I Risked Everything, But You Only Wanted to Escape Unharmed

Katie blinked at me, looking confused. "Weren't you always living apart?"

Her words made everything suddenly clear to me.

I laughed at myself quietly.

Ever since Jessica returned to LA with her son, Daniel had been coming up with all sorts of excuses to sleep in separate rooms.

He slept in the master bedroom, and Katie and I shared her room.

Hearing what Katie said, I suddenly felt at peace.

Katie needed a father, that is true.

But it's not like Daniel would ever be her father in this lifetime.

Daniel and I had long been strangers living under the same roof.

If Katie had thrived before without her father's presence, she could surely do just as well without him in the future.

I happily pulled Katie into my arms, snuggling into her fluffy hair, making her giggle.

I had been limiting myself before.

Now I understood—without a husband, my life would still be beautiful.

After her birthday party was over and Katie was settled in bed, Daniel finally came home, hours late.

He paused at the sight of the decorations, then started complaining.

"It's just a birthday, why make such a big fuss? What a waste of money. You should not spoil her! Do you even know how to be a good mother?"

Seeing that I wasn't responding to his ranting and just silently tidying up with my back to him, Daniel stopped talking, awkwardly handing me a stuffed toy.

"This is Katie's birthday gift. Don't go saying I don't think of her."

I glanced at it.

The toy wasn't even wrapped, and there was dust on it—it had clearly been left outside for a while.

I immediately remembered something.

There was a picture on Daniel's social media of him playing a shooting game with Tommy at the amusement park.

The stuffed toy was clearly a prize from that game.

Even her birthday present was so half-hearted.

I didn't need to guess—it was obviously something Tommy didn't want, so Daniel brought it back for Katie.

I used to think that, at the very least, Katie held some place in Daniel's heart as his biological daughter.

Now, I scoffed at that idea.

"This toy's filthy. I won't let Katie touch it. Let's just throw it away." I didn't hesitate to reject Daniel.

He suddenly blew up for no reason.

"You always say I never care about Katie. Now I bring her a gift and you're still finding faults! I seriously don't know what I have to do to please you."

I found his hysterical outburst rather amusing.

So I directly called him out.

"If you had actually bought this toy for Katie out of genuine care, I would have accepted it for her, no matter what it was."

Then I added. "But if it's just something leftover from someone else, I can buy her something better. She doesn't need your pity!"

Daniel shot up from the couch. "Lisa, what nonsense are you talking about now?

"All I did was go to the amusement park with Tommy today. Do you really need to keep harping on it all day long?"

"Why are you making such a big deal out of nothing? You are a mother too. So why can't you show more sympathy towards other mothers?"

I stared at Daniel coldly, saying nothing.

He could've just said Jessica's name out loud. It's not like I didn't know what was going on.

"Even if it's a prize Tommy won, how is it a problem for him to give it to his little sister?"