Chapter 6 - "I DON’T WANT YOUR MONEY, DANIEL. I WANTED YOUR TIME, AND YOU WERE ALWAYS OUT OF STOCK."
Daniel stopped five feet away from her, his hands trembling at his sides. He looked at the modest bookstore, the small apartment stairs in the back, and the simplicity of her current life.
"I’ll give it all up," Daniel pleaded, tears finally spilling down his cheeks. "The company, the board, Harrison Freight—I’ll step down tomorrow. We can buy a house here. We can move anywhere in the world. I’ll hire the best medical staff in the country to be here for the delivery. Just come back to me, Amy. Let me be a husband. Let me be a father."
Amy looked at the billionaire who had once commanded rooms of global leaders, now weeping on the dusty floorboards of an Oregon bookstore. A year ago, she would have given her soul to hear those words. But now?
"You don't get it, Daniel," she said gently, her eyes filled with a sad, profound clarity. "You think you can purchase redemption the same way you buy companies. You think by throwing away your fortune, you magically fix the years you spent treating me like a ghost."
"I love you!" he cried out.
"No," Amy corrected him softly. "You love having a home to return to when the world tires you out. You loved believing I would always be sitting in that empty penthouse, waiting for your schedule to clear up. But I am not a museum exhibit, Daniel. And my child will not grow up waiting for their father to finish a business meeting."
"I am not leaving without you," Daniel said, his voice tightening with desperate resolve. "I can't. I won't lose my family."
May you like
Before Amy could answer, the front door rattled violently. The brass bell chimed aggressively as the door swung open, letting in a gust of freezing wind, rain, and a figure wrapped in a bright red trench coat.
Vanessa Cole stood in the doorway, her eyes wide, wild, and dark with obsession.
