18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 398

Daniel was back, his face as unreadable as a stone. The more emotionless he looked, the more anxious Lillian felt, but she forced a smile and stood up to greet him. "Welcome home, Dan." He glanced around the house with a nonchalant "Hmm."

Lillian stepped closer, reaching for his briefcase. "You barely come home. What would you like for dinner? I'll make something special."

Ignoring her question, Daniel shifted his gaze to Julia, whose face was bruised and swollen. "Julia, can you give us a moment? I need to talk to your mom."

Julia, nursing her wounds and mulling over a response, found herself tongue-tied under Daniel's stern gaze. His silent authority left her feeling utterly powerless, fear creeping into her very bones. She retreated to her room, closing the door with a sense of dread.

Daniel sat down and motioned for Lillian to do the same. "Sit."

Lillian took a deep breath, trying to maintain her composure. "What's wrong with you? Why the long face after work?"

He remained silent, just staring at her.

It felt as if he was looking through her, seeing someone else a woman who was once lively and passionate, who defied societal norms and promised to marry him no matter what. Thirty years had drastically changed that image.

Lillian hated his scrutinizing gaze; it made her feel like the worst kind of villain.

what could she do? She had always been the one to make amends during their heated arguments in the past. Back then, a teary-eyed

do that to her?" Daniel

she expected the

meant. "Are you talking about what happened at the mall today? That was a misunderstanding. The person has held a grudge

your daughter

I had with the Riley family was killed during a home invasion years ago. I've explained this to you. You might

opened his briefcase and tossed two documents in front of

up with shaky hands, Lillian's blood ran cold as she read the contents. They were paternity test reports. The other report was recent, taken the night Stella arrived, using a strand of her

99.999% probability that Stella was Daniel's daughter, while Julia had no blood relation to him at

submarines; of course, they could conduct a DNA test. It

all these

eager to talk about marriage with Lillian, he found out she was

she had cried, saying he wasn't there when her family went bankrupt, when she was pregnant, when

learned about the child they had

and witnessing Lillian's fiancé at a prenatal appointment, he realized

was alive-that she had secretly given birth and that the Riley

for lack of suitable partners, but because his career didn't leave much room for family life. He didn't want to hold anyone else back from

to meet. If only he hadn't taken that mission, maybe their child would have been born safely, and he would have had the