Chapter 2

"Ow!"

Valerie stumbled back two steps, her back hitting the wall, rubbing her flushed wrist and shrieking loud enough to cut.

"Daryl, you shoved me for some castoff who had a bastard kid?"

Her eyes went red on the spot, wronged as if she'd suffered some terrible cruelty. Anyone who didn't know better would think Daryl had done her wrong.

"I'm your rightful fiancée!"

"How could you help an outsider bully me?"

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Daryl's ramrod-straight back.

【Satisfying, so satisfying! CEO Gilbert can't keep up the wife-protecting act anymore! Just last night he wrote in his diary that he wants to throw his ex-wife a redo wedding of the century!】

The colorful comments flashed past fast, and I almost laughed out loud.

Writing a diary?

A business titan who was decisive and ruthless by day, and behind closed doors he had this sappy, sentimental little hobby.

Daryl pulled off the tie his daughter had messed up, didn't even glance at it, and tossed it into the trash can beside him.

For Valerie, not even a look.

"I signed up for the parent-child crafts class. Out of the way. Get lost."

Valerie clenched her back teeth so hard her face nearly twisted out of shape.

"Fine. Just fine!"

"Charlotte, you really think you've won?"

She pulled her phone from her bag, quickly dialed a number, and deliberately put it on speaker.

The moment the call connected, she switched her voice, syrupy and soft.

"Auntie, I ran into Charlotte at the preschool."

"She's got some kid from who knows where, and she's clinging to Daryl…"

Kathy Gilbert's shrill scolding came through fast from the other end.

"What? That clingy jinx is back again!"

Valerie shot me a smug look and pushed the phone up to Daryl's ear.

"Daryl, bring Valerie back to the old house right now!"

"You'd better explain all of this to me!"

Kathy wasn't keeping her voice down, every word laced with command.

"The Gilbert family can't afford this kind of embarrassment. Get rid of that woman immediately!"

Daryl's brow furrowed, and just as he was about to speak, I took my daughter's little hand and turned toward the preschool gate.

"Since CEO Gilbert is busy dealing with family matters, he should give the spot to someone else."

"We're just ordinary people. We wouldn't dare hold up CEO Gilbert's wonderful match."

I dropped the words and didn't look back.

Hurried footsteps sounded behind me right away.

"Stop."

Daryl caught up in a few strides and blocked our path, broad shoulders and long legs sealing the way completely.

Kathy, still shouting through the phone, was left hanging entirely.

He bent down and lifted my daughter up with one arm.

"The spot is mine. It's not for you to decide."

Holding the child, he strode toward the crafts classroom, giving me no room to refuse.

My daughter draped over his shoulder, grinning and waving at me, still gripping a fancy gold-nibbed fountain pen she'd somehow filched from his pocket at some point.

"Mommy, come on, Daddy's taking us to do crafts!"