After He Let Our Daughter Die, I Left With His Rival

The day before my daughter's heart transplant surgery, my husband had me bound hand and foot and thrown into the tiger enclosure at the wildlife park.

All because the twins his mistress had given him were kidnapped.

Julius Gilbert was convinced I was the one who'd done it.

His hand locked around my throat：

“Didn't I warn you not to touch a single hair on their heads? And you had the nerve to ignore me!”

“Where are they? Where did you hide them? If you don't start talking, I'll make you feel what it's like to lose a daughter!”

My daughter's terrified screams rang out one after another.

I dropped to my knees, shaking, begging.

“Julius, I don't know……I really don't know. Stella's so little, she's only three, she's terrified of tigers. Please, just let her out, please?”

“I swear I'll stay far away from you and Effie from now on. I'll never bother her again!”

Julius gripped my jaw and smiled, gentle and cruel at once：

“Eve Henson, I gave you a chance. You're the one who threw it away. So go ahead and get ready to collect your daughter's body.”

He waved his hand. The beast the handlers had been restraining lunged at my daughter in an instant, tearing into her, its jaws clamping down on her tiny body.

I screamed until my voice broke, dropping to my knees over and over, beating my head against the ground, begging him.

Julius refused to stop.

Not until his bodyguard called to say the twins had been found at a toy store did he finally order them to release me.

I scrambled in on hands and knees, and what I saw was my daughter with not a single patch of intact skin left on her body, her face flushed dark red from suffocation.

I stumbled back out and threw myself in front of Julius before he could leave.

“Stella, she……she's hurt badly, she can't hold on much longer! You have to……get her to a hospital……or she'll die……”

“Julius, I'm begging you, please……”

Before I could finish, he kicked me to the ground：

“Eve, still putting on an act? 'Die'? Every tiger in there was fake—people I paid to dress up in suits! It was all just to settle things for Effie and the kids!”

——

His foot had struck exactly where they'd cut me open to deliver Stella. The pain sent tremors through my whole body.

But I couldn't afford to care about the pain. I crawled back on my knees in front of him：

“No……that's not true. The tiger was real. Come inside with me and see for yourself. There isn't a single part of Stella's body that's still intact!”

“Julius, have you forgotten what day it is? It's Stella's birthday! How can you be this heartless and just watch her die!”

Something in his cold, vicious eyes finally thawed by a fraction.

Because he knew better than anyone how desperately his daughter had been looking forward to today—to Daddy taking her to the zoo.

And instead he'd thrown her into the tiger enclosure……

Julius hesitated. He was about to follow me inside when Effie Swanson stepped out of the car parked nearby, a child cradled in each arm.

“Julius, the kids kept fussing for you. I couldn't calm them down, so I just brought them along.”

His face softened instantly. He took both children from her and settled them against his arms.

Watching that scene, my chest ached.

Stella had wanted so desperately for Julius to hold her like that—just once, just like that.

But for her, even a smile from him was a luxury……

The thought of my daughter snapped me back. I grabbed Julius's arm：

“Stella's still in there waiting to be saved, you……”

Before I could finish, Effie's sharp voice cut me off.