?Chapter 824:<fn18c7> N?w ?ovel chapt?rs are published on find~novel</fn18c7>


    A gasp crackled through the speaker, and Arthur’s voice broke with joy. “Really? Put me on video—I need to see her. Let me see my daughter, right now!”


    But then, almost immediately, Arthur faltered. “No, wait. Don’t. Maybe it’s too much for her. And I need to shower and change my shirt. I probably look awful. What if she sees me and dislikes me?”


    His words dissolved into a long, ragged sigh. “I wasn’t there when she was born. Not one day of her childhood was apanied by me. And now… Now she’s already grown…”


    This was Arthur, the legendary tycoon of Sun Group, a man whose name stirred boardrooms and shook markets, the kind of man others whispered about with awe or fear. And yet, in this moment, his voice trembled with the rawness of someonepletely insecure. All because of love. A love so immense that it left him vulnerable. It unmade the armor he wore so effortlessly in every other part of his life. Because at the core of that love was the aching terror that he might not be enough for the daughter he’d spent decades searching for.


    Elliana listened in silence, her heart full. So, this was what a real father’s love sounded like. Not sternmands or cold discipline. Not domination dressed up as protection. But this: a fumbling, worried tenderness. The desperate desire to be epted. The panic over being toote.


    Her thoughts drifted back to her childhood and Darin. His stony face. The disdain in his eyes. A man who had yed the role of father but never once embodied its meaning. The contrast was immeasurable.


    So this was what it truly meant to be a father—not a figure of authority towering above, but a man stripped bare by love, trembling under its weight. For the first time in her life, she’d understood what fatherly love meant.


    “Milton, have you spoken to her yet?” Arthur’s voice burst through the phone again, a breathless flurry of questions tumbling out in rapid session. “Does she know about our family? Is she okay withing home? What kind of father does she prefer? Should I wear a suit, or would that seem too stiff? Or maybe something more casual? And when I smile, should I show teeth? Like, eight teeth? Or is six more approachable?”


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    Milton couldn’t help it. Augh slipped out, warm and surprised. Never in his life had he heard his father like this—utterly confident in every other corner of life butpletely and adorably lost when it came to his daughter.


    Milton nced down at Elliana, still curled against his shoulder, her presence warm and steady. A smile yed on his lips—soft, encouraging. “Dad, maybe you should ask her yourself.”


    With that, Milton tapped the screen, switched to speaker, and angled the phone toward her.


    Elliana froze. Just moments ago, she’d found amusement in Arthur’s anxious ramblings. But now, with the attention shifting to her, reality mmed into her like a sudden wave. She was no longer a passive listener; she was part of the conversation. And she was just as terrified.


    All the questions Arthur had fretted over were suddenly hers, reflected back with equal force. What should she say? What if her voice sounded wrong? What if she wasn’t who he’d hoped for? What if, after all these years of waiting, she disappointed him? He had waited twenty years for this. The weight of that expectation was crushing.


    Her heart thundered wildly, each beat louder than thest. The phone loomed close, expectant. She parted her lips but then closed them. Tried again, but still nothing. Her throat constricted around the words.


    On the other end, Arthur said nothing. Only his shallow, trembling breaths filled the silence.


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