The Day I Stopped Waiting Was the Day He Started Begging novel Chapter 60

Madeline was utterly speechless.

No wonder people said lawyers were manipulative logic freaks.

If those hadn't been her exact words, she almost would have believed his ridiculous justification.

Despite cursing him in her head, Madeline didn't pull her hand away.

When they entered the VIP suite, Silas was looking much healthier with a solid flush of color in his cheeks. He instantly roped Madeline into a passionate debate about chess strategies.

York listened for a while before he started dozing off.

He had always been allergic to high-society hobbies, so he slipped out to get some fresh air.

The second he rounded the corner, he nearly tripped over a tiny girl.

She barely reached his shins. Clutching a stuffed rabbit, she stared up at him with massive, pitiful dark eyes.

York dropped into a crouch to meet her at eye level.

"Hey there, kiddo. Where are your parents?"

"Daddy..."

Evie chewed on her finger, her little face scrunched up tight, making her look ridiculously soft and squishy.

The expression almost made York laugh out loud. He naturally assumed the little girl had wandered off and gotten lost.

He scanned the corridor, but there wasn't an adult in sight.

"Little kids aren't supposed to run around by themselves, understand?"

"Not by self."

Evie was sharp, perfectly parroting his last few words.

"Which room are you in? I'll walk you back."

"No go back."

Evie squatted down on the floor, resting her chin in her hands as she stared intensely at York.

"Play together."

...

Inside the suite, Xander was starting to look completely exhausted. Madeline said her goodbyes, but when she stepped into the hall, York was nowhere to be found.

She walked a little further down the corridor and spotted him. He was crouched with his back to her, before finally standing up.

"Did she say anything?"

"She mistook me for someone else. But for a toddler who's barely one, stringing that many words together means she's incredibly smart."

Remembering how the tiny girl had sneakily pressed a piece of candy into his palm, York couldn't help but smile.

"And like I said, she was definitely confused. She actually called me 'Daddy'."

York clicked his tongue, completely oblivious to Madeline's paralyzed expression as he kept talking.

"I used to think kids were fragile little nightmares that were impossible to keep alive, but that girl has been raised perfectly. She's adorable."

York's vocabulary for compliments was practically nonexistent. Getting that kind of praise out of him was nothing short of a miracle.

But Madeline couldn't feel even an ounce of joy.

The father and daughter meeting like this was essentially planting a ticking time bomb.

One wrong move, and it would blow her entire world to pieces.

"What little girl?"

Xander suddenly appeared, spotting the two of them chatting in the breakroom.