Chapter 12 Ripple

• As soon as Daniel left the hotel and returned to the car, his phone started ringing at once. It was a call from Janice.
• When he picked it up, Janice asked anxiously from the other side of the phone, "How is it? The lawyer I sent just now said that you've already been released. Are you okay?"
• Hearing the worry and concern in her tone, Daniel felt a strange warmth in his heart. "Yeah, I'm fine."
• "Great." She heaved a sigh of relief as she was really afraid that he would be charged with murder because of her. If that happened, she would feel guilty for the rest of her life.
• Meanwhile, Denise's weeping could be heard from the other side of the phone. She was asking for Daddy in a very sad, crying voice.
• When Daniel heard that, his heart wrenched slightly as he asked, "Can I come over?"
• Janice remained silent for a moment and turned around, looking at the crying Denise on the floor. "Sure."
• After hanging up the phone, Daniel immediately asked Phantom to drive him to Janice's place.
• Once he arrived, he got out of the car swiftly and ran upstairs.
• Looking at his panicked and anxious figure from the back, Phantom was a little startled, for she had only seen him in such a panic five years ago when Thanatos was destroyed. It was also after that incident that there was no smile on his face again.
• At this thought, she mumbled, "My lord, your daughter might be the one to help you get it all together and rebuild Thanatos."
• Daniel ran all the way up and arrived at the door within seconds.
• He flung the door open almost immediately, and Denise's cry could be heard loud and clear.
• Meanwhile, Janice studied Daniel anxiously, and the weight was lifted off her shoulders after she made sure that he was fine. She then said resignedly, "She has been crying ever since she came home. No matter how I coaxed her, she just kept crying."
• "I'm sorry. I should've come here earlier. There was something holding me up just now," Daniel said apologetically.
• Janice shrugged her shoulders and asked him to come in.
• "Daddy…" Denise stopped crying as soon as she saw Daniel. She climbed up from the ground and stumbled into his embrace. "Daddy, where have you been? I-I was so scared that you wouldn't come back anymore…"
• Daniel felt his heart wrenching as he looked at her pouting little mouth and sullen face. He hugged her tightly and comforted her, "Daddy won't go anywhere. I'll be with you forever."
• When Denise heard that, she said while sniffling, "R-Really? P-Pinky promise." As she said that, she stuck out her chubby pinky.
• With a smile, he stuck out his pinky too. "Cross my heart and hope to die."
• After they made the promise, only then did Denise stop crying and put on a smile while burying herself in his embrace. It was normal for children's emotions to just come and go quickly, after all.
• On the other hand, Janice felt envious as she watched from the side. She had been coaxing Denise for more than an hour, but Daniel just needed to make a pinky promise with her to stop her from crying. She's really forgetting her mom when her dad's here.
• Other than that, she also realized that Denise was not as clingy as she used to be since Daniel appeared. She suddenly felt a sense of danger as though her favorite toy was being snatched away.
• Daniel played with Denise for about two hours. Since it was getting late, Janice coughed twice and said, "Denise, it's time for bed."
• Hearing that, Daniel understood immediately and said with a smile, "You should go to bed with Mommy first. Daddy still needs to catch some bad guys."
• Unexpectedly, panic crept onto Denise's face at once. She threw her toys and went to hug his arms before whimpering, "No! I want Daddy to sleep with me!"
• "Daddy still needs to work. You can see Daddy when you wake up tomorrow," Janice said.
• "No!" Denise was very determined this time.
• She hugged Daniel's arm tightly, and tears were welling up in her eyes. Almost immediately, she started crying again. "I-I want to sleep w-with Daddy and Mommy. I-I'm scared. I'm scared t-that I'll get caught by b-bad guys again. P-Please don't leave me, D-Daddy."
• Her voice was full of fear and insecurity. It was obvious that she was frightened by what happened tonight, and it had left her traumatized.
• When Janice heard Denise's cry, there was a change in her expression. The woman's eyes turned red, and she blamed herself for what happened today. In fact, she was also scared just now. If it weren't for Daniel, she couldn't bring herself to imagine what would have happened.
• Likewise, Daniel's heart was torn, and he could feel a lump forming in his throat. He hugged Denise tightly and said in a trembling voice, "Okay, I won't go. I will never leave you, Denise. Daddy and Mommy will sleep with you tonight."
• As soon as he said that, Janice's expression changed again, and she wanted to reject him subconsciously. But when she saw the fear in Denise's eyes, she became soft-hearted and could only agree implicitly.
• If it wasn't for what happened today, she would never have slept in the same bed with a man who she had only known for two days!
• "R-Really?" Denise stopped crying, but her face was full of traces of her tears.
• "Yes, why don't you ask Mommy?" Daniel wiped her tears off her face dearly.
• Janice forced out a smile and nodded. "Really."
• "Hooray!" Only then did Denise's face get all smiley as though she had forgotten about all her negative emotions.
• Shortly after, Janice gave Denise a bath before she showered as well. Then, she changed into thick pajamas and asked Daniel to shower as well.
• While he was showering, she hid a pair of scissors under her pillow. After all, she was going to sleep in the same bed as a man she had only known for two days, so she needed to prepare for the worst.
