Chapter 5 up
“If you still consider me your daughter… please answer this call… just once…”
Vanesa’s voice trembled as the words left her lips, even before the call connected. Her fingers shook as she gripped her phone, while her other arm held a small box tightly against her chest—the box that contained the ashes of her child. The number had been saved in her contacts for years. She had never deleted it. Never dared to dial it.
Until now.
The ringing tone sounded.
Once.
Twice.
Vanesa closed her eyes, her breathing uneven and shallow. If this call went unanswered, then she truly had no one left in the world.
“Vanesa?”
That single word shattered every wall she had built around her heart.
“Dad…” Her voice broke completely. “I’m sorry… forgive me…”
On the other end of the line, the man fell silent. Not because he didn’t care—but because he was holding back words and emotions he had buried for years.
“Where are you?” her father finally asked. His voice was deep and firm, yet there was a crack at the edge of it he could not hide.
Vanesa sobbed softly. “I… I failed, Dad. I’m coming home not as anyone’s wife. I’m coming home as a woman who has lost everything.”
“Who hurt you?” His voice turned cold instantly. Dangerous.
Vanesa bit her lip, tears dripping onto her trembling hands. “No one else is to blame. This is my fault. I left without your blessing. I chose marriage for love… and I paid for it with ruin.”
“Axel Armand.”
The name left her father’s lips like a sentence being passed.
Vanesa gasped. “You know?”
“I know everything,” he replied firmly. “I was only waiting for you to return on your own terms.”
Vanesa’s sobs grew louder. “I lost my baby, Dad…”
A long silence followed.
Inside a towering skyscraper—the headquarters of the largest business empire in the country—a middle-aged man stood before a floor-to-ceiling window, staring down at a city that bent at his command. His face appeared frequently in global financial news. He was known as the number-one conglomerate, the richest and most feared man in the nation. Politicians bowed. Tycoons waited for his approval.
But at the sound of his daughter crying, all that power meant nothing.
“Who made you cry like this?” he asked quietly, his voice heavy with restrained fury.
Vanesa shook her head, though he could not see her. “There’s no one left to blame. I just want to come home… if you’re still willing to accept me.”
“Vanesa,” his voice hardened—not from anger, but from emotion held back far too long. “Since when does a child need permission to return to her own home?”
“But I left you,” Vanesa whispered. “I married without your consent. I chose a man who never loved me.”
“And you’ve already paid for that mistake far too dearly,” her father cut in. “Enough.”
Vanesa fell silent, clutching the box of ashes tighter against her chest.
“I will not allow you to fall again,” he continued. “Where are you right now?”
“At the hospital… I was just discharged,” Vanesa answered honestly.
Her father’s voice shifted instantly—sharp, decisive. “Secretary!”
Within seconds, hurried footsteps were heard.
“Prepare the private jet. Now. Destination: the capital. I want my daughter brought home tonight.”
Vanesa panicked. “Dad, no—I can come back on my own.”
“No,” he said without compromise. “You will not walk alone anymore.”
Vanesa sobbed. “I don’t deserve it, Dad. I’m coming back with failure. With the title of a discarded ex-wife.”
Her father’s tone suddenly turned iron-hard.
“You are not anyone’s ex,” he said, each word striking with authority.
“You are my daughter.”
Vanesa covered her mouth as her cries broke free. Those words revived something that had long died inside her—her dignity.
“But the world…” she whispered. “The media… people…”
“The world does not decide the worth of my child,” her father interrupted. “I do.”
He took a deep breath. “But… I know you’re wounded. You want to hide.”
Vanesa nodded, even though he could not see her. “I’m not ready, Dad. I can’t face them yet. I can’t face Axel… or Selina.”
Silence filled the line again.
“I could announce your return tomorrow,” her father said slowly. “One statement, and the entire country would know you’re back.”
Vanesa shook her head quickly. “Please don’t.”
“I don’t like hiding anything.”
“I know,” Vanesa replied softly. “But let me come home as Vanesa… not as the conglomerate’s daughter. Not yet.”
Her father remained quiet for a long moment. This was not a business negotiation—it was a battle between a father and a daughter, both equally stubborn.
“Are you afraid?” he finally asked.
“I’m healing,” Vanesa answered honestly. “And I want to do it away from the spotlight.”
A heavy sigh followed. “Alright.”
Vanesa froze. “Dad…?”
“I agree,” he said firmly. “For now. But remember this, Vanesa—you are not hiding out of shame. You are simply waiting for the right time.”
Tears streamed down Vanesa’s face again. “Thank you, Dad…”
Two hours later, a private jet landed.
Vanesa stood on the runway with unsteady steps, carrying one small suitcase and the box of ashes in her arms. When the jet door opened, the man was already there, waiting for her.
Without a word, he pulled Vanesa into a tight embrace.
There was no conglomerate.
No richest man alive.
Only a father who had finally gotten his child back.
“Come home,” he whispered into her hair. “Your home has always been here.”