The blizzard howled around them like a living thing with teeth and claws, but Lily's small body pressed against Ethan's chest was the only warmth that mattered in a world gone cold. Her tears had frozen into tiny diamonds on her cheeks, each one catching the streetlight like fragments of a broken heart.
"Daddy," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the wind that cut through their clothes like surgical knives, "my money is all gone. Are we going to sleep under the bridge now? I'm not scared of the cold—when Daddy holds me, nothing can hurt me."
The words hit Ethan like physical blows, each syllable a reminder of how completely he'd failed the one person who mattered most. His throat constricted as he wiped away her tears with fingers that shook from more than just the arctic air.
The lie came easier than breathing—anything to keep that trust shining in her eyes like the last star in a dying universe.
"No bridge, sweetheart. Daddy has a very rich friend who went overseas for business. He asked us to... house-sit for him. Take care of his place while he's gone."
Lily's face lit up like Christmas morning, hope blooming in her expression with the pure joy that only children could feel. "Really? A friend's house? Is it warm?"
"The warmest place in the city," Ethan promised, and for once, he wasn't lying.
**[DING!]**
**[SUPREME DAD SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]**
**[DAUGHTER PROTECTION SUCCESSFUL - EMOTIONAL SHIELD ACTIVATED]**
**[LOVE POINTS EARNED: +2,500 LP]**
**[GRIEVANCE POINTS EARNED: +1,800 GP (LANDLORD HUMILIATION BONUS)]**
**[REWARDS UNLOCKED:]**
**[EMERGENCY CASH: $20,000 (UNTRACEABLE CRYPTOCURRENCY)]**
**[IMPERIAL 7-STAR HOTEL - EMPEROR'S SUITE (LIFETIME ACCESS)]**
**[GLOBAL PLATINUM OWNER'S CARD ACTIVATED]**
**[EXPOSURE METER: +1% (TOTAL: 4%)]**
---
Ethan felt his phone buzz with a new notification—twenty thousand dollars in an account that existed in the shadows between legal and illegal, untouchable by lawyers or government agencies. Enough for food, clothes, and dignity while he planned his next move in this chess game where his daughter's happiness was the only prize that mattered.
He flagged down a taxi, its yellow paint barely visible through the snow that fell like ash from a burning sky. The driver looked skeptical at their appearance—a man in a $2 T-shirt carrying a child who looked like she'd been living on the streets—but didn't argue when Ethan showed him cash upfront.
"The Imperial Hotel," Ethan said, settling Lily into the worn seat that smelled of a thousand desperate journeys.
"Daddy, this car is so fancy!" Lily whispered in awe, running her small hands over the cracked vinyl like it was the finest leather. "Your friend must be really, really rich!"
Ethan's heart clenched like a fist around broken glass. In her innocent world, even this beat-up taxi was luxury beyond imagination.
The Imperial Hotel rose from the city center like a glass and steel monument to human ambition, its forty-seven floors piercing the night sky like a golden spear thrust into the heart of heaven itself. Ethan had designed the architectural plans for this place back when he was Lord Polaris, back when his signature was worth more than most people's annual salaries, back when the world bent to his will.
Now he stood before it as a stranger in his own kingdom.
A red Porsche 911 Turbo S pulled up to the valet stand with the purr of a mechanical predator, its engine worth more than most people's houses. The door opened with the soft whisper of German engineering, and out stepped a woman who looked like she'd been carved from ice and ambition by a sculptor who specialized in beautiful nightmares.
Roxanne Sterling.
Even in the blizzard, she was flawless—a designer coat that probably cost more than Ethan's last apartment, heels that clicked against the pavement like gunshots in a cathedral, and an expression that could freeze the fires of hell itself. Her dark hair was pulled back in a severe bun that emphasized the sharp angles of her face, and her eyes held the cold calculation of someone who'd never lost a case and never intended to start.
---
She spotted Ethan immediately, her gaze sweeping over his thrift store clothes and the child in his arms with the kind of undisguised contempt usually reserved for something scraped off the bottom of a shoe.
"Well, well," she said, her voice carrying the crisp authority of someone accustomed to being obeyed without question. "Ethan Blackwell. I should have known you'd run straight to luxury the moment you got your hands on dirty money."
