The Daughter She Chose to Lose

My daughter accidentally pushed my wife’s first love down the stairs. My wife immediately kicked her hard enough to break her leg. “You ungrateful brat! So young and already so vicious! You have the same disgusting blood as your father!” My daughter sobbed in pain, but my wife coldly locked her in the basement with her broken leg, then went on a date with her first love. The swelling around my daughter’s injury led to a fever. She became delirious, and in the end, the doctors couldn’t save her. I held my daughter’s body and cried until I could barely breathe, but my wife only snapped impatiently. “It was just a little fever. Since when is your daughter so precious?” “If she’s pushing people down the stairs today, she’ll be a criminal tomorrow! Dying young is practically a public service!” But when she saw our daughter’s ashes, why did she cry? I collapsed to my knees, past caring how I looked, and clutched the doctor’s hand. “Please. It was just a fever. How could you not save her? Please, I’m begging you…” “I’ll get down and beg. Whatever you want. Please…” I bowed until my forehead struck the floor, again and again, leaving it red and swollen. The doctor hurried to pull me up, unable to bear watching. His voice was heavy. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Brooks.” “You can go in and see her one last time.” The blood in my veins seemed to freeze. All my strength vanished. I walked mechanically into the operating room. With trembling hands, I lifted the white sheet and saw Sophie’s bluish face. Her once-soft, rosy cheeks were covered in dried tear tracks. She had suffered so much. The doctor had closed her eyes. My daughter hadn’t even been able to close them in death. I touched Sophie’s icy little hand and clutched the prayer beads she’d worn since she was a baby, sobbing too hard to speak. A long time passed before I shakily took out my phone and called Victoria Hayes. It rang for ages before she finally answered. “Evan Brooks, do you have any idea that precious daughter of yours pushed Adrian down the stairs?” Victoria’s voice was thick with anger and impatience. “I have to stay with Adrian. I don’t have time for you.” At the same time, I heard a hotel receptionist processing their checkout. In an instant, rage almost tore through my chest. While I’d been running frantically through the hospital, kneeling before one doctor after another, while they shocked my daughter’s heart, while my little girl became a cold, lifeless body… She’d been in a hotel room with Adrian Cole! Nausea surged into my throat. I stumbled into the restroom, gripped the toilet, and vomited until my mind went numb. Tears fell with the stomach acid. I wiped my mouth blindly, my face soaked. Hot tears splashed onto the backs of my hands. I clutched my head, laughing and crying at once. It wasn’t until dawn that I dragged myself home. Victoria was smiling as she peeled shrimp for Adrian and fed it to him. The warmth in her eyes vanished when she saw me. She rolled her eyes impatiently. “Where the hell have you been? Where’s that little animal? Bring her here so she can get on her knees and apologize to Adrian.” “He has a performance in a couple of days. If he can’t get onstage, I’ll cripple that brat! She’s rotten to the core. Who knows what she’ll do when she grows up!” “Don’t think two days locked up gets her off the hook! I’m going to teach that little animal a lesson today!” Little animal… A sense of despair washed over me, so absurd I could hardly comprehend it. So that was what she called her own daughter. “She can’t come.” My voice was rough and ugly. I hadn’t had a drop of water all day. The moment I spoke, Victoria hurled a bowl of hot soup at me. Grease and broth splashed across my face. “Evan Brooks! You spoiled that little animal rotten! And now you’re still protecting her!” “If she doesn’t come apologize to Adrian today, she can forget about getting that leg fixed! She can stay crippled forever!” I clenched my teeth, shaking uncontrollably. It felt as though I was seeing this woman for the first time. Even wild animals protected their young. But she had broken her own daughter’s leg!“Victoria, let it go. I’m sure Sophie didn’t mean it.” Adrian caught her arm and smiled gently. “It’s only a sprained ankle. I’ll be fine in a few days. Her health matters more.” He glanced at me, barely bothering to hide the triumph in his eyes. Just as he’d intended, Victoria’s face darkened. She slammed her palm onto the table with a deafening crack. Her gaze cut into me like a poisoned blade. “Where the hell have you hidden that little animal? Get her here right now!” “She’s dead.” I stared at her, saying each word clearly. “Killed by her own mother.” “You’re still pretending!” Furious, she charged at me and raised her hand. I grabbed her collar. I couldn’t hold back anymore. Tears streamed down my face as I roared, “Sophie is dead! She’s dead!” “Adrian lied about her, and you broke her leg like a goddamn lunatic! She died from the fever! You and your bastard lover killed her!” “Victoria Hayes, you