CHAPTER 4 – The Daughter He Never Knew
Nathan couldn't breathe.
His trembling hands clutched the photograph as if reality itself depended on it.
The little girl in the picture had Emily's gentle smile...
But those eyes...
They were his.
"No..."
His voice cracked.
"This is another trick."
Emily's expression never changed.
"I wish it were."
Nathan looked closer.
On the back of the photograph was a birth date.
Exactly six years ago.
His knees nearly gave out.
Six years.
That meant...
The little girl had been conceived just weeks before Nathan began his affair with his assistant.
His mind raced through forgotten memories.
Emily's sudden disappearance for several months.
Her quiet return.
The way she always avoided talking about children afterward.
He had never asked why.
Not once.
The boardroom doors suddenly opened.
A silver-haired woman entered carrying a sealed medical file.
Nathan recognized her instantly.
Dr. Rebecca Lawson.
Emily's longtime physician.
She handed the folder to the chairman.
"With Mrs. Carter's permission."
The chairman opened it carefully.
Inside were DNA reports.
Hospital records.
Birth certificates.
Every document carried official seals.
He looked up slowly.
"The DNA probability is 99.9999%."
Nathan Carter is the biological father.
The room exploded with whispers.
Nathan stumbled backward.
"No..."
"I would've known."
Emily finally laughed.
A quiet, painful laugh.
"Would you?"
"When I told you I was pregnant..."
"You accused me of trying to trap you."
Nathan froze.
Flashbacks flooded his mind.
Six years earlier...
Emily had stood in their bedroom holding a pregnancy test.
Nathan had barely looked up from his laptop.
"We're too busy."
"Take care of it."
Three cold words.
Three words that haunted Emily every day afterward.
Tears filled Nathan's eyes.
"I didn't mean..."
Emily interrupted him.
"You didn't ask."
"You didn't care."
"You didn't even remember."
Silence swallowed the room.
Nathan's mother suddenly burst into tears.
"Emily... why didn't you tell us?"
Emily turned toward her.
"I tried."
She pulled out her phone.
One by one, she displayed old messages.
'Nathan, our daughter was born today.'
No reply.
'She has a fever. Can you come?'
Seen.
No response.
'She asked why Daddy never visits.'
Blocked.
Nathan stared at the screen in horror.
He had never seen those messages.
Then Emily revealed the final truth.
"They were never delivered."
Nathan frowned.
"What?"
Emily looked directly at his mother.
"Ask her."
Every eye turned toward Evelyn Carter.
Nathan's mother went completely pale.
"I..."
"I can explain."
Nathan whispered,
"Mom..."
Evelyn's hands shook uncontrollably.
"I deleted them."
The room fell into stunned silence.
Nathan stared at his own mother as if seeing her for the first time.
"What did you say?"
She began sobbing.
"I couldn't let that baby ruin your future."
"I told Emily she'd only hold you back."
"So every time she tried to contact you..."
"I erased the messages."
Nathan's face twisted in disbelief.
"You..."
"You stole six years from me?"
Evelyn collapsed into a chair.
"I thought I was protecting you."
Nathan stepped away from her as though she were a stranger.
Emily quietly reached into her handbag once more.
She placed a small pink backpack on the conference table.
Nathan recognized it immediately.
It was the one from the photograph.
Inside were dozens of handmade birthday cards.
Every single one began with the same heartbreaking sentence.
"Dear Daddy..."
Some were covered with childish drawings.
Some had glitter.
Some contained tiny handprints.
None had ever been opened.
Nathan broke down completely.
He dropped to his knees, clutching the backpack to his chest.
His shoulders shook with uncontrollable sobs.
"Please..."
"I just want to meet her."
Emily looked at him for a long moment.
Then she whispered the words that silenced the entire boardroom.
"You've already met her."
Nathan looked up, confused.
Emily glanced toward the glass doors.
A tiny shadow appeared outside the boardroom.
A little girl stood there quietly...
Holding a stuffed rabbit.
She smiled when she saw Emily.
Then she looked at Nathan with innocent curiosity.
And asked the one question that shattered every heart in the room.
May you like
"Mommy... is that the man everyone keeps calling my daddy?"
TO BE CONTINUED...
