Chapter 2

In my last life, I'd assumed that wiring Daniel several million a year meant our daughter was living like a princess. It wasn't until after I died that I saw the truth. She'd been bullied and mocked the whole time at that status-obsessed school.

Daniel had told her, "Your mom only loves her work. She doesn't love you. She won't spend a single cent on you. Your dad's the one breaking his back to put you through school."

I strode over, my heels clicking sharp and cold against the marble floor.

The girls turned around. One look at my tailored suit and my expression, and they instinctively took a step back.

I ignored them and walked straight up to Nora.

Fourteen-year-old Nora looked up. There was no relief in her eyes, only wariness and a flash of shame. Something in my chest twisted.

"What are you doing here?" She hid the broken shoes behind her, bristling like a cornered animal. "Come to laugh at me too?"

"Who said I can't afford her training fee?" I kept my voice level and didn't answer her directly. Instead, I turned to the girls. My voice wasn't loud, but it carried weight.

I pulled a black card from my bag and handed it to the homeroom teacher, who was standing there frozen.

"Run it. I'm covering every activity fee, meal fee, and uniform cost for Nora for the next three years, paid in full today." I held the teacher's gaze. "And these girls just bullied my daughter. I want the security footage pulled, and I want their parents in this office tomorrow morning to explain themselves. Otherwise my legal team gets involved."

The girls went pale and scattered.

The hallway went quiet. Nora stared at the card in my hand, and the tears she'd been holding back finally broke loose.

"Stop pretending to be the good guy!" she shouted at me. "Dad said you wouldn't even give me five hundred bucks for spending money! Are you only doing this now to save face in front of everyone?"

I looked at her, furious and hurt, and felt no anger of my own. Only pain and guilt. Part of me wanted to tell her everything right then. The tragedy from my last life, and how I planned to spend the rest of this one making it up to her. But I didn't.

I stepped closer and took hold of her trembling wrist, firm enough that she couldn't pull away.

"I never stopped giving you money. I cut off the people who were collecting it in your name."

"What do you mean?" Nora froze.

"Come with me." I pulled her toward the exit. "I'll show you exactly where all that money your dad's supposedly been breaking his back for actually went."

Nora fought against my grip like a cornered animal.

"I'm not going anywhere! Let go of me! Dad said you're a heartless machine, that all you know how to do is throw money at people!" She wrenched her hand free, her nails leaving a scratch across the back of mine.

I stopped walking. I swallowed the ache in my chest and looked at her, my face calm.

"First, yes, I throw money at people. I earned every cent of it myself, and that's exactly why I can." I pulled a wet wipe from my bag and calmly cleaned the blood off her nails. "Second, your dad calls me heartless. Then answer me this. Why would a heartless woman wire millions into his account every single year, all marked for your education?"

Nora froze, her eyes widening. "You're lying... Dad said you only give this family a hundred thousand a year..."

"I never lie. I don't need to."

I pulled out my phone, opened my banking app, and held the screen up in front of her.

"This is everything I've wired your father over the past three years. Every transfer marked 'Nora's tuition and living expenses.' It comes out to over seventeen million."

Nora stared at the row of zeros on the screen, her lips trembling. Something in her whole understanding of her life cracked, right there.

"That's not possible... it can't be..." she muttered. "If he had that much money, why would he tell me we couldn't even afford new sneakers?"

"Because the money went somewhere it shouldn't have."

I put my phone away, my expression hardening. "You think I don't love you because all you've ever heard is his side of things. Today, I'm going to show you what he's actually been doing."

I opened the door of my Porsche Panamera and steered her into the passenger seat before she could argue.

"Where are we going?" Nora sat stiff in the leather seat, still guarded.

"To go see your wonderful father. The one who supposedly breaks his back for you and can't even afford himself a new shirt." I hit the gas, and the engine let out a low growl. "And while we're at it, let's meet the other 'daughter' he's been raising on your tuition money."