten. It’s my fault, Mommy…”

Her whole body trembled as she kept apologizing.

My heart ached. I pulled her onto my lap and kissed her forehead repeatedly. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Mommy didn’t take good care of you. I’ll stay with you from now on and never let you get hurt again.”

Being away from home so often, I hadn’t even noticed something was wrong with my daughter. Now I realized that my once lively and active little girl had become timid and sensitive.

Luckily, the wound on her head wasn’t serious. That evening, the doctor said she could be discharged and only needed to change the dressing later.

Back home with my daughter, dinner was already laid out.

Looking at it, every dish was something my daughter loved to eat.

Judith set the table while smiling sweetly. “Miss Yuna is always so obedient and sensible and she’s not picky about food. Such a good child!”

However, Yuna, sitting beside me, didn’t look happy at all despite the praise. In the presence of the seemingly gentle Judith, a flicker of fear shone in her eyes.

I quietly helped my daughter finish dinner, then took her back to our room and into the bathroom.

When I placed her in the bathtub, just as I feared, I found many fresh and old pinch marks all over her body, not just on her arms.

“I'm not hurt… I will be more careful next time,” she murmured, curling up as if afraid I’d scold her. My heart ached even more.

After her bath, I gave her the medication. It was then that my husband called.

“Honey, Mr. Sullivan insists I play cards with him. Looks like I’ll be up all night!”

“Mr. Lark said you’ve taken Yuna home? Is she okay? I can’t be with you tonight, but I’ll make up for it tomorrow.”

Staring out at the night, I replied calmly, “Mm, you focus on that first.”

After speaking, I hung up the phone.

The nanny was employed by Zack.

When Zack was young, both his parents had died. He said that Judith had paid for his education, which allowed him to become who he was today. So when he suggested bringing her into our home to care for our daughter, I didn’t object. In fact, I willingly offered Judith a salary far above the market rate as a gesture of gratitude for her past support of my husband.

But not long after, I realized Judith was not what I had imagined.

She secretly hid half of the king crabs and salmon I had air-shipped for my daughter. When I found out, she muttered that a little girl like Yuna couldn’t possibly eat that much.

She complained about the designer dresses I had custom-made for my daughter, saying that girls dressed so nicely and pampered like that wouldn’t have boys wanting them in the future.

She even said, “She’s going to get married anyway—why spend all that money?”

Although her words made me uneasy, I still kept her, out of gratitude for what she had done for Zack.

Now, I regretted it deeply.

After helping my daughter wash up, I leaned against the headboard and read her a fairy tale.

Once she fell asleep, my assistant quietly came in, carrying the day’s kindergarten bus surveillance footage.

When I looked at the footage on the tablet, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

A chill ran straight through my heart.

###Chapter 4

When Yuna’s teacher was livestreaming, I had only seen the latter half.

Now, watching the full surveillance footage, I realized that my husband had actually been at the scene when the bodyguards arrived to rescue the children.

Outside the bus, Zack was ordering the bodyguards, “Rescue Nathan first!”

The bodyguards hesitated, holding the photo in their hands. “But our task was to prioritize saving Yuna first.”

My husband slammed a thick stack of cash in front of them. “Look clearly! I’m the one paying! I say rescue Nathan first! If a single hair on him is harmed, you’ll bear the consequence!”

Judith urged from the side. “Yes, Nathan is sitting in the second-to-last row. Hurry and get my grandson out! Don’t bother with that money-losing Yuna!”

Good grief, Zack. Just perfect!

I dug my nails into my palm until they bled, but I didn’t even notice. I was glued to the screen.

When Nathan was safely rescued, my husband practically beamed with delight.

Then, he suddenly noticed the livestream camera. As if afraid of being recognized, he quickly turned and slipped into the crowd.

At that moment, all my attention was on my daughter. I didn’t notice that he and the nanny had carried Nathan into his Cadillac and driven off.

He hadn’t cared about my daughter’s safety at all.

The video ended, the screen went dark and my stunned face was reflected back at me.

A cold shiver ran through me. I immediately grabbed my phone and pulled up the home surveillance footage.

We’d had cameras installed for years, but out of trust in my husband, I had never actively checked them.

“Oh my God…”

The assistant covered her mouth, whispering in shock and anger, her words drifting into my ears.

“How dare she bully Miss Yuna like this!”

On the screen, Judith was pinching my daughter’s delicate skin with her iron-like hands. Arms, ears, cheeks, thighs… My daughter cried in pain on the floor, begging for mercy. But Judith wouldn’t stop until she was satisfied.

The delicacies I had bought for my daughter went straight into Judith’s belly, or were stuffed into thermos containers—every last drop taken out the door. Meanwhile, my daughter had to crouch in a corner, eating cold porridge and gnawing on hard buns.

“You worthless brat! If you dare tell your mom, I’ll stab you with a needle, tie you to a tree and let you starve! Got it?”

“I-I got it… I won’t tell Mom…”

“All you know how to do is cry! Shut up! You wretched girl!”

Watching my daughter cower like a quail in the shadows, afraid to let out a sound, my chest felt like a furnace, each breath sparking with fire.

But that wasn’t all. Judith often stole my expensive clothes and cosmetics, my daughter’s toys, daily necessities and more.

Yet none of this hurt me as much as what was happening at home.

What pained me the most was my husband. There was one time when he clearly saw Judith hitting our daughter with a broom, yet he didn’t step in to protect her. He just furrowed his brows and scolded, “Go make dinner. What time do you think it is?”

Then he passed by my daughter’s tearful, pleading eyes and walked upstairs alone.

I met Zack in high school. He was a handsome, charming young man who always devoted himself entirely to me.

One year in college, we went on an autumn outing and the bus suddenly overturned, getting stuck against a tree on a cliff.

He risked falling off the cliff to save me, using his own body as support to push me out of the bus.

At the critical moment when the school bus was about to plummet off the cliff, the rescue team arrived just in time and pulled him out.

He was covered in blood, yet he held me tightly. “Tessa, although I have no money, I will love you with my life, until the day I die.”

His vow burned in my heart and still echoed in my ears.

I never imagined that people’s hearts could change. Perhaps he was no longer the same person who once loved me and our daughter with his life.

But then I thought, Judith was half of Zack’s family, so when her grandson was in danger, Zack was naturally anxious. That might be why he couldn’t properly scold her when she bullied our daughter.

I didn’t want to believe that my husband was truly that cruel.

“Ms. Wallace, I’m leaving first.”

After the assistant left, I remembered some documents were left in the car, so I walked into the garage.

I opened the car door and reached for the documents on the seat, but my eyes caught something under the front passenger seat. I froze and bent down, pulling out a sheer black stocking.

My blood ran cold.

Suppressing the surge of emotion, I shoved the stocking back in place and called Zack.

“Honey, our daughter has a high fever and misses you. Can you come home and be with her?”

Zack sounded troubled. "Honey, you know how important this client is. If I don’t take care of Mr. Sullivan properly, the company could lose tens of millions. Once I’m done, I’ll come home to her immediately. It’s late—try to get her to sleep for now.”

A faint moan suddenly drifted from the line and he hurriedly hung up. I nearly crushed my phone in my hand.

Zack… I had given you a chance.

Gritting my teeth, I dialed another number. “You wanted the Harlington project, didn’t you? Starting next week, you’ll be its top executive.”