• When Daniel was done showering, he saw that Denise and Janice were already in bed.
• Janice hid her face behind her phone and was scrolling absent-mindedly as she was afraid that Daniel would see her blushing face. She kept peeking at him from the corners of her eyes, and when she saw him coming out of the shower, she became nervous instantly.
• When Denise, who was sitting in the middle of the bed, saw Daniel coming out, she patted on the bed with her small hand and said excitedly, "Daddy, Daddy. Come here."
• "Okay." Daniel pretended to be calm, but the tremble in his voice gave his current emotions away.
• He had never been in an unknown woman's room, let alone slept together, so he felt very awkward.
• As soon as he entered the room, Janice told him immediately, "You can sleep there." In short, Daniel and Janice took one side of the bed each with Denise in the middle.
• He nodded and sat on one side of the bed.
• Seeing that, Denise chuckled happily and buried herself into his embrace.
• "L-Let's sleep." Janice put down her phone and turned off the light. She then lay down on her side with her back facing them, for she knew that her face would be totally red from shyness. At the same time, her heart was pounding non-stop.
• On the other hand, Daniel knew that Janice was a conservative person, so he didn't try to talk to her, afraid that she would feel awkward.
• As he was lying down on the bed, Denise lay on his chest and played happily.
• All of a sudden, she said cutely, "Daddy, can you sing for me? I saw on TV that other children's daddies would sing when they put them to sleep."
• When Janice heard that, she was so angry that she gritted her teeth. She thought unhappily, Have you forgotten about all the nights that I sang for you throughout these years?!
• "Sure. What song do you want to hear?" Although he wasn't very good at singing, he couldn't reject his little baby.
• "Well… I want you to sing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' for me."
• "Twinkle, twinkle, little star…" Although his voice wasn't the sound of heaven, it had a man's deep and husky tone. He was singing very gently as well as though he was humming beside one's ears, drawing people into his voice.
• At this moment, Janice was enchanted by his voice too. His singing is not bad.
• Almost immediately, Denise was struck by drowsiness, and she fell asleep to the sound of his voice.
• Janice, who had her back against them, didn't know what was going on. She could only feel the movements on the bed and knew that there was someone coming near her. Instantly, she reached her hand under her pillow and held the scissors. Her palms were sweating profusely at this moment.
• However, that only lasted for a few seconds. When she felt Denise's little hands touching her back, only then did she heave a sigh of relief.
• Daniel wasn't moving anymore either. With that, the bedroom turned silent and only breathing sounds could be heard.
• Other than Denise, the other two couldn't sleep at all, for the person lying beside them was a red-blooded man and an innocent woman. How could they fall asleep in such a situation?
• After some time, Daniel asked softly, "Are you asleep?"
• When Janice heard that, her heart did a flip and her breathing became rapid. Her grip on the scissors became stronger at once.
• Instantly, he realized that she was not asleep, and it was surely because of him.
• After some thought, he pressed his lips together and got out of bed carefully. Squeak.
• The movement of the mattress frightened Janice, and she was just like a scared kitten. She took out the scissors from her pillow and jumped up to face him before saying coldly, "What are you trying to do?" Her eyes were filled with fear.
• Startled, Daniel looked at the scissors in her hand and knew immediately that she had misunderstood him.
• "I-I'm going to sleep on the couch," he said shyly. Although he was good at fighting, he still felt a twitch in his crotch when she pointed the scissors at him.
• "Oh… I'm sorry. I-I thought that…" Janice was extremely embarrassed.
• "It's okay. You won't be able to fall asleep if I'm here." He shook his head with a smile on his face.
• Hearing that, she bit her lower lip softly and felt like she was at fault. In fact, that was actually the case. She misunderstood him and even pointed the scissors at him, making her look bad.
• "N-Never mind. It's cold outside. You can just sleep here." As she said that, her cheeks were starting to burn.
• "W-What?" He raised his brows and thought that he had misheard the woman.
• Then, she raised her head and glared at him before saying quickly, "Don't get it wrong. I'm just scared that Denise will wake up in the middle of the night and start crying again when she doesn't see you." After saying that, she lay down immediately with her back facing him.
• At this moment, her fair cheeks were already reddened. She clenched her fists secretly and thought that she didn't know she would be this impulsive to ask him to stay here and sleep together with her. Janice Tillman, are you crazy?!
• On the other hand, after being stunned for a while, Daniel lay back down on the bed.
• The bedroom was silent once again.
• "Thank you for what you did today," Janice suddenly said.
• "It's nothing. Denise is my daughter too," Daniel replied to her calmly.
• Then, she asked curiously, "You shouldn't be so impulsive, though. It's lucky that you're fine this time. What if you really miss next time and need to go to prison?"
• "There won't be a next time." A chill flashed in his black eyes. "I won't let Denise get hurt at all, even if I die." His tone was very determined.
• As he said that, her body trembled a little. She couldn't help but recall the scene where he turned mad for Denise tonight, and her lips curled up subconsciously.
• At this moment, there was a ripple forming deep inside her frozen heart. He's actually quite nice.