She stepped closer, her heels clicking like a countdown to execution, each step calculated to intimidate and dominate. "Not only are you laundering funds, but you're using your daughter as a prop for sympathy. How pathetic can one man possibly get?"
Lily shrank against Ethan's chest like a flower closing its petals against a storm, sensing the hostility radiating from this beautiful, terrifying woman who spoke like winter itself had learned to talk.
"Ms. Sterling," Ethan said carefully, his voice steady despite the rage building in his chest like molten steel, "I'm not sure what you're implying—"
"I'm not implying anything," Roxanne cut him off with surgical precision, pulling out her phone like she was drawing a weapon. "I'm stating facts. You received ten million dollars this afternoon, and now you're at the most expensive hotel in the city. That's called money laundering, and it's a federal crime punishable by twenty years in prison."
She gestured to the hotel security guards, who began moving toward them like sharks scenting blood in the water, their hands resting on radios that could summon police, FBI, or worse.
"Auntie, please don't take Daddy away," Lily whispered, her voice breaking like crystal hitting concrete. "The money was mine—I saved it from collecting bottles. Daddy didn't do anything wrong!"
Roxanne's expression didn't soften even a fraction. If anything, her eyes grew colder, like winter deciding to become an ice age. "Teaching your daughter to lie for you. You really are a special kind of monster."
The security guards surrounded them, hands resting on their radios, ready to call the police at Roxanne's word. Other hotel guests were starting to stare, phones coming out to record what looked like a very public arrest that would be trending on social media within minutes.
Ethan could feel Lily trembling in his arms, could see the fear in her eyes as she looked up at the adults who seemed determined to destroy their world for reasons she couldn't understand.
That's when he made his choice.
---
Instead of arguing, instead of pleading, instead of giving Roxanne the satisfaction of seeing him break, Ethan reached into his pocket and pulled out a simple black card. To anyone else, it looked like a basic hotel key card, maybe even a credit card that had seen better days.
But the moment the hotel manager saw it, his face went white as fresh snow, then gray as old concrete, then pale as a man who'd just seen his own death certificate.
"Ms. Sterling," Ethan said quietly, his voice carrying a new edge that made several people step back unconsciously, "you're absolutely right about the law. A person under bankruptcy proceedings cannot engage in luxury spending."
He held up the black card, and the manager's eyes went wide with something approaching religious terror mixed with the kind of awe usually reserved for natural disasters.
"However," Ethan continued, his tone conversational but carrying undertones that suggested he was playing a game where he knew all the rules and everyone else was just guessing, "the law doesn't prohibit someone from staying at a friend's house, does it? Even if that house happens to be... well-appointed."
The manager rushed forward, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste, sweat beading on his forehead despite the cold air. "Mr... ah, yes, of course! You're our owner's... distant relative, correct? Here for the family visit?"
He shot a meaningful look at his security team, who immediately stepped back like they'd been slapped by an invisible hand.
"Absolutely complimentary accommodation, as per the family arrangement. Employee housing benefit, completely legal and above board. Ms. Sterling, I assure you, all our documentation is in perfect order."
Roxanne's mouth fell open slightly, her perfect composure cracking for the first time like ice under pressure. "That's impossible. The Imperial Hotel doesn't offer employee housing to—"
"To family members of the ownership group?" the manager interrupted smoothly, his voice carrying the desperate edge of someone whose career depended on getting this exactly right. "I assure you, Ms. Sterling, all our arrangements are completely legal. Perhaps you'd like to review our corporate housing policies? I can have our legal department send them to your office."
The black card disappeared back into Ethan's pocket like it had never existed, like it was just another piece of plastic in a world full of meaningless objects.
"I see," Roxanne said slowly, her eyes narrowing as she studied Ethan's face with the intensity of someone trying to solve a puzzle where the pieces kept changing shape. "How... convenient. I suppose you have an answer for everything."
"Just a man trying to keep his daughter warm," Ethan replied, his voice carrying the quiet dignity of someone who'd learned to fight battles on multiple fronts simultaneously. "Nothing more, nothing less."
But Roxanne's gaze had sharpened like a blade being honed, and Ethan could practically see the gears turning in her brilliant legal mind. She was starting to suspect that there was more to Ethan Blackwell than met the eye, and that realization was both thrilling and terrifying.
