Chapter 4My Toxic Daughter’s Regret

On the day of the competition, I sent Nancy to school and watched her walk through the gates with my own eyes.

With her little bag on her shoulders, she turned to wave at me like a harmless bunny. “Bye-bye, Daddy!”

I stood at the gates and watched her disappear into the school building before I turned and left.

The competition went smoothly. I leveraged my case experience over the years, proving every point with evidence and logic. The judges nodded, and the audience applauded me.

Just as the speech was about to end, right before I bowed to thank my audience—

A tiny figure rushed onto the stage from behind the curtain. It was Nancy!

She was wearing her school uniform, her hair a mess and her knees greyed with dust. It looked like she had climbed over the school wall.

When she stumbled onto the stage, the guards somehow did not manage to stop her. As such, she managed to grab the emcee’s spare mic and fall to her knees right in the center of the stage.

The piercing feedback from the microphone rang through the arena. Everyone paused.

Nancy looked terrified, her voice trembling as she cried at the audience, “Judges, everyone, save me! He’s a terrible person! Look at what he did to me!”

She pulled down her collar to reveal a bruise on her neck. “He said he’d strangle me to

I was shocked. That mark was not there when she left for school. Did she do it to herself earlier?

She then pulled a crumpled tissue out of her pocket, showing the dark brown stain on it. “This is… a stain he left on my body. I secretly kept it.”

The crowd erupted into an uproar.

“It’s her! That little girl is accusing him again!”

“What a monster! How could he do that to his seven-year-old daughter?”

“I told you he’s a beast in men’s clothing!”

The VIPs immediately looked livid, and the organizers broke into a cold sweat. The cameras flashed at me wildly, and the reporters started yelling at me.

“Is what your daughter said true, Mr. Lincoln? Are you a repeated offender?!”

“Please explain! The whole country is watching!”

I looked at Nancy, who was still kneeling and sobbing. My vision threatened to black out from anger.

Under the spotlight, she snuck a peek at me. In that instant, I saw her spiteful, triumphant gaze.

Every time she rebelled against me before, I would break down and fly into a rage, demanding to know why.

This time, however, I did not. I just stood there calmly.

Nancy blinked in confusion and instinctively reached out to tug my shirt. I looked down and pried her fingers away, one by one, looking into her inwardly ecstatic eyes.

“Are you sure you want to do this today?”

Nancy evaded my gaze for a second but did not drop the act. “Don’t threaten me, Daddy. I’m scared.”

I closed my eyes, my last traces of anger vanishing. I had thought that today would go smoothly, and I would not have to go this far.

I was wrong.

As countless eyes watched me, I took out the recording I had prepared and pointed it at the microphone.

A little girl’s voice echoed through the hall.

“If I hadn’t said that, Daddy, would you be sitting here playing with me now?

“Besides, no one would believe that a kid like me would lie. I’ll destroy everything you have so you can’t go anywhere. Then you’ll have to spend the rest of your life revolving around me, teehee!”

At the same time, the side door of the auditorium opened. Two officers from Child Protective Services came in, holding a file.

“Mr. Lincoln, we’re from CPS. We’ve approved your application to terminate your adoptive relationship with Nancy Lincoln.”

Nancy’s body jolted, and she fell to the ground, pale as a sheet.