Billionaire Woman Went to a Party Dressed Poor—Everyone Rejected Her Except a Kindhearted Single Dad
Chapter 3
The moment Daniel realized who Victoria was, everything changed.
Or at least everyone else changed.
People suddenly surrounded her.
“Victoria!”
“We’ve been looking everywhere.”
“Happy birthday!”
“Your dress is amazing!”
Someone who had ignored her ten minutes earlier now reached for her hand.
Caroline appeared again.
“Victoria!”
She looked shocked.
“I didn’t recognize you.”
Victoria smiled.
“I noticed.”
Caroline laughed awkwardly.
“I thought you were…”
“A guest?”
“Yes.”
“I was.”
Caroline looked uncomfortable.
Daniel stood quietly nearby.
Victoria noticed him watching.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“You want to leave?”
He glanced at Lily.
“She wants dessert.”
Victoria smiled.
“Then stay.”
A board member approached.
“Victoria, we need you for photographs.”
“Later.”
“We really need—”
“Later.”
He nodded.
Victoria turned to Daniel.
“You don’t have to stay.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you?”
Daniel looked at Lily.
“She likes you.”
Lily immediately said:
“I do.”
Victoria smiled.
“Then I guess you’re stuck with me.”
Daniel laughed.
Later, Victoria slipped away from the crowd.
She found Daniel in a side corridor, fixing a lighting panel.
“You work during your own free time?”
“Technically, this is not free time.”
“You’re still fixing things.”
“The light keeps flickering.”
“Why does that bother you?”
“It shouldn’t.”
“But it does.”
Daniel smiled.
“Old habits.”
Victoria leaned against the wall.
“I thought you would treat me differently.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I am.”
“How?”
“I know your name now.”
She laughed.
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
He understood.
“You’re still the woman who couldn’t get through the door.”
Victoria nodded.
“And now?”
“Now you’re the billionaire who owns the building.”
She smiled.
“Exactly.”
Daniel tightened a screw.
“Honestly?”
“What?”
“I liked you better before I knew.”
She laughed.
“Why?”
“You were easier to talk to.”
Victoria stared at him.
“No one has ever said that to me.”
“They should.”
Silence settled between them.
Then Victoria asked:
“Why are you a single dad?”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“My wife died four years ago.”
Victoria’s smile faded.
“I’m sorry.”
“Cancer.”
“Lily was…”
“Six.”
Victoria looked down.
“That must have been hard.”
“It was.”
“How did you manage?”
Daniel shrugged.
“One day at a time.”
Victoria nodded.
“My mother died when I was nineteen.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I didn’t know.”
“Most people don’t.”
“Was your father around?”
“Yes.”
“Good?”
Victoria smiled faintly.
“Complicated.”
Daniel didn’t push.
He understood grief.
He knew some things shouldn’t be forced.
Then Lily appeared.
“Dad!”
“What?”
“Everyone’s looking for Miss Victoria.”
Victoria laughed.
“Miss Victoria?”
Lily shrugged.
“Billionaire Victoria sounds weird.”
Daniel smiled.
“She’s right.”
Victoria looked at Lily.
“You can call me Victoria.”
“Okay.”
Lily grinned.
“Victoria, can you come watch me dance?”
Victoria nodded.
“Of course.”
She followed Lily.
Daniel watched them go.
He couldn’t explain the feeling.
Victoria wasn’t acting like a billionaire.
She wasn’t trying to impress anyone.
She simply seemed lonely.
And he knew that look.
He had worn it himself after his wife died.
The next morning, Victoria woke up to an email.
The sender was her chief financial officer.
The subject line:
URGENT — BOARD ACTION
She opened it.
The board had called an emergency meeting.
Someone was proposing a vote to remove her as CEO.
Someone who had her father’s support.
Someone she had trusted.
Then another message arrived.
A photograph.
It showed Daniel walking beside Victoria at the party.
The message beneath it was simple:
Find out who the man is.
Victoria stared.
Suddenly, her harmless little experiment was no longer harmless.
Someone had noticed.