killed your own daughter!” Her expression froze for a moment. Then she kicked me hard in the stomach. I staggered backward and slammed into the corner of the table. The searing pain tore through what little control I had left. Cold sweat broke out across my forehead. “Dead, dead, dead! Is that the only lie you know?” “Do you think I’m an idiot? You actually expect me to believe that?” “That little animal has the same disgusting blood as you! You and your daughter make me sick! You’ll do anything to get your way. Shameless!” “Even if she’s dying, she can drag herself here and apologize to Adrian first!” It felt as though thousands of needles were piercing my heart. The pain was unbearable. On the verge of breaking, I screamed, “Then go look! Our daughter’s body is lying in a refrigerator at the funeral home!” Victoria had never seen me lose control like this. She stood frozen, her lips moving without a sound. “Victoria, my ankle hurts so much. What if I can never dance again…” Adrian clutched his ankle in pain. The uncertainty on Victoria’s face vanished, and she hurried anxiously to his side. Then she looked at me. “Aren’t you good at massage? Come work on Adrian’s ankle.” My head rang. I stared at the woman I’d loved for five years. Suddenly, I laughed, cold tears sliding down my cheeks. Adrian raised an eyebrow at me, unable to hide his satisfaction. “Thanks, Evan. I’ve been meaning to find a massage therapist, but Victoria doesn’t seem to trust anyone else. She’s always saying how good your hands are.” I struggled to my feet and lowered my eyes, hiding everything I felt as I walked toward him. They watched me with contempt. Then, without warning, I overturned the dining table. “What gives you the right? My daughter is dead, and you two are here enjoying yourselves!” Dishes shattered across the floor. Grease splattered all over Victoria and Adrian. I punched Adrian out of his wheelchair, pinned him beneath me, and hit him again and again. He couldn’t fight back.Victoria finally reacted. Her face darkened as she rushed over, shoved me off, and helped Adrian up. “Hold this lunatic down!” The bodyguards pinned me to the floor like a heap of wet rags. Victoria grabbed my hair and slapped me so hard my ears rang. “What the hell is wrong with you? How dare you touch Adrian!” Still furious, she kicked me twice more. I grunted in pain, and the prayer beads I’d been clutching rolled out of my hand. Victoria picked them up and sneered. “You even brought that little animal’s beads to beg for sympathy. Who do you think you are?” I realized what she was about to do. My eyes widened. “Don’t!” Before the word had left my mouth, she pulled the bracelet apart. The beads scattered across the floor. Several rolled beneath the table, coating themselves in grease. I broke free of the bodyguards like a madman and crawled after them, frantic, picking them up one by one. I held them in my palm as though they were priceless treasures, grief clouding my eyes. “Don’t be scared, Sophie. Don’t be scared…” Victoria stared at me, her expression ugly. At last, she forced the words through clenched teeth. “Take this lunatic outside. Make him kneel until he comes to his senses.” The bodyguards dragged me out and forced me to my knees. Around midnight, rain began pouring down. My body, which had barely held together for two days, finally gave out. As I drifted in and out of consciousness, I seemed to return to three days earlier. My daughter had called me in tears. “Daddy, it hurts. Adrian lied. He told Mommy to break my leg…” “My leg hurts so much, Daddy. Please save me…” “Die already, you little bitch. Once you’re dead, Victoria will be all mine!” Just before the call on her smartwatch disconnected, I heard Adrian’s vicious voice. I dropped everything at work and booked a flight home. I called Victoria countless times, but she never answered. In the end, she even blocked me. We’d been married seven years, yet my daughter and I meant less to her than the clothes on Adrian’s back. Years ago, I’d happened to save her grandfather’s life. On his deathbed, he’d asked to see Victoria and me married. Otherwise, she never would have looked twice at me. Even Sophie had only been conceived because of pressure tied to the company at the time. In all five years of Sophie’s life, Victoria had never once celebrated her birthday. Whenever I begged, she said, “Why does a little kid need a birthday party? You spoil her too much.” But she’d never missed Adrian’s birthday. Once, she’d even turned down a ten-million-dollar deal to celebrate with him. She was my wife and Sophie’s mother, yet she gave all her time and tenderness to another man. The devotion I’d once felt, the love I’d kept secret for so long, had slowly worn away under seven years of cold indifference. But every time I saw the longing in Sophie’s eyes when she talked about her mother, the word “divorce” died on my lips. I never imagined that my hesitation would cost my daughter her life… When I woke with tears covering my face, I rasped to the bodyguard beside me. “Tell Victoria I want a divorce.”