Chapter 1

"Gemma, we agreed on ten years. That time is up now. I'd like to leave with Kira."

"You know he never liked her," she added quietly.

In the quiet of the coffee house, Josie Carr spoke with a bitter expression.

She had lived with Graham Holloway for ten years—ten long years, and still, she hadn't managed to thaw his heart.

Ten years ago, Graham's first love had left him and gone abroad. After that, he fell apart, sinking into a haze of alcohol and despair. He barely stepped outside the house.

Unable to bear watching her son waste away, Gemma sought out Josie. She offered her a million dollars to stay by Graham's side for ten years.

Josie had already carried a quiet crush on him since her school days. When faced with that offer, she barely hesitated before saying yes.

From then on, she began to pursue him.

When he was unhappy, she'd try anything to make him smile.

When he was sick, she stayed up all night at his bedside, running back and forth through hospital corridors.

Knowing he had a weak stomach, she learned to cook just for him. She managed every detail of his daily life.

She pulled him from the pit of heartbreak, stayed loyally by his side—but to him, she was just a nameless simp.

Once, she overheard his friends ask what she meant to him.

He only smiled and said nothing.

Then came the night he got drunk.

In a daze of blurred desire, he pinned her to the bed, and afterward, there was a child.

He gave her a villa and agreed to let her keep the baby. But on one condition: the child must never call him father. To the outside world, Graham remained a single man.

"I will never marry you. Don't hold out hope.

"I'll pay child support, but don't expect me to acknowledge her. She doesn't exist to me."

Graham's heart was like iron. He never once allowed their daughter to call him 'dad.'

When Kira was three, she slipped and called him that once—just once. He locked her in a room for twenty-four hours. She cried until her voice broke.

At four, she tried to hold his hand. He shoved her away so hard she fell down the stairs, nearly breaking a bone.

But yesterday, Graham came home looking genuinely happy. He brought Kira a gift and even promised to spend her birthday with her.

Kira had gone wild with joy. She kept asking if maybe—just maybe—Daddy liked her a little now.

But Josie knew better than anyone: his joy had nothing to do with Kira.

She had seen it herself—how tenderly he cared for his long-lost love, who had just returned to the country. How gently he held that woman's daughter, coaxing the little girl to call him "Dad," as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

That was when something inside Josie quietly died.

Gemma let out a long, heavy sigh. "So be it. If you've made up your mind, I won't try to stop you."

When she returned home, Josie began to pack.

Five-year-old Kira pushed the door open, eyes red. "Mommy, are we really leaving Daddy?"

Josie's chest tightened at the sight of her.

"Daddy's true love is back," she said softly. "We don't belong here anymore."

Graham didn't love her. He didn't love Kira, either.

Now that the woman he truly loved had returned, there was no longer a place in this house for the two of them.

Josie knelt down, cupping her daughter's small face. "Let's go abroad, just the two of us. Would you like that?"

Kira was a sensitive, perceptive child. She understood exactly what her mother meant.

Lowering her head, her voice broke. "But Daddy promised… he said he'd celebrate my birthday with me. He said he'd take me to the amusement park. I've never been to the amusement park with Daddy before…"

Josie knew how deeply Kira craved her father's love.

A child who had never been seen, never been embraced by her father—now that he had finally made a promise, even if it was a flame, she would fly into it like a moth, just to feel the warmth.

With teary eyes, Kira pleaded, "I really want to spend my birthday with Daddy. Can we give him three more chances? If he still doesn't like me after that… we'll leave for good."

Josie pulled Kira close, holding her tightly in her arms. In the end, she couldn't say no to her daughter's request.

"All right," she murmured. "We'll give Daddy three more chances."

Kira's birthday was in three days.

That gave Graham three chances.

And if he failed all three—

She would take her daughter and disappear from his world forever.