Garth's POV

But my phone had been in my pocket the whole day—there’s no way anyone could’ve touched it.

Suddenly, Naomi slapped me hard across the face.

“Garth! I can’t believe you’d stoop so low—forcing your own daughter to do something this disgusting!” she screamed. You don’t deserve to be a father. You’re vile!”

My ears rang, and my vision blurred due to the impact of the slap. My head also jerked to the side, and that’s when I caught my daughter’s eyes.

She was pale from the pain, but there was something else in her gaze. Something fleeting. A flicker of guilt she tried to hide.

It was her.

I lunged toward her and gripped her shoulders as panic bubbled up in my chest.

“Zelene, why?” I pleaded. “Why are you lying about me? What did I do to deserve this? I’ve always treated you well. Why are you doing this to me?!”

She burst into loud, frightened sobs and shrank back in fear.

Naomi didn’t hesitate. She kicked me several times, yelling, “How dare you still play the victim?! You better pray she’s okay. Otherwise, I swear I’ll kill you!”

If her parents hadn’t stepped in to hold her back, I genuinely think she might’ve killed me.

“Let’s get Zelene to the hospital first!” her mother urged.

Naomi finally stopped, scoffing coldly before scooping up our daughter. The three of them rushed out in a panic, and despite everything, I followed.

I couldn’t let myself relax until I knew she was alright.

Thankfully, the cuts on her face weren’t serious. A bit of cleaning, some ointment, and antibiotics, and she’d be fine.

It was well past midnight by the time we got everything sorted out.

Then, just as things had started to settle, Naomi got a call—another out-of-town competition.

But the moment she tried to leave, Zelene clung to her and started wailing hysterically.

“Mommy, don’t go! Daddy’s gonna have people kidnap me tonight! They’re gonna break my legs and cut out my tongue! He's going to kill me!”

Naomi shot me a look so sharp it could’ve cut through bone.

“No!” I held my hands up. “That’s not true. If you don’t believe me, I’ll call the police right now.”

She snatched the phone from my hand, seething.

“What, you want to air our dirty laundry? Ruin our daughter’s reputation for the world to see?” she spat. “Or do you want everyone to find out what you forced her to do?!”

Then she turned to our daughter.

“Zelene, Grandma and Grandpa will stay with you tonight. If he so much as touches you, Mommy will come back and end him.”

By now, her parents had calmed down a bit.

“Naomi, let’s think about this,” her mother said gently. “What kind of father would hurt his own child?”

Her father nodded and added, “Don’t forget that when you were giving birth, the doctors thought both of you might not make it. But Garth swore he’d give his life to save you two. Zelene is his heart and soul. There’s no way he’d hurt her."

Her mother also suggested, "Maybe those photos and videos really are some kind of misunderstanding. Isn’t AI editing all the rage now?”

I nodded eagerly, deeply moved by how fair and reasonable they were being.

Zelene stayed quiet in Naomi’s arms, but when she looked at me, her eyes were full of smug defiance.

“Daddy,” she said, “I want to watch cartoons.”

I numbly pulled up her favorite show on my phone and held it in front of her.

Ever since Naomi gave birth to her six years ago, I’d given up my job to stay home and raise her. I’d done everything just to make sure she had a happy, loving childhood.

All I ever wanted was for her to grow up kind and thoughtful.

So why? Why had she turned into this?

After Naomi left, her parents and I took turns watching over Zelene.

I glanced at the clock. It was now 2 a.m.

In my past life, ten minutes from now, she’d gone missing from the hospital.

If I stayed close by, with her grandparents here as witnesses, there was no way she could twist things again. She wouldn’t be able to make any more false claims.

I forced myself to stay awake, determined to keep my eyes on her.

But shortly, she suddenly burst into tears again, clutching her stomach.

“I’m hungry,” she sobbed.

None of us had really eaten anything after everything that had happened.

Garth's POV

I opened up the food delivery app, only to find that everything near the hospital was closed at this hour. The few places still taking orders weren’t offering anything Zelene could eat.

With no better option, my mother-in-law stood up and said, “I’ll go get her some chicken noodle soup.”

I glanced at my father-in-law, who was staying behind with me. I nodded—so long as I wasn’t left alone with Zelene, she wouldn’t get another chance to make up lies about me.

Just three minutes to 2:10 a.m., Zelene suddenly started crying again, saying the back of her hand hurt. When we checked, we saw the IV needle had slipped. Her hand was swollen, bruised into a purplish lump. I quickly pulled the needle out.

