The CEO's Amazing Ex-Wife Is Back! by H. Dally

Chapter 219 Chapter 219

Kris's steps felt heavier with each one he took up the stairs to Tessa's room. His heart pounded painfully in his chest.

What was he supposed to feel when he saw her now? What would he say? He didn't even know if he could face her, not after what he had just learned.

Memories started flooding back. Holding Tessa in his arms for the first time-so small, so fragile, and so full of life. He could still remember the sound of her first cry. It had been one of the sweetest sounds he'd ever heard.

Then, there was her first smile, lighting up her face and making his heart soar. Her first steps, wobbly but determined, with him right there to catch her when she fell. And the first time she called him "daddy"—a moment he thought would stay with him forever, but now it felt like a cruel joke.

His chest tightened, the knife twisting deeper with each memory. She wasn't his. None of those milestones were truly his.

When he reached Tessa's door, he stopped. His hand hovered over the doorknob, trembling, before he finally mustered the courage to open the door.

Tessa was on the floor drawing something. Her second favourite thing to do aside playing Lego. He had loved watching her draw, loved how her little fingers gripped the pencil as if the entire world depended on what she was making.

"Kris," Boatemaa said with a smile when she noticed him. "It's good to see you."

Tessa looked up, her face lighting up at the sight of him. She dropped the pencil she was holding and ran straight toward him, her arms open wide.

"Daddy!"

he crouched to let her hug him. The moment her tiny arms wrapped around his neck, his throat

chirped, her voice full of

hard, struggling to keep his voice steady. "I

forehead, the familiar warmth

tugging at it with excitement. "Come look!

the room, each step feeling like a lead weight. She led him to the floor where a pencil drawing lay on a sheet of paper. Kris sat down beside her, feeling numb as he looked at the drawing. It was simple-just three stick people. A man, a woman, and a little girl in between them holding both

continued, pointing to the little girl in the middle. Then she looked at him with her

unable to speak for a moment. She'd twisted the knife even more without

you like it?" Tessa asked, her voice

barely holding himself together. If only

let her do this or

Kris couldn't focus on her

at her, at the way

excited, at the soft

was

Not really. She never

snapping him out of his daze. "Daddy, you're

"I'm listening now." Tessa looked at

forcing his voice to sound

then she leaned in closer, her