Chapter 4

I was up until midnight, organizing evidence. However, early the next morning, I was jolted awake by a phone call from Giselle's school teacher.

"Am I speaking with Giselle's father? Giselle suddenly had an allergic reaction!"

My chest tightened. I hurriedly grabbed her medication and rushed to school to perform emergency first aid. As I watched the color return to Giselle's face, I breathed a sigh of relief.

The teacher, who was still shaken, exclaimed, "Thank goodness you arrived in time, Mr. Moore!"

Yet, one of Giselle's classmates jeered. "Ms. Flores, you're new here, so you don't know this yet. He's just Giselle's family's security guard; he's not Giselle's dad. Giselle gets mad at anyone who calls him that; she told us Cal's her dad!"

I went rigid. My heart, which had already become numb, cracked open once more.

No wonder I had never been invited to any of her parent-teacher meetings. No wonder I was never notified when she won an award. No wonder I had never met any of Giselle's classmates.

As it turned out, Giselle had already told the world that Callum was her father.

Just then, Cora appeared at the entrance with Callum.

Ms. Flores smiled apologetically. "Ms. Moore, your security guard's so responsible. He delivered Giselle's allergy medication just in time."

Cora looked down at me condescendingly. Her gaze swept over the slippers I had hurriedly thrown on before rushing out and my pale, exhausted face.

"He was just doing his job," she said apathetically.

From the very beginning, she never acknowledged that I was her legal husband—not even her soon-to-be ex-husband.

Callum rushed to Giselle's side. "Giselle, you haven't had an allergic reaction in almost six months. Why did it suddenly flare up again? Did you eat something you shouldn't have?"

Cora frowned as she turned to glare at me. As usual, the first thing she did was reprimand me. "What did you feed her? You had one job, and that was to look after her, yet you still managed to mess up!"

It was always the same story.

When Giselle cried and disturbed her work, it was my fault. When Giselle fell ill, it was my negligence. Cora wouldn't lend a single hand, wouldn't do a single chore, and wouldn't even pour a glass of water for me when I was completely running on empty.

I took a deep breath and explained, "I didn't feed her anything off-limits. Giselle's allergic to hazelnuts. I sniffed her breath. She had eaten Nutella."

Callum's expression stiffened.

Looking him in the eye, I asked, "Mr. Scott, you fed Giselle Nutella, didn't you?"

Callum parted his lips, instinctively attempting to defend himself.

"No… Don't blame Cal. I didn't have an allergic reaction because of Nutella. It was because you insisted on taking me out for cheese fondue yesterday that my allergy flared up!" Giselle forced herself to sit, and the very first thing she did was clear Callum's name.

So, Callum was Cal, while I was merely a pronoun.

I clenched my fists until my nails dug into my skin and gazed at Giselle. "Are you sure, Giselle?" I asked calmly. "Because you didn't take a single bite of the cheese fondue yesterday. I checked all the ingredients myself, and none of them would give you an allergic reaction."

Giselle's eyes darted around nervously. A few seconds later, she nodded firmly. "Yes, I'm sure! You forced me to eat the cheese fondue. I told you I didn't want to, but you still shoved it into my mouth.

She then turned to Cora. "Mommy, he hurt me. Hurry and have him arrested!"

My breath hitched, and I was paralyzed.

Cora's eyes flashed with anger, and she took a step forward to seize my wrist. "Galen White, you've fought me for custody of Giselle for five years. I thought it was because you loved her. But now, I see it was all just a ploy. You were just playing hard to get just to vie for my attention!"

My wrist hurt, but it was nothing compared to the pain tearing through my heart. After taking one look at her and the wariness in Giselle's eyes, all of a sudden, I felt drained. So, I responded softly, "I'm not fighting for it anymore."

Cora didn't catch it. "What did you just say?"

"I said, I'm not fighting for it anymore. I agree to the divorce."