Single Dad Sat Alone at the Bar—Then His Cold CEO Boss Smiled and Asked, “Will You Buy Me a Drink?”
Chapter 5
The following week changed everything.
Daniel and Lily stayed in New York longer than planned.
Victoria arranged a private tutor for Lily during work hours.
She found a doctor when Lily’s fever returned.
She even remembered that Lily hated orange juice but loved apple slices.
Daniel noticed every detail.
He also noticed something else.
Victoria looked happier around Lily.
The cold CEO who frightened billionaires became almost playful around one little girl.
One evening, Daniel found them sitting on the hotel floor building a dinosaur castle from wooden blocks.
He stood in the doorway.
Victoria looked up.
“You’re early.”
Daniel smiled.
“I finished the report.”
Lily pointed.
“Look!”
She had built a crooked castle.
“It’s beautiful.”
“I told her it was structurally unsound,” Victoria said.
Lily frowned.
“She’s mean.”
Daniel laughed.
Victoria shook her head.
“Both of you are impossible.”
That night, after Lily fell asleep, Daniel and Victoria sat on the balcony.
The city stretched beneath them.
“You like her,” Daniel said.
Victoria didn’t deny it.
“I do.”
“She likes you too.”
“I know.”
Daniel smiled.
Then his expression became serious.
“Why?”
Victoria turned.
“Why what?”
“Why are you doing all this?”
She looked at the city.
“Because I never had this.”
“This?”
“A family.”
Daniel was quiet.
Victoria continued.
“My mother died when I was fifteen.”
Daniel looked at her.
“My father worked constantly. I was raised by people who were paid to care about me.”
She smiled without humor.
“I became successful because being successful was the only way I knew to make myself feel safe.”
Daniel understood more than he expected.
“You’re not cold.”
She laughed softly.
“That’s a bold statement.”
“You’re scared.”
Victoria looked at him.
Nobody had ever said that to her.
At least not honestly.
“Maybe.”
Daniel leaned back.
“Of what?”
She whispered,
“Losing someone.”
The silence between them became intimate.
Daniel looked at her.
She looked at him.
Neither moved.
Then Lily’s bedroom door opened.
“Daddy?”
They both turned.
“Bad dream.”
Daniel stood.
“I’ll get her.”
Victoria watched him walk away.
She touched her lips.
Then shook her head.
This was dangerous.
She was falling for a man who worked for her.
A man with a daughter.
A man who had responsibilities.
A man she had no right to want.
And yet…
When Daniel returned, Lily was asleep in his arms.
Victoria looked at him.
The image felt strangely natural.
Too natural.
Then her phone rang.
A message.
URGENT: Money from the missing $80 million has been traced.
She opened the attached file.
Her face went pale.
The money had moved into a private account.
The account belonged to Daniel Brooks.
She looked at him.
He had just walked into the room carrying Lily.
And suddenly Victoria wondered whether the man she had begun to trust…
was the person who had betrayed her.