"Fine," she said finally, her voice carrying the promise of future warfare. "Enjoy your... family visit. But I'll be watching, Mr. Blackwell. Every move, every transaction, every breath. When you slip up—and you will slip up—I'll be there to catch you."
She turned on her heel and stalked toward the hotel entrance, her coat billowing behind her like a war banner, leaving behind the scent of expensive perfume and barely contained fury.
---
Ethan carried Lily toward the elevator, feeling the weight of curious stares from other guests who were probably already posting about the drama on their social media accounts. The manager personally escorted them, practically bowing with each step like he was leading royalty to their throne room.
"The Emperor's Suite is prepared, sir," he murmured, his voice carrying the reverence usually reserved for religious ceremonies. "Shall I have the kitchen prepare anything special for the young miss?"
"Just some warm milk," Ethan said softly. "And maybe some cookies, if you have them."
"Daddy," Lily whispered as they waited for the elevator, her small hand clutching his shirt like a lifeline, "that lady was really scary. Why was she so mean to us?"
"Some people have forgotten how to be kind," Ethan said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "But don't worry about her, sweetheart. She can't hurt us."
The elevator doors opened with a soft chime that sounded like angels singing, revealing an interior that looked like it belonged in a palace designed by someone who thought regular palaces weren't fancy enough.
But as they stepped inside, Ethan's blood turned to liquid nitrogen.
Two figures were already in the elevator—a man in an expensive suit with perfectly styled hair and a woman whose face was caked with enough makeup to stock a department store counter.
Tyler Zhao and Vivian Chase.
His former business partner and his ex-wife.
The two people who had destroyed his life five years ago and walked away laughing.
Vivian's nose wrinkled in disgust as she recognized him, her expression shifting from mild annoyance to active revulsion. "Oh my God, Tyler, look what the cat dragged in. Ethan Blackwell, slumming it with the help."
She pressed a manicured hand to her chest in mock concern, her voice dripping with the kind of fake sweetness that could rot teeth. "Are you here to deliver food? Because honestly, darling, you're lowering the property values just by breathing the same air as decent people."
Tyler laughed, the sound like breaking glass mixed with the screams of dying dreams. "Careful, Viv. He might ask us for spare change. I hear bankruptcy makes people desperate enough to do anything."
He reached for the door close button, his smile cruel and satisfied, like a cat that had just cornered a mouse and was deciding which limb to bite off first. "Sorry, Ethan. This is the VIP elevator. No beggars allowed."
The doors began to slide shut, but not before Ethan saw something that made his blood boil with the heat of a thousand suns.
Vivian was wearing a necklace—a diamond pendant that he had given her for their first anniversary, the same necklace she had claimed was "lost" during their divorce proceedings, the same necklace that was supposed to be Lily's inheritance, the same necklace that represented everything she had stolen from his daughter's future.
As the elevator doors closed, cutting off Tyler's laughter and Vivian's sneering face, Ethan felt something dark and cold settle in his chest like winter taking up permanent residence.
The Supreme Dad System hummed quietly in his mind:
**[EXPOSURE METER: 5%]**
**[NEW TARGETS IDENTIFIED: TYLER ZHAO, VIVIAN CHASE]**
**[REVENGE PROTOCOLS AVAILABLE]**
**[WARNING: DAUGHTER IS WATCHING - MAINTAIN EMOTIONAL CONTROL]**
**[GRIEVANCE POINTS EARNED: +3,000 GP (MAXIMUM HUMILIATION DETECTED)]**
Lily looked up at him with confused, innocent eyes that held no understanding of the cruelty she'd just witnessed. "Daddy, who were those people? Why were they so mean?"
Ethan's jaw clenched as he watched the elevator numbers climb without them, each floor taking his enemies further away from immediate justice.
"Nobody important, sweetheart," he said quietly, his voice carrying undertones that would have made grown men reconsider their life choices. "Just some people who are about to learn a very important lesson about consequences."
The next elevator arrived, and as they stepped inside, Ethan's reflection in the polished steel doors showed a man who looked nothing like the broken, desperate father from an hour ago.
Lord Polaris was waking up.
And he was very, very angry.
But more importantly, he was patient.
And patience, combined with unlimited resources and a system that rewarded protecting his daughter, was the most dangerous combination in the world.