She’s With Me — Single Dad Spoke Calmly, The Billionaire Heiress Stood Frozen at the Table
Chapter 3
Victoria did not sit down again.
“Daniel,” she said, “we need to speak.”
Lily looked up.
“Is she your friend?”
Daniel hesitated.
Victoria’s face tightened.
Emma quietly rose from her chair.
“I should go.”
“No,” Daniel said.
Emma stopped.
Victoria laughed once, but there was no amusement in it.
“Interesting.”
Daniel met her gaze.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Turn this into something it isn’t.”
Victoria looked at Emma again.
The young woman lowered her eyes.
Victoria had seen that gesture before.
People did it around her when they felt small.
And Victoria hated that she had become the kind of person people feared.
Charles Ashford rose.
“Victoria, who is this man?”
Daniel answered before she could.
“Daniel Mercer.”
Charles studied him.
The recognition came slowly.
Then completely.
Victoria saw it happen.
Her father’s expression changed by less than a breath.
But she saw it.
“You’re alive,” Charles said.
Daniel smiled without warmth.
“That disappoints you?”
The room became colder.
Lily reached for Daniel’s hand beneath the table.
He squeezed it.
Charles turned toward his daughter.
“You knew he was alive?”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
For the first time, she saw genuine surprise in his face.
“You didn’t?”
“No.”
He believed her.
She could tell.
And somehow, that hurt more.
Victoria stepped closer.
“Where did you go?”
Daniel looked at Lily.
Then at Emma.
“This is not the place.”
“You vanished.”
“I know.”
“You left me one letter.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“I know.”
Victoria pulled the old folded paper from her purse.
She had carried it for ten years.
Daniel stared.
The letter had only contained seven words.
Forget me. It is safer if you do.
Victoria’s fingers trembled.
“You destroyed my life with seven words.”
Daniel’s eyes moved to the letter.
Then to Charles.
“No,” he said quietly. “Your father tried.”
Charles slammed his hand against the table.
“That is enough.”
And suddenly, Victoria understood.
The shattered glass on the floor was not the only thing breaking that night.
The lie she had lived with for ten years was beginning to crack.
