Unmasked My CEO Ex-Husband’s Regret novel Chapter 1

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[Julian, Melody got hurt.]

[I can't get a cab to the hospital. Please drive to Bayview Mall and pick us up.]

After the third unanswered call, Elara Sterling placed her daughter on the bench and had no choice but to leave Julian Beckett a message.

The torrential rain made the ground slick. Her daughter had accidentally tumbled down the stairs and scraped her knee. Elara wanted to take her to the hospital, but it was rush hour, and not a single cab was available.

Their family driver had taken a week off, leaving Elara with no option but to contact Julian.

Julian's company was just down the street, less than a five-minute drive away. Elara could even see the flickering lights on the top floor of his building. He was still at the office.

The cold air nipped at their legs. Elara rolled down her daughter's pant leg, but the fabric brushed against the wound. Melody cried in pain, squirming restlessly as she choked out, "Daddy isn't coming. Does he not want us anymore?"

Elara was momentarily at a loss for words. She gently stroked her daughter's hair. "No, sweetie. Daddy is in a meeting. He's just tied up right now."

"Whenever I'm sick, Daddy is always in a meeting. Does he not care about me at all?"

Sensing Elara's sudden dip in mood, Melody clamped her mouth shut in fright. A panic and remorse far beyond her years flickered in her eyes.

She wanted to apologize and comfort her mother but didn't know how to express it, eventually bursting into anxious tears.

Elara quickly pulled her into a hug and explained, "I'm not mad. Mommy is just blaming herself for not noticing how much you miss Daddy."

"I'm sorry, baby. Mommy was wrong."

Melody accepted the apology, her cries gradually softening. She rubbed her small face against her mother's chest to show she had forgiven her.

A lump formed in Elara's throat as she held her daughter tighter.

The phone in her pocket buzzed. The premium ride she had booked finally arrived, and the driver was calling to confirm their location.

The moment she hung up, Julian's reply popped up on the screen:

[Entertaining clients. Not at the office.]

Elara instinctively looked up. In the distance, the lights on the top floor of the office building—which had been on just seconds ago—flickered off.

Elara held her daughter firmly to prevent her from injuring herself further.

"Then why didn't the doctor make it better?"

"Why isn't Daddy home yet?"

"Does he not want me anymore?"

"Am I not being a good girl?"

Melody was naturally highly sensitive, processing internal and external stimuli far more intensely than an average person. Missing her father for so long without any response made her incredibly anxious, and the scraped knee only amplified her insecurities.

She was plagued by endless "whys" and "is it because I'm bad."

She cried and asked, but no satisfactory answers came.

"Daddy is busy with work and can't come home." Melody had heard that excuse for eight days straight. It had lost all its credibility.