All Chapters of No Longer His Little Girl: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

Watching Marcus Doakes hurry away, I didn't shed a single tear.I held Nora's hand and turned toward the curb to hail a cab.The car was quiet.Nora sat in the back seat, still clutching the half-eaten cotton candy in her hand.At a red light, the cab stopped.Nora suddenly rolled down the window and calmly removed the pink Minnie Mouse headband from her hair.It was the souvenir Marcus had bought her at the amusement park entrance before we set out.She didn't hesitate at all.With one clean flick, she tossed it straight into the trash can by the road.The driver glanced at her in the rearview mirror and said in surprise, "Little girl, why throw away such a pretty headband?"Nora didn't look at him.She only watched the street blur past outside the window, her voice young but steady. "It's dirty. I don't want it anymore."I looked at how practiced that movement was, and my heart ached.I knew very well.She wasn't only learning to call him Mister.She was also learning

Chapter 2

My chest tightened. I tucked the blanket around her."Right. Just the two of us.""Great."She closed her eyes, even smiling faintly.At eleven that night, my phone screen lit up.It was a message from Marcus."Jacey got laughed at today because she had no dad with her at the amusement park. She cried too hard, so I went over."I'll take you and Nora again this weekend."Explain it to our daughter for me. She's sensible. She'll understand."A perfunctory excuse with no sincerity.He didn't even have the patience to call.He was always like this, using the lightest tone to demand, as if it were natural, that we step back.I didn't reply.Instead, I opened his profile and moved him into a new contact group.Group name: Three-Day Countdown.I put down my phone and looked at sleeping Nora.Beside her bed, I whispered, "There's no need to explain anymore."Because my daughter won't need a father again."The next morning, the sound of the front door opening came from the en

Chapter 3

He looked down at trembling Nora with impatience written all over his face."Don't be so selfish."I stepped forward and pressed Nora's hand down.Then I pulled her behind me.I looked at Marcus's sanctimonious face, my voice without a ripple."Fine. Take it."Marcus froze for a moment.Apparently, he hadn't expected me to be so easy to talk to.In the past, whenever something related to my grandmother was involved, I would fight him with everything I had.But he quickly smiled with satisfaction."That's more like it. We're family. There's no need to separate everything so clearly."He took the dress and turned toward the door.Before leaving, he didn't forget to remind us, "I absolutely won't miss tomorrow's birthday party."Get ready early."The door slammed shut.The instant it closed, Nora finally broke down and sobbed.She cried so hard she could barely breathe.Her chest heaved violently, and her throat made a wheezing sound like a broken bellows.Her asthma alm

Chapter 4

She walked to the dining table, climbed onto a chair, and took out a black marker.Then she opened the diary.Every word related to "Daddy" in the book, she blacked out stroke by stroke.She pressed so hard the paper tore."Mom."Once it's blacked out, you can't see it anymore."She put down the pen and stuffed the diary into her little backpack.At three in the afternoon, I called the recycling station.Several workers arrived and moved quickly.Everything in the house that belonged to Marcus--his razor, suits, ties, and even the huge wedding portrait on the wall--was hauled away as trash.This home was being completely formatted without Marcus knowing a thing.At four, I pulled two large suitcases and held Nora's hand at the entryway.I looked once more at the wall clock.Then at the empty living room."Let's go," I said to Nora."Our new life is only three hours away by car."We walked out the door.I shut it, locked it, and walked without looking back toward the ai

Chapter 5

At six-thirty that evening, Marcus drove like a madman to the ocean-view restaurant.When he pushed open the private room door, it was empty.He frantically dialed my phone.All he got was the notification that it was turned off.He spun around and rushed out of the restaurant.Then he floored the accelerator and sped back home, running two red lights on the way.At exactly seven, Marcus kicked open the front door.What greeted him was a house full of dead, dark silence.And empty closets.He switched on the lights.On the dining table, the signed divorce agreement and the cold wedding ring instantly stabbed his eyes.At that same moment, on the other side of the city, the transoceanic flight to the southern hemisphere roared into the sky.Marcus, his hands trembling, dialed the number that would never connect again.From the receiver came only that cold automated voice.He dropped to his knees in the empty living room.A desperate, tearing howl ripped from his throat.

Chapter 6

The recording cut off.Marcus staggered back as if struck by lightning.He refused to believe it.He used every connection he had to investigate flight records and train records.Only then did he discover I had applied for an international transfer half a month earlier.I had also set the highest level of information barriers around our records.The control he had always been so proud of had become a complete joke in the face of my decisive departure.In despair, his gaze fell on the last page of Nora's diary.There was a drawing with one corner torn off.He turned it over.On the back was a sentence."Mom says Mister is a robber."One day, another robber will come and bite him back."Marcus's eyes went bloodshot.He grabbed his car keys and drove, like a raging beast, straight to Clara's home.With a loud crash, Marcus kicked open Clara's security door.Clara was still wearing a sexy silk nightgown.Thinking Marcus had come to apologize, she was about to put on airs.

Chapter 7

Two sharp slaps rang out.Marcus slapped himself hard across the face twice.The force was so great that blood instantly seeped from the corner of his mouth.Clara dropped to her knees, groveling on the floor and frantically begging for mercy."Marcus, I was wrong. I only did it because I love you too much. I was afraid they'd take you away from us..."Marcus didn't hesitate.He kicked her aside."Reflect on how you became a mother in prison."He handed the surveillance footage and evidence directly to the police and reported Clara for child abuse.At the same time, he withdrew every bit of financial support he had given Clara and Jacey.He also reclaimed the apartment.Revenge had been taken.But his home was gone.Marcus returned to the empty house.Holding the hand-embroidered silk princess dress he had taken back, now stained and dirty, he curled up in the corner and cried like a stray dog.Meanwhile, the scene shifted.In Melbourne, the morning sun was bright.I w

Chapter 8

The man's name was Ryan Lawson.He was my supervisor, and also the suitor who had spent the most time with us over the past year.Marcus hid behind the shadowed trees.Jealousy drove him mad, his eyes blood-red.But he didn't dare rush forward.For the next few days, he lived like a rat in the gutter.Wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, he followed us to the supermarket and to the amusement park.He watched Ryan carefully avoid every strawberry-flavored snack in the supermarket.He watched Ryan sit on the carpet and patiently build Lego with Nora for two whole hours.Marcus's heart was sliced apart inch by inch.He had once had the chance to do all of this.But he had given it all away to someone else.The weekend park was full of sunlight.Nora was riding her scooter in the square.Ryan had gone to buy water, and I sat on a bench reading documents.Suddenly, Nora lost control of the scooter.It tilted, and she fell hard to the ground.Her knee scraped open."Waaah

Chapter 9

Marcus's face went paler. He tried to reach for the hem of my skirt.I stepped back in disgust."You came to beg me today not because you love me, and definitely not because you love your daughter."You just can't accept that the control you held over us has been broken."You can't stand that the accessories you treated like tools abandoned you first."I looked down at him."Don't use fatherly love to disgust me. Deep down, the only person you love is yourself."Just then, Ryan walked out of the building.Seeing the scene, he didn't get angry.He came over naturally and handed me a hot coffee.Then he said to Marcus gently, "Mr. Doakes, devotion that shows up this late is cheaper than dirt."Sophie's doing just fine now."She doesn't need you circling back like a late garbage truck."I took Ryan's hand smoothly.Our fingers intertwined.Facing Marcus, I gave my most genuine smile in a year."He's right."Thank you for refusing to let go back then. Otherwise, I wouldn't

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP