He Hid Our Daughter to Break Me

Start Reading

I stepped out of the car to buy my daughter her favorite strawberry gelato.

But when I returned, the backseat was empty. My little girl was gone.

For the next four years, I lost my mind. I tore the city apart searching for her, chasing dead ends ninety-nine times. My mother wept until her vision faded to shadows. My husband, Dominic Astor, only looked at me with venomous disgust.

"Until you find our daughter, don't even think about living in peace!"

After my hundredth failed attempt, my heart finally turned to ash. I swallowed a handful of lethal pills.

As the poison dragged me into the dark, I heard Dominic talking to the poor scholarship student I used to sponsor.

"Dom, baby. It's been four years. When are you going to tell Caroline that Cici has been hidden away at your private estate in London this whole time?"

Dominic's voice was ice. "There is no rush. She used her family's money to force you to drop out of college. She threw those divorce papers in my face. She needs to learn that actions have consequences."

"Until her pride is completely broken, I am not stopping."

A single tear slipped down my cheek as my soul floated out of my heavy, lifeless body.

Dominic. You finally got exactly what you wanted.

I chose to die in my daughter's nursery, just to be close to the lingering scent of her baby powder.

The private elevator dinged. Dominic stepped into the penthouse, bringing a gust of cold night air with him. He loosened his silk tie and swept his gaze over the dark, empty living room.

"Caroline still isn't back? Let me guess. She bought into another scam artist's fake tip and dragged herself to some godforsaken slum."

Sophie clung to his arm like a spineless vine, giggling softly. "I have never seen an upper-crust heiress act so incredibly stupid. She believes literally anything people tell her."

"Dom, remember last time? She heard a rumor about Cici and ran straight into the slums by the docks. She almost got herself killed. By the time your security team found her, her clothes were torn and she was waving a piece of broken glass around like a lunatic. Who knows if those filthy men down there touched her..."

Dominic's eyes turned lethal. He shoved her away.

Sophie caught the shift in his mood instantly. She swallowed her words, stepping close again to wrap her arms around his neck. She breathed heavily against his jaw. "It has been so long since you came to my place. I missed you."

Dominic grabbed her waist and pinned her against the velvet sofa. A cruel, mocking smirk touched his lips.

"You really are a wicked little thing. You know exactly how to please a man, unlike her. If she had just swallowed her pride and looked the other way, her position as Mrs. Astor would be untouchable."

"But no. She had to use her family trust to ruin your education. She dared to threaten me with a divorce. If I don't crush that rebellious streak of hers, the Astor name becomes a joke."

The harsh sound of fabric tearing echoed in the quiet living room.

Expensive tailoring and shredded silk drifted to the floor. Right here, in the home we built together, they tangled together without a shred of shame.

My spirit drifted near the ceiling. I thought dying meant I would not feel pain anymore. Yet my chest ached like someone was carving out my heart with a rusty spoon.

Once upon a time, this proud man had fallen to his knees in front of me. He had gripped my wrists, his usually cold eyes brimming with desperate tears.

"Caro, please do not leave! I was drunk. I thought she was you! I kicked her out already, I swear. Just believe me this one time. Do not say the word divorce!"

I was dead set on walking out that door. So he grabbed a priceless antique crystal decanter, smashed it against the marble floor, and drove a jagged shard right into his own neck.

It was fast. Brutal. Without a second of hesitation.

I did not even have time to scream. I threw myself at him, pressing my hands against the wound, but the blood just kept pouring through my fingers. I cried until my voice gave out into pathetic hiccups.

Dominic fought to stay conscious. His rough thumb brushed across my tear-soaked cheek.

"If I die, let this be my penance. I just want you to forgive me. Live a good life with Cici."

He did not die. And I was foolish enough to let my heart soften. After months of agony and therapy, I chose to forgive him.

I never imagined my forgiveness would buy me four years of being tortured like a clueless animal.

Their heavy breathing finally stopped late into the night. Dominic lit a cigarette, staring at the front door with a tight frown.

"Where the hell is she? It is past midnight and she hasn't even bothered to text."

He snatched his phone off the coffee table, a muscle ticking in his jaw, and dialed my number.

In the dead silence of the penthouse, a sharp, familiar ringtone started playing.

It was coming from the locked nursery next door.

Dominic's hand froze mid-air.

A flicker of malicious joy crossed Sophie's eyes before she forced a look of pure worry. "Dom, why is Caroline in there? Does that mean... she heard everything we just said?"

Dominic's face darkened. He buttoned his dress shirt, pushed past her, and marched straight toward the closed nursery door.

My soul drifted right behind him. I watched his palm grip the brass handle. His knuckles turned stark white.

He hesitated for three seconds. Then, a hollow click.

The door swung open.

My body lay stiffly curled under the blankets, my back facing the door.

Dominic stared at my unmoving figure, a bitter scoff leaving his lips.

"Caroline, since you heard everything, I won't bother hiding it. Yes, Cici is at my estate in London. But you brought this on yourself! You were the one who used your parents' money to force Sophie out of school. You were the one who threatened me with divorce!"

His tone was glacial, dripping with arrogant charity. "As long as you drop this high-and-mighty attitude, the title of Mrs. Astor is still yours. No one is taking it from you."

The room was deathly quiet.

Dominic waited. When I did not move, his expression turned toxic. "Playing the silent treatment game? Fine. Let us see how long you can starve yourself!"

He slammed the door so hard the walls shook.

I looked at his retreating back, wishing I could scream at him to stop. No matter how much he hated me, I was still his wife. He should just cremate me already. I wanted to go find Cici in the afterlife, not be chained to my own rotting corpse.

But a ghost cannot speak.

Ten minutes later, the front door opened again.

Dominic marched back inside. This time, he was dragging a tiny, stumbling figure by the hand.

It was Cici.

My sweet, beautiful Cici. The daughter I had hallucinated about for four agonizing years.

"You spent four years acting like a lunatic looking for her! Well, I had her flown back from London today. Are you happy now?"

Dominic sneered, tossing the crying child onto the foot of the bed. He turned around, grabbed Sophie, and walked out, locking the door behind him.

Animal. Absolute monster.

How could he lock a terrified, weeping child in a dark room with a dead body!

Cici pounded her tiny fists against the heavy wood until her palms swelled, but the door did not budge. The room was pitch black. She was terrified of the strange, unmoving shape under the blankets, too scared to even sob out loud.

She backed into the corner, hugging her knees, her little shoulders trembling violently.

I fell to my knees in front of her, trying so desperately to wrap my arms around her. "Cici, baby, do not be scared. Mommy is right here. Even as a ghost, Mommy will never let anything hurt you..."

But my glowing hands just phased right through her tiny, shaking frame.

Eventually, Cici cried herself to sleep on the rug, inches away from my corpse.

When morning light filtered through the blinds, Cici sat up, rubbing her swollen red eyes. She peeked timidly at my face. My skin had taken on a sickening, bruised purple hue.

She waited for a long time. Finally, her stomach growled. "Auntie? Can you wake up? I am so hungry..."

The figure on the bed remained dead still.

Cici dropped her head in disappointment. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. She reached out and picked up the empty pill bottle I had dropped on the floor.

"Wow! Pretty candies!"

Two highly toxic pills were still rolling around at the bottom of the plastic bottle.

Cici tipped them eagerly into her palm. "Auntie, I am just going to eat two. I am so sorry. I am just really, really hungry."

"NO!"

I unleashed a bloodcurdling scream, but the living could not hear me.

Right at that exact second, the bedroom door was kicked open.

Dominic had come in to check if I was ready to surrender. Instead, he walked right into a nightmare.

His eyes widened in raw panic. He lunged forward, snatching the bottle. He read the warning label and grabbed Cici's jaw, prying her little mouth open with his fingers. "Spit it out! Spit it out right now! You stupid girl!"

Cici wailed in absolute terror. "Daddy, please do not hit me! I will not do it again!"

Only when he was certain she had not swallowed them did Dominic let go, his face completely drained of blood.

He turned his gaze to the bed. The exhaustion and disgust in his eyes were suffocating.

Sophie peeked in from the hallway and let out a dramatic gasp. "Caroline! Even if you are mad at us, you cannot poison your own child! She is just a baby! You are actually trying to kill her!"

Dominic turned his head away, refusing to look at me for another second.

If he had taken just one step closer, he would have felt my freezing, hardened skin. He would have smelled the faint, sweet rot of decay hanging in the air.

But he did not. He just scooped Cici up and walked away without looking back.

Sophie trailed right behind him, a smug smile playing on her lips.

Dominic drove them to the most exclusive brunch spot in the city. He ordered a massive spread of imported pastries and delicacies.

Cici ate like she had been starving for days.

But Dominic could not eat. He pushed away his expensive cup of tea and started chain-smoking, his leg bouncing restlessly. He unlocked his phone. Our message thread was still frozen from two days ago.

No matter how stubborn his wife was, she had never dropped off the grid like this.

Suddenly, a cold sweat broke out across his back. A terrifying thought snapped into his brain.

"No... something is wrong. She is too quiet."

His face went totally white. He shoved his chair back, completely ignoring a startled Cici, and sprinted like a madman toward the parking valet.

Sophie chased after him, gasping for breath as she grabbed his jacket just before he got into the driver's seat.

"Dom, baby, calm down! Actually, I saw Caroline sneak out to the kitchen in the middle of the night. I tried to say hello, but she ignored me. She shoved me against the counter and told me to mind my own business..."

Sophie let go of his jacket, biting her bottom lip, looking like the perfect victim. "Dom, do you think... Caroline is still refusing to forgive us?"

Dominic's foot froze just outside the car door.

He let out a slow, shaky breath. The panic vanished, instantly replaced by a wave of cynical rage. "Of course. Pretending to go on a hunger strike while sneaking food. Even using Cici's life to put on a sick little show. She really outdid herself this time."

With a dark sneer, Dominic walked right back into the restaurant, banishing every urge to go home.

My soul drifted back to the empty, echoing penthouse.

A few hours later, I heard frantic, stumbling footsteps rushing through the foyer.

It was my mother.

After four years of crying over my missing daughter, her eyesight was almost completely gone. She tapped her white cane against the walls, holding a thermal flask tight to her chest.

"Caro? Honey, where are you? Mom brought you your favorite ribs..."

She fumbled for the nursery door handle and pushed it open.

Her trembling hands reached out, brushing against the bed. When her fingers finally touched my freezing, rigid face, a scream of pure, shredded agony ripped through the silence of the penthouse.

Watching my mother clutch my rotting corpse, sobbing until she was choking on her own breath, my ghost actually felt physical pain.

Hours later, the tears stopped. Her face hardened into something unrecognizable.

To prevent Dominic from ever touching my body again, she quietly hired a discreet private funeral service. They wrapped me up and took me away before the sun even set.

The next time anyone opened that front door, it was three days later.

Dominic walked in, smelling heavily of bourbon. He peeled a clinging Sophie off his arm and kicked the nursery door open. "Caroline! How long are you going to keep up this pathetic act? Enough is enough!"

He was greeted by nothing but a perfectly stripped, empty bed.

Dominic's heart skipped a beat. A weird, hollow feeling hit his chest.

Then, his pride kicked back in. "Good! Perfect! You think you can run away? Go ahead and die out there on the streets! Do not ever come back!"

He stormed into the master suite and ripped open my walk-in closet. Seeing all my designer bags and clothes still sitting on the shelves, he let out a heavy sigh of relief.

The very next morning, Dominic ordered a dozen maids to pack up Sophie's things. He moved her into the penthouse with all the fanfare of a new queen taking her throne.

For the next few days, Dominic played the ruthless corporate king in the boardroom and the charming bachelor at high-society galas with Sophie on his arm.

Everything looked perfect on the surface. But his eyes grew darker and more violently restless every single day. He spent hours just staring at a blank phone screen.

On the seventh day of my disappearance, Dominic snapped.

He drove to the family mansion, grabbed Cici by the arm, and shoved his phone into her face. "Call your mother! Tell her to drag herself home right now!"

