Chapter 42 - 41 I’ll Call You Daddy

Chapter 42: Chapter 41 I’ll Call You Daddy

The clock on the bedside table read 3:14 Am.

Helix sat up against the headboard, the duvet pooled around his waist, though the apartment was freezing. He hadn’t slept. The tablet rested on his lap.

On the screen, Anastelle stared back at him with those unmistakable green eyes.

His phone buzzed.

Helix didn’t wait for it to ring twice. He swiped the screen and brought it to his ear.

"Speak."

"Sir," his private investigator’s voice came through the speaker. "I’ve pulled everything available from the medical networks and public registries covering Mireya Brenner’s disappearance after your wedding."

Helix kept his eyes locked on the picture of the little girl. "And?"

"She traveled to Milan, Italy, initially to establish residency, but her medical trail went dark for several weeks before she checked into a maternity clinic."

Helix’s brow furrowed. "Go on."

"There’s something unusual in the intake files, sir."

"What?"

"The hospital admission records indicate Mireya Brenner was registered for a twin pregnancy."

Silence.

"....Twin pregnancy?"

"According to the delivery summary pulled from the restricted archives... there were two babies," the investigator confirmed.

Helix sat up straight, the exhaustion completely evaporating from his blood. "Two?"

"The records become inconsistent after that point. One section lists two live births. Another notes severe complications during delivery. Then the trail goes cold completely."

Helix’s jaw tightened. "Explain."

"I can confirm one child exists. Anastelle Brenner. But the second child... I haven’t found a birth certificate, a social registry, or any subsequent medical record for a second twin."

Helix stopped listening to the rest of the report. The words blurred together.

Twins.

He looked down at the tablet. He looked at Anastelle’s face.

If Anastelle was one twin... where was the other?

"There is still no father listed on either record," the investigator added carefully. "Shall I dig deeper into the delivery room staff?"

Helix didn’t answer immediately. The math was already spinning out of control in his mind—the timeline, the pregnancy, the undeniable green eyes that haunted him from the screen. But this new piece fractured everything he thought he knew.

"Find the hospital," Helix ordered, "Find the doctor who delivered them. I want every single page of that file."

"Yes, sir."

The line went dead.

Helix lowered the phone slowly.

He was driven by one single, consuming thought.

I need the truth.

And if Anastelle really was his...

Who had taken the other one?

....

I lay across Anastelle’s bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Anastelle sat cross-legged on the rug, making her Ladybug and Cat Noir dolls chase each other around a toy Eiffel Tower.

"...Mommy?"

"Hm?"

No answer.

She tried again.

"Mommy."

"Hm?"

"You thinking again?"

I blinked, finally looking down at her. "...Was it that obvious?"

Anastelle nodded sagely. "You do the same face every time."

"What face?"

She scrunched up her eyebrows dramatically, puffing out her cheeks in a ridiculous impression of me.

I couldn’t help it. A quiet laugh slipped out.

"There it is!" she cheered, pointing a tiny finger at me. "You smiled!"

I reached over, scooped her up by the waist, and pulled her tumbling onto the bed. "You little menace."

She squealed, giggling as I playfully tossed a pillow at her. Then, after she settled back down with her dolls, she tilted her head.

"Mommy?"

"Hm?"

"I think..." She squinted at her Ladybug doll. "...you should be Snackman’s girlfriend."

I nearly dropped my phone.

"...Excuse me?"

She nodded with confidence. "I think you should."

I stared at her, dumbfounded. "What on earth do you know about girlfriends?"

She counted off on her little fingers, looking very serious. "In Ladybug, Ladybug and Cat Noir like each other. In Winx, Sky likes Bloom. So..." She shrugged casually. "They’re girlfriend and boyfriend."

I covered my face with both hands.

These cartoons were completely destroying my child.

"No," I groaned through my fingers. "They’re not. They’re friends."

Anastelle gave me a look. One tiny eyebrow went up.

"...Mommy. I wasn’t born yesterday."

I dropped my hands and stared at her. "Who taught you that sentence?"

She ignored me entirely, flashing those big eyes. "I see everything, you know."

"Oh, really?"

"U-huh. Snackman likes looking at you."

"He does not."

"He does."

"He does not."

"He does!"

I grabbed a throw pillow. "Come here."

Her eyes widened in delightful terror. "No!"

"Come here!"

"Nooo!"

She shrieked and scrambled off the bed, laughing hysterically as she bolted around the room. I chased her, laughing despite myself.

"You’ve been watching way too much television!"

"No!"

"You have!"

"No! You can’t catch me!"

She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, aiming straight for the bedroom door to make her escape. She yanked it open—and ran straight into someone.

She bounced backward, letting out a little oof.

She stumbled, caught her balance, and slowly tilted her head all the way up. Her face instantly lit up.

"Snackman!"

Laziel stood in the doorway.

His gaze dropped down to Anastelle. Then slowly drifted up to me. I was standing barefoot on the other side of the room, still holding a pillow like an absolute idiot.

Silence stretched between us.

He looked at the pillow. Then back at my mortified face.

"...Am I interrupting something?" He asked.

My face burned hot enough to fry an egg. Before I could stammer out an excuse, Anastelle pointed an accusing little finger straight at me.

"Mommy was chasing me."

Laziel looked amused, a faint twitch at the corner of his mouth. "And why was she chasing you?"

Anastelle clasped both hands behind her back, puffing out her chest. "Because I told her the truth."

I closed my eyes tightly. Don’t you dare.

Laziel glanced at me, then back down at her. "What truth?"

"Anastelle," I squeaked.

"No," she ignored me completely, smiling proudly up at him. "I told Mommy she should be your girlfriend."

Dead, suffocating silence.

I wanted the floor to open up, swallow me whole, and launch me into the sun.

Laziel didn’t look at me. His eyes remained locked on the little girl. "...Is that so?"

Anastelle nodded enthusiastically. "Mommy said you already have a wife."

"You do," she added helpfully.

Laziel didn’t answer.

"But..." Anastelle continued, tilting her head innocently, "...wives are supposed to live with their husbands.

She looked from him, up to me, and then sighed like she was carrying the weight of the entire universe on her shoulders.

"I want Mommy to marry you instead," she announced proudly.

Jesus Christ.

My soul literally detached from my body. I didn’t even know she knew what marriage was. I wanted to