My Daughter Fell to Her Knees Just to Save Me

“Everyone in the capital knows how precious the son of President Jones is. That man is finished today.”

“This is what happens when someone overestimates themselves, trying to play the hero with no real power. He has only himself to blame.”

Some onlookers watched with pity in their eyes, while others sneered with mockery.

My daughter sobbed as she tried to shield me, but Tanner roughly shoved her aside, nearly sending her tumbling.

“Romeo, I’ll clean the plane for you right now. Please, please let this uncle go,” she cried.

She looked at me, lying in a bloody heap on the ground, then bit down on her lip, picked up the toy plane, and began gently licking it clean.

Her tiny tongue carefully wiped away the dust and grime, her tears falling freely.

My mouth was already full of blood and foam. Straining through the pain, I shouted with all the strength I had left. “Don’t lick it!”

“Stop right now!”

But she turned away, fighting her sobs, and handed over the now-cleaned plane.

“I’ve cleaned it. Please tell them to stop hitting him. He’s going to die…”

Romeo slapped the plane to the ground with a look of disgust.

“You’re disgusting. It’s covered in your spit now. It reeks just like you. I don’t want it anymore.”

“But you promised…”

My daughter trembled, her voice weak, eyes filled with disbelief.

“I did promise to let him go. But now it’s Uncle Tanner calling the shots. He didn’t make that promise,” Romeo said smugly, his eyes locked onto hers with cruel amusement.

Her face turned pale as snow. The sparkle that once lit up her eyes had been completely extinguished by their merciless cruelty.

Tanner stepped forward, puffed up with pride, and gave me two more kicks.

“The young master’s right. He dared to smash that plane. I’ll be the first to make sure he pays!”

My daughter’s face was drained of color, her gaze hollow, stripped of light, stripped of hope.

Then, in a flash, I twisted and rolled, dragging Tanner to the ground with me.

I swung my fists and pounded him with everything I had.

Blow after blow landed as he howled in pain, his face swelling into a mess of bruises.

“Ahh! Kill him for me!”

By the time the security guards dragged me off, he was nearly unrecognizable, screaming like a lunatic.

Just then, the sharp sound of footsteps approached, followed by a cold voice.

“What are you all doing?”

I looked up and locked eyes with Kylie.

She pushed through the crowd, hurrying toward me. Her gaze swept over me, disbelief clouding her expression.

“Brody Jameson, y-you’re still alive?”

“Does my being alive disappoint you?” I asked coldly, meeting her eyes without flinching.

Even after six years, she was still breathtaking, as if time had never touched her. She looked exactly like she did the day we married.

But the tenderness in her eyes was gone. In its place was something cold, unfamiliar.

She was still the same on the outside. But her heart had changed.

“Y-You’re my dad?”

My daughter looked at me, stunned.

And then, without warning, she threw herself into my arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Daddy, I missed you so much. Why did you only come back now? I dream about you every night, but Mom burned all your photos. I can’t even remember what you look like in my dreams.”