86.7%
Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Claire’s Dad–Christopher Bennett’s POV
The first time I saw Vivian.
She had a boyfriend, and it was at a business gala.
She was a planner for a partner company.
I fell for her at first sight.
She was beautiful.
In a pale blue–green gown, like a wisp of smoke floating over river waves.
But she refused me.
I used business as an excuse.
To take by force what I wanted.
The night she bloomed beneath me, I suddenly felt that Bennett Corporation was nothing.
To keep her obediently by my side, I destroyed her fiancé’s company.
Detention, imprisonment–I used every means.
To prevent her escape, I even had custom chains made for her delicate wrists.
The triplets were conceived during that time.
But the triplets looked too much like me, and she didn’t like that.
She even fell into depression for a while.
Later, we had a daughter.
But when our daughter was three, Vivian’s condition was still poor.
Until my daughter told me that Mommy wanted to go out.
I thought this was another scheme of Vivian’s to escape.
After all, she’d tried to flee countless times over seven years.
Vivian loved our daughter more than life itself.
This made me lower my guard.
Until that day, she left the country with her fiancé’s help,
I lost my mind with Claire for the first time.
If she hadn’t been useless, why would Vivian have left?
My reach couldn’t extend abroad.
16:19
Mom I Became Good, Could You Love Me Now?
90.0%
Chapter 10
So I tried to expand the business internationally, staying busy beyond measure.
Claire kept not coming home on time.
That day all three brothers came home, but she hadn’t returned for a long time. I sent everyone to find her.
We didn’t find her until the next day–I didn’t sleep all night.
It disrupted the next day’s plans. I was both angry and anxious.
I couldn’t bear to think about how Vivian would collapse if she knew her daughter had gone missing.
Only when Claire appeared did I breathe easy.
I remembered how last time I’d locked her up for half a day and she’d cried until she fainted.
This time I used the ruler, though not with much force.
She cried with tears all over her face.
I steeled my heart, because this month she’d already failed to come home on time three times.
I hit her once more.
Claire immediately burst into tears.
Claire had been a crybaby since childhood–only Vivian could comfort her.
Once she started crying, she couldn’t stop.
But I was busy then and had no mind to care.
The next night when I came home, I saw her push open the door, her fuzzy little head peeking out. Very cute, but she was barefoot on the floor. Vivian also liked to go barefoot, which made me even angrier.
But thinking of yesterday, I couldn’t help trying to comfort her.
Until later, they said she’d stolen another child’s silver locket.
I couldn’t believe Vivian’s child would do such a thing.
But Katie’s father was a hero.
And children don’t lie.
So I believed others. Seeing Claire’s stubborn refusal to admit it, I slapped her.
In the end she still wouldn’t confess, so I could only buy the item.
But I forgot that children don’t lie, but adults teach them to.
After investigating, I learned the truth.
The grandmother had deliberately taught the child to say that, just to swindle money.
I also called Vivian to ask. She said when she left, she’d given the child a silver locket–her mother’s keepsake.
I was such a fool.
16:20
Mom I Became Good Could You Love Me Now?
Chapter 10
That thing was obviously an old item–how much could it be worth? Who would steal it?
And it wasn’t like Claire hadn’t seen nice things.
I went home wanting to apologize to Claire.
But it was too late.
Claire wasn’t in her room and hadn’t gone to school.
I sent everyone to find her, and finally found her in the basement.
The child was burning with fever, consciousness blurred, still calling for Mommy.
The doctor said if we’d been an hour later, the child would have been gone.
Standing outside the ER, my whole body went weak.
I didn’t dare think how Vivian would hate me if she was gone.
I kept watch for seven days before she finally woke up.
But she didn’t like my touch and wouldn’t speak anymore.
She used to love clinging to me and calling me Daddy, but after waking up, her eyes only held strangeness when she looked at me.
The doctor’s report said the child had psychological trauma.
Neurological damage causing inability to speak due to stimulus–when she might speak again was uncertain.
I tried being a good father.
But it seemed too late.
Every time she looked at me, the fear in her eyes seemed to hollow out my heart.
I didn’t understand then.
Later the teacher showed me the kindergarten surveillance footage.
Only then did I learn of the three boys‘ cruelty–they had actually bullied their own little sister.
So that fear wasn’t just of me.
It was also of her own brothers.
But the old Claire could never come back.
As long as she lived with me, she couldn’t eat.
Couldn’t sleep well either.
Even when she slept, she had nightmares.
My daughter was the last card to bring Vivian back.
But the former little crybaby now neither cried nor smiled.
She ate then vomited, and never said she was hungry.
16:20
Mom I Became Good. Could You Love Me Now?
95.0%
Chapter 10
Getting thinner and paler.
As if a strong wind could blow her away.
I repeatedly confirmed what the doctor said. That night, I finally decided to send her back to Vivian.
If it had been before, seeing Vivian at the airport, I would definitely find ways to drag her back to the villa.
But seeing her mother, my little honey let out a piercing cry.
This was the first sound she’d made in the month since falling ill, accusing her mother of not wanting her.
I couldn’t bear to watch the my love and our daughter die in my prison.
I could only remain alone.
Claire,
It’s all Daddy’s fault.
Now, you have a mother who loves you-
You’ll be lively and cheerful for the rest of your life.