Cici shook like a leaf, bursting into terrified tears.

Dominic's eyes were totally bloodshot. "Are you completely useless? All you do is cry! You cannot even say one word? What good are you!"

"Daddy, please... Mommy? Are you there? I am so scared..."

Dominic cut the recording and sent the audio file to my phone.

He typed out a follow-up message with shaking fingers: "Caroline, I have Cici. If you are not back in this house in thirty minutes, you will never see her again for the rest of your life."

Sophie watched the whole meltdown from the doorway. She let out a soft, pitying sigh. "Dom, you do not have to do this. You know how stubborn she is. She will come back when she realizes she has no money. Besides, it seems like she doesn't even care about Cici that much..."

Dominic did not hear a single word.

He was hyper-fixated on the chat screen. Nothing. He dialed my number. Again. And again. And again.

When the robotic 'voicemail' prompt played for the fiftieth time, he let out a primal roar and hurled his phone directly at the marble wall, shattering it into a million pieces.

Sophie flinched, her face draining of color.

She had never seen Dominic, a man who always possessed terrifying self-control, lose his mind like this.

"Dom... since she is being this heartless, just file for divorce! With the Astor legal team, you can leave her with absolutely nothing. Why are you doing this to yourself?"

The word "divorce" hit Dominic's brain like a flaming knife.

A manic, almost unhinged laugh ripped from his throat. "Divorce? She thinks she has the right to divorce me?"

He forced himself to breathe. He knelt down, picked up the cracked, sparking phone, and dialed my mother's number.

It rang and rang. Right before it went to voicemail, the line clicked open.

Dominic did not even say hello. He barked into the receiver, "Helena! Is Caroline hiding at your place? Put her on the phone right now. I am done playing games!"

Dead silence on the other end.

Then, a raspy, broken sob crackled through the speaker.

"Dominic Astor. You absolute monster... You drove my little girl into an early grave. Are you happy now? You will never, ever touch her again!"

The call disconnected. A sharp dial tone buzzed in the air.

Dominic froze like he had been struck by lightning. The blood rushed out of his head, leaving a ringing in his ears.

But his massive ego fought back against the crushing tsunami of terror.

Veins popped on his forehead. Sweat soaked through his expensive shirt. He frantically typed a message to my number on the shattered screen.

"Caroline, so you got your mother in on the act too? Dragging an old woman into our fight, have you no shame?! If you want a divorce so badly, crawl back here and sign the papers! Do not force me to destroy your family's business!"

Message sent. Delivered. Left on unread.

Standing nearby, Sophie only heard the word "divorce." Pure, unfiltered greed lit up her eyes. She practically jogged toward the master bedroom, desperate to hunt down our marriage certificates.

But before she even opened a drawer, chaotic, violent noises erupted from the living room.

Dominic was acting like a rabid dog. He snatched up the weeping Cici from the sofa, practically crushing her against his chest, and stormed out the front door, radiating a terrifying, murderous energy.

"Wait! Dom! Where are you taking her?!"

The heavy oak door slammed shut in her face.

Out on the midnight highway, Dominic's sports car weaved through traffic like a guided missile.

My soul was sitting in the backseat, wrapping my phantom arms tightly around Cici, who was so terrified she could barely breathe.

Dominic, you absolute lunatic! If you want to kill yourself, leave my daughter out of it!

I watched the street signs blur past. We were heading straight for my mother's estate.

Five minutes later, the tires screeched against the asphalt. The car aggressively hopped the curb, parking directly in front of the Sinclair manor's iron gates.

The second Dominic stepped out of the car, he looked up.

Hanging high on both sides of the heavy wooden doors were massive, undeniable white and black floral wreaths. The ultimate symbol of a funeral.

"No. No, this is impossible."

"Caroline! Stop faking! Open this damn door!"

He looked like a trapped beast. He hammered his fists violently against the heavy oak, even as his legs buckled underneath him.

"Do not use this kind of sick, twisted prank to curse yourself! If you have the guts, come out here and face me!"

"That is enough!"