Chapter 1
Just because I spent a little too long shopping with my daughter Ellis at the mall under my wife Ford’s name and didn’t buy anything, the mall manager called us broke losers.
The man looked me up and down with contempt, his chin lifted high.
“Broke losers like you dare walk into our mall? Why don’t you take a good look at yourselves? Do you even belong here?”
Disdainful eyes turned toward us from all around.
Ellis argued, “We’re not broke losers. My mommy owns this mall!”
Instantly, snickers rose from every direction.
As if he had heard some joke, the man’s face filled with mockery.
“You? This mall belongs to my wife.
I’m calling her over right now, and we’ll see if you still dare say anything!”
He immediately called his wife.
“Hello, babe, someone here is pretending to be your husband and daughter, and they’re making trouble for me. Come over quickly.”
I frowned and wanted to call my wife too.
But he snatched my phone out of my hand and smashed it hard onto the ground.
Crack! The phone shattered into pieces.
The man planted his hands on his waist, swept his contemptuous gaze over me, and looked smug.
“Trying to call backup? Let me tell you, my wife will be here soon. If you dare provoke me, you’re dead.”
“And this little brat…”
The man’s gaze swept past me and landed on Ellis beside me.
“You learned to lie at such a young age. I guess you take after your parents. Since your parents won’t teach you, I’ll teach you properly.”
As he spoke, the man rolled up his sleeves and rushed forward.
He grabbed Ellis from beside me.
Ellis burst into tears with a loud “Waaah!”
I wanted to step forward and stop him, but two sales associates grabbed both my arms and pinned me to the floor in an extremely humiliating position.
“You broke loser, don’t you know who you are? You even dared offend Manager Joel.”
“Exactly. Manager Joel is Ms. Ford’s husband. What the hell are you?”
Because I rarely came to the assets under my name, and Ford always handled them, it was normal that they didn’t recognize me.
I desperately explained, “Let me go! I really am Ford’s husband!”
“You broke loser, you still dare lie? Today we’ll teach you a lesson on Ms. Ford’s behalf!”
As soon as the words fell, countless punches and kicks came raining down.
Ellis was grabbed by the hair by Joel, dragged hard, slapped across the face, and cursed nonstop.
“You little brat, I’ll teach you to lie. I’ll teach you to lie.”
Ellis cried miserably.
“I’m not lying. My mommy really is the owner of this mall. You bad people, let my daddy go!”
Seeing me being bullied, Ellis wanted to rush over, but Joel yanked her small arm backward.
In an instant, she fell onto the smooth floor and hit the glass railing, bleeding on the spot.
“Daddy, Daddy…”
Bright red blood streamed down from the top of her head, and Ellis cried even harder.
But Joel had no intention of stopping, and instead he grabbed Ellis’s arm and pinched it hard.
“Stop crying, you little bastard. Do you think someone will come save you if you scream yourself hoarse?”
“Your useless daddy is being held down right now.”
“You’re counting on that useless daddy of yours to save you? That’s hilarious.”
Ellis rasped, “I’m not a little bastard, and my mom and dad aren’t useless.”
I was pinned firmly to the ground, and the sight of Ellis made my heart ache.
“Stop! Let go of my daughter right now!”
I didn’t know where the strength came from, but I broke free from the two people holding me, rushed forward, shoved Joel away, and picked up Ellis.
“Ellis, are you okay? I’m here.”
I patted her back while comforting her.
Joel was furious. “Bastard, how dare you push me!”
“Security! Where’s security?”
He shouted at the top of his lungs, drawing everyone’s attention.
The blood on Ellis’s forehead kept flowing down and smeared all over her face.
My heart ached terribly, and at the same time, enormous rage filled me.
I held Ellis tightly and roared:
“I told you, this mall really is under my wife’s name. If you don’t believe me, you can check.”
“You’ll pay for what you’ve done!”
The security guards who were about to step forward froze for a moment, as if they were intimidated by my appearance, and they looked at me suspiciously.
“What are you waiting for? Can’t you tell he’s lying? Does the company pay you people to stand around doing nothing?”
After Joel roared, the security guards grabbed Ellis and me by one arm each and forcibly separated us.
He pulled Ellis’s arm hard, and the enormous force made Ellis cry nonstop.
She kept shouting, “Daddy, Daddy…”
My heart felt as if someone had clenched it in their palm, sending waves of sharp pain through me.