Chapter 5 - The Midnight Lullaby
By nine o'clock that evening, the storm outside had intensified, lashing the heavy cedar shingles with rhythmic gusts of wind.
Inside the craftsman estate, the great room was warm and quiet, filled with the crackling aroma of dry pine logs burning in the hearth.
Lily and Grace were tucked into a massive king-sized bed in the second-floor master suite, surrounded by soft feather pillows and wool blankets.
I stood by the doorway, watching Daniel sit on the edge of the mattress.
He was still wearing his trousers, but he had removed his tie, jacket, and shoes. He was leaning forward, singing an old acoustic lullaby his grandmother used to play on the piano.
His deep, gravelly voice was surprisingly tender, carrying a gentle vulnerability I had never heard in the boardrooms of Manhattan.
Grace rolled over in her sleep, her tiny hand reaching out to clutch Daniel’s index finger.
Daniel stopped singing. He sat frozen, looking down at his daughter’s little fingers wrapped around his own, his broad shoulders shaking silently as tears dripped onto the white duvet.
I walked softly into the room, leaning against the wooden bedpost.
"You're going to wake her," I whispered gently.
Daniel carefully uncurled his finger, standing up with agonizing care so as not to disturb the girls. He walked with me out onto the second-floor balcony overlooking the dark, turbulent sound below.
The rain beat against the overhanging eaves, spraying a fine, cool mist against our faces.
"They have your laugh, Elena," Daniel said, leaning his forearms on the cedar railing. "When Lily dropped that marshmallow, she wrinkled her nose exactly the way you do when you're being stubborn."
"They have your stubborn chin, Daniel," I replied, a faint, nostalgic smile touching my lips despite myself. "Grace won't eat her carrots unless you arrange them in a circle on her plate."
Daniel laughed softly—a broken, bittersweet sound that floated into the night air.
"I missed two years of their lives," he whispered, staring into the dark water. "Their first words. Their first steps. The nights they had fevers."
"You did," I confirmed honestly. "And you can never buy those days back, no matter how many billions you control."
Daniel turned to face me, the amber lights of the house illuminating the raw, desperate sincerity carved into his features.
"I don't want the billions, Elena," he said, stepping closer until I could feel the heat radiating from his chest. "If the board tells me tomorrow that keeping my daughters means walking away from Ashford Global forever, I will sign the resignation papers before the ink is dry."
"Your mother will never let you walk away with forty percent of the founder's stock, Daniel," I warned him. "She will use every lawyer in New York to contest their paternity."
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Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled out a sterile medical collection kit bearing the seal of a premier genetic laboratory in Seattle.
"That's why our family physician is arriving on the morning ferry at six A.M.," Daniel declared with chilling, absolute resolve. "We will have certified, unassailable DNA records filed with the Manhattan surrogate court before my mother opens her shareholder meeting."
