Chapter 4

Vance's eyes lit up when he saw me.

I knew he could never resist this look.

"You... why are you still here?"

I sat on the sofa, wrapping my arms around his neck, "Vance, do you really want me to leave?"

He pressed his lips together, staying silent.

"Bankruptcy isn't the end of the world. I can support you if I have to."

I tilted my head up, kissing his jaw.

I tried to reach his lips, but he turned away, silently refusing me.

This was the first time Vance had ever rejected my advances.

"Sophie, you don't need to pity me."

His voice was strained. Even though his body responded to mine, he stubbornly refused to look at me.

I was so frustrated I almostlaughed. "Pity you?"

"I know you don't love me, and that you're loyal. But you don't need to do this. Go live the life you want. Don't stay with me out of some sense of obligation."

I'm not good with words, I prefer action.

He kept talking, saying things I didn't want to hear. Fed up, I silenced him with my own lips.

Vance didn't expect that. His breathing grew ragged. Finally, he cupped the back of my head, deepening the kiss into something slow and lingering.

I closed my eyes, waiting for what came next.

But suddenly, I felt weightless. At this critical moment, Vance actually placed me back on the sofa, hurriedly retreated to his room, and left me with just one sentence,

"Sophie, you always cry when we do that."

"I don't want to force you anymore."

?

Was he insane?

Those were tears of pleasure!

But before I could explain, he shut and locked the door.

Sometimes, being too considerate is a flaw.

Vance stubbornly believed no one in this world needed him anymore, including me.

Driven by the plot, his resolve to end things was firm.

The next day, after the house transfer was finalized, Vance took a burlap sack and drove miles out to an abandoned building in the suburbs.

He walked step by step up to the rooftop.

Somehow finding another few dozen dollars in some forgotten account, he transferred it to me.

After doing this, he stood on the edge of the roof, preparing to climb into the sack.

Vance was a gentle villain.

He was afraid his death would look too gruesome, that it would scare passersby. So he wanted to get inside the sack first.

"Vance, stop!"

Startled, he turned. As if remembering something, he quickly said,

"Sophie, the car downstairs there is in your name. You can sell it for cash."

Seriously? Did he think I was that obsessed with money?

"Close your eyes, don't look down. I'm afraid you'll have nightmares."

I shouted to stop him, "Vance, have you ever thought about what happens to me if you die?"

"I have," Vance nodded, answering me seriously. "You'll live happily ever after, hiring male models, keeping boy toys, watching handsome men, feeling their abs."

I was speechless.

"And you still gave me money?"

"I can't keep you all to myself. If you use my money to support someone else, maybe you'll still think of me sometimes. Let me have that small part of you."

?

Help, the villain's thought process was so bizarre, so twisted.

Seeing him quicken his movements and knowing reasoning was useless, I played my trump card.

"Vance, don't be in such a hurry to jump. We have a child."

His eyes remained lifeless, "Don't lie to me. We were always careful."

"Really, the child is right here."

I pulled over the little girl I'd hastily picked from the foster care center last night,"Take a look."

Vance froze.

He stared at the little girl, who came up to my waist, her hair in pigtails. His lips moved as he asked her, "How old are you?"

Vivi answered crisply, "Four."

"Sophie, stop joking. We've been together three years. How could we have a four-year-old child?"

I would've preferred to find a one-year-old, but after visiting two foster homes last night, I genuinely couldn't find a child under three.

I lied without batting an eye, "Actually, I'm not child-free. I had a daughter before I met you. Now she's older and wants to find her daddy."

"As her father, you should help me raise her."

Vance's eyes widened in shock, "But... but this isn't my child."

That's what he said, but the look he gave Vivi was noticeably softened.

"If you love me, isn't my child your child?"

"Could you really leave me to raise her alone, letting her grow up without a father?"

I gave Vivi a signal.

She was clever. Immediately, she blinked her big eyes, and tears suddenly started falling like broken pearls.

Crying so hard she could barely catch her breath, she stretched her little hands out towards Vance, sobbing,

"Want Daddy to hold me."

"Daddy, come back. It's dangerous there."

"Mommy and I need you."

She cried so pitifully, it was heartbreaking.

Vance looked utterly lost, his gaze shifting to me.

I put my hands on my hips and pointed at him, "As a father, is it right to let your daughter cry like this?"

"Hurry up and come down to comfort her!"

He hesitated, then spoke awkwardly to Vivi, "You... stop crying now."

But Vivi cried even harder, plopping down on the ground wailing. Nothing he said could calm her.

She just stubbornly reached for Vance, repeating the same three words over and over,

"Daddy hold me."

The grim determination in his eyes slowly faded. Finally, he slowly shuffled away from the roof's edge towards Vivi and me.

He bent down, hesitantly reaching out.

The next second, Vivi threw herself into his arms.

The moment she hugged him, Vance froze for an instant.

The tiny person was adorable, her face no bigger than his palm, her eyes shining like pools.

He looked at me dazedly, "So this is what a child of yours looks like."

I corrected him without changing expression, "Our child."

"Vance, I know you want to jump, but Vivi is about to start preschool. There's so much to do lately."

"Wait until things settle down before you jump. I won't stop you then."

Vance nodded, holding Vivi and looking her over repeatedly, the excitement dawning on him belatedly.

"Oh my god, I'm actually a dad."

"I actually got to have a child with you in this lifetime."

"And she's a beautiful daughter."

Joy radiated from his face—the pure joy of a first-time father, as if he were her biological dad.

I'd never seen anyone so thrilled about being a stepdad.

Hed gone up to the rooftop heartbroken, but came down pestering Vivi,

"Baby, call me Daddy again."