Chapter 2 - The Heartbreaking Question Echos Through The Empty Living Room
The silence that followed Ellie’s quiet question felt heavier than any physical blow her father, Nathan, had ever experienced.
He knelt on the expensive imported rug, his hands trembling as he reached out to cup her tear-streaked face.
“Nobody hates you, baby,” Nathan choked out, his voice cracking with a sudden, suffocating wave of guilt.
Ellie looked down at the crushed pink frosting staining her little white sneakers, her small shoulders hunching inward.
“Then why did cousin Tyler smash my cake and tell me I don’t belong here?” she whispered, her voice heartbreakingly flat.
Nathan’s stomach twisted into a violent knot as he realized how long his daughter had been absorbing this quiet cruelty.
While he spent seventy hours a week building his real estate empire, assuming his mother and sister were caring for Ellie, a war had been waged in the shadows.
He pulled her fragile body against his chest, burying his face in her dark curls while silent tears burned his eyes.
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“You belong right here with me, Ellie, and I am never leaving you alone with them again,” he vowed fiercely.
Yet deep down, the terrifying realization clawed at his conscience: he had been a stranger in his own home.
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