My father-in-law got up to find a doctor, but I stopped him. “You can just press the call button.”

I hit the button by the bed, but no nurse came.

That’s when the clock struck 2:10 a.m., and Zelene began wailing in agony, gasping like she was about to pass out.

My father-in-law’s heart broke at the sight. “I’ll go get a nurse!”

He turned to leave, but I blocked him again. “Dad, it’s just a slipped needle. She’ll be fine in a minute.”

He opened his mouth to argue, but then Zelene’s lips turned blue. She let out a choking cry and vomited all over the bed.

“It’s a drug reaction! If we don’t do something fast, she could die!” he shouted, then shoved me aside and ran for help.

My daughter looked up at me with that small, pale face and said, “Daddy… I don’t feel good… I want some water…”

Despite everything, she was still my daughter. I couldn’t bear to see her suffer.

So, I turned away and poured her a cup of warm water.

But when I turned back around, she was gone.

The bed was empty, except for the mess she’d thrown up, and my phone, still playing her cartoon.

Just then, my father-in-law rushed back in with a nurse. “Where’s Zelene? Let the nurse take a look at her!”

My stomach dropped. “Dad… didn’t you see her leave just now?”

He froze. “What?! I just came from the reception desk with the nurse, we didn’t see anyone!”

The nurse’s station faced the only two elevators. Anyone coming or going would’ve been in full view.

But both he and the nurse swore they hadn’t seen a soul, aside from my mother-in-law going downstairs earlier.

We turned the room upside down, checked every corner of the ward, but Zelene had vanished.

We even ran up and down the emergency stairwell, but there was nothing, no trace of her.

My six-year-old daughter had disappeared without a sound.

Just then, my mother-in-law rushed back holding the takeout, only to break down sobbing when she heard the news.

I forced myself to stay calm. If we didn’t find her soon, she might end up like she did in my last life.

I couldn’t let that happen again.

Without hesitation, I called the police.

They arrived quickly and pulled surveillance footage from every hospital camera, but there was nothing suspicious. I begged them to check the streets outside, too, but still, nothing. Not a single lead.

By dawn, the police could only tell us to stay calm and wait for more information. Then they left.

My in-laws and I returned home, hollow and numb. My mother-in-law sobbed as she called Naomi and told her that Zelene was missing.

Naomi caught the first flight home that afternoon.

The moment she found out our daughter had disappeared while she was with me, she completely lost it.

“No wonder she told me last night that you were going to kidnap her!” she screamed. “You’re sick! You’re a monster! Where is she?! Tell me what you did with her!”

In her fury, she grabbed a vase from the table and hurled it at my face.

It shattered against me, and its sharp shards cut into my skin. I felt the burn of blood dripping down my cheeks.

The police tried to calm her down while my father-in-law quickly stepped in.

“Naomi, listen! Garth and I were with Zelene the whole time. She was never alone with him! I only stepped away for two minutes, and even then, I was right by the elevator! He couldn’t have done anything!”

“Then how did she just vanish into thin air?!” she cried. “Tell me what the hell happened!”

Garth's POV

Naomi glared at me with bloodshot eyes, teeth clenched like she was ready to tear me apart.

Before I could say another word, the police got a call.

They’d found my daughter.

Just like in my previous life, she was discovered on a remote, desolate road outside the city. Covered in blood, she lay in the back of a beat-up van that looked like it belonged in a junkyard, trembling and coughing up blood.

When I saw her, my heart stopped. Both of her legs had been broken, twisted in unnatural angles, and her tongue had been cut out.

Naomi collapsed, sobbing as she pulled her into her arms.

When Zelene spotted me, her whole body trembled. With what little strength she had, she dipped her finger in her own blood and scrawled on the ground.

[Dad did it. He wants to kill me.]

My blood boiled.

“Zelene, why… why would you lie about me like this?!”

But she only stared at me in terror and grabbed my arm, frantically banging her forehead on the ground as if begging for mercy.

By the fifteenth time her head hit the floor, her tiny body gave out, and she collapsed unconscious.

Naomi tried to lunge at me, fists flying, but the police restrained her just in time.

And that’s when I realized there was something clenched in my hand. A blood-soaked ball of paper.

My daughter had slipped it to me when no one was looking.

With shaking hands, I unwrapped it and read the words smeared in red.

My pupils shrank, and my chest tightened.

The truth had been right in front of me all along.