Unmasked My CEO Ex-Husband’s Regret novel Chapter 79

"Elara, are you..." *robbing me?!*

The words nearly slipped out of Julian's mouth, but seeing Elara immediately avert her gaze after dropping the demand, he forcefully swallowed the rest of his sentence.

Elara leaned down and asked, "Are you okay with that, Melody?"

Melody didn't really grasp the concept of money, but she understood her parents' underlying meaning.

Her dad wanted to give her money as an apology for breaking his promises, and her mom suggested he put fifty thousand dollars into her bank account.

Though she didn't quite understand why her dad wasn't just using Penalty Coupons and wanted to send money instead, she figured it was just a different way of saying sorry—basically the same thing as a coupon.

"Sure!"

Melody accepted the proposal. "You can keep it for me, Mom."

Once she saved up enough money for cake, she'd buy her mom a slice.

"Alright."

Elara straightened up and looked at Julian. "Melody agreed."

Julian: "..."

"I'll also add one more condition," Elara continued. "Neither of us is allowed to touch the money in Melody's account. When she turns twenty-two, she can decide how to spend it herself."

Julian's expression softened slightly, and he swallowed the refusal that had been sitting on his tongue.

If Elara genuinely promised not to touch the money, he could just treat it as building an early nest egg for Melody.

Besides, since Melody would be living with him later, as her legal guardian, he would eventually have control over that card anyway.

"Well?" Elara checked with him. "That's more than fair, isn't it?"

Julian nodded. "Yeah."

"Great. I'll go print the contract."

When Melody was two, Elara had opened a bank account for her specifically to deposit her holiday cash gifts.

As Elara drafted the contract, she plugged in that exact account number. After letting Julian review it, she printed it out, and they both signed their names and pressed their thumbprints onto the paper.

She sounded as if she was afraid he was going to make a run for it.

"Transfer!"

Gritting his teeth, Julian pulled out his phone and wired a hundred and fifty thousand dollars into his daughter's account.

Right as the 'Transfer Successful' notification popped up, a message from Vivian dropped down from the top of his screen. Julian instinctively flicked his eyes up to look at Elara and Melody across from him.

Elara was checking her phone to confirm the deposit, and Melody was leaning against her, craning her neck to look at the screen. Neither had noticed his momentary panic.

Julian casually closed the banking app, switched over to check the text, and stood up. "I need to head out for a bit."

Elara waved him off. "Right, have fun working."

Julian went upstairs, changed his clothes, and came back down.

Elara and Melody were busy blowing up balloons. Hearing him approach, Elara glanced up briefly, asked absolutely nothing, and went right back to what she was doing.

Julian had been bracing himself for an interrogation and had mentally drafted a whole slew of excuses, but in the end, he didn't have to use a single word of it.