Daniel felt the air leave his lungs.
He turned to Emma. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her breathing hitched. “I tried. I emailed—your assistant blocked me. I called—your number changed. I even came to your office but they told me you were ‘too busy’ for old acquaintances. I wanted you to choose us. I didn’t want to beg.”
A gut-punch.
He remembered that time:
IPO.
Interviews.
Fame rising faster than he could breathe.
He had stopped checking anything “personal.”
“I didn’t know,” he whispered. “Emma, I swear to you, I didn’t know.”
She looked away, trembling.
“It doesn’t matter now. We’ll leave. Liam just… he needed to see your face.”
But Liam tugged Daniel’s sleeve again.
“Daddy… don’t you want me?”
Daniel’s vision blurred.
“I do,” he breathed. “More than anything.”
THE FALLOUT
The network footage went viral in minutes.
News anchors screamed for statements.
Stock in WardTech dipped.
Reporters camped outside Emma’s building.
Daniel shut everything down.
He pulled Emma and Liam backstage, away from the frenzy, and said the only thing that mattered:
“Come with me. Both of you.”
Emma hesitated. “Daniel… you don’t have to—”
“I want to,” he said. “Let me be his father. Let me try.”