The Daughter She Never Knew

Madison took me to the hospital and stayed by my bedside.

She looked exactly like the woman I used to know—deeply worried, devoted, apologizing over and over.

"Travis, I'm sorry. I was wrong. I promise I'll never hurt you like this again."

I slapped her.

I hit her, yelled at her, called her every nasty name I could think of, and wished her dead.

Madison took it all in silence, her eyes red as she tried to calm me. "Don't get worked up. Your health comes first."

I screamed that Gerald would pay for this.

That was the first time Madison ever truly lost her temper with me, and her palm cracked across my face.

Her voice turned ice-cold. "Travis, I'll make you wish you were dead if you so much as touch him."

Watching her protect the man she cheated with made something poisonous grow inside me.

After that day, she never came to see me again.

She and Gerald became inseparable.

My phone filled with anonymous messages—photos of them in bed and cruel captions from people enjoying the show.

I destroyed our home, breaking furniture and tearing apart everything related to Madison. I also burned our wedding album.

Once I recovered, I reached out to one of my late father's old friends and had Gerald blacklisted across Havenport.

I exposed every detail of their affair.

Gerald became a public enemy number one overnight. Meanwhile, Madison lost several key business deals.

Afterward, she targeted me, kidnapping me and confining me in a hotel room for months. She tied me to a bed and forced herself on me while everything was recorded on camera.

Then, she blurred herself out of the footage and released only the clips of me losing control.

The internet instantly moved on from Gerald's scandal.

I became the butt of the joke.

The same people who used to flatter me cut me off overnight.

My father's company, already dying, lost its last remaining client and collapsed for good.

The day my reputation was destroyed, Madison finally let me go.

All the hatred I'd been carrying exploded.

I took a knife and stormed into Madison's company headquarters, slashing Gerald and cutting Madison's arm.

As I stood there, screaming like a madman, Madison signed away my father's shares in the company for practically nothing.

Everything my father had spent his life building died in that moment.

I pleaded with her, reminding her of everything my family had done for her as I begged her to show even a hint of conscience.

Madison only looked down at me with contempt. "Your family's favor was repaid the day I saved your father's company."

Her expression turned colder. "You hurt Gerald? Fine. I'll make this slow."

That was also the day I met their son, Noah Henson.

That was when I realized the truth.

Their affair hadn't started recently; it had started the moment I hired Gerald.

There had been no wedding because Madison didn't want Gerald to feel hurt, nor a diamond ring for the same reason.

Gerald had even arranged those public love declarations himself.

It was a smokescreen, a performance meant to deceive me while they played a happy family behind my back.

I had been the jester of their court for years.

By then, my heart no longer ached. There was only hatred.

That was the night I planted explosives in the mansion.

I had planned to die with Madison, but that night I softened because of the only person I had left—my daughter.

I detonated the explosives, faked my death, and disappeared from Havenport forever.

...

Ana was crying so hard her shoulders shook as she listened to my story.

I wiped her tears away, then headed outside to meet the kindergarten shuttle bringing my daughter home.

Ana followed behind me, her voice hoarse from crying as she cursed Madison for being a monster.

I had just grasped my daughter's small hand and turned around. The sight before me made me freeze in my tracks.

A familiar figure stood right in front of us.

It was Madison.

The container of soup slipped from her hands and crashed to the ground.

Her pupils contracted as her gaze locked onto my daughter. Her voice came out barely above a whisper. "This child..."

Her eyes snapped to mine. "Whose daughter is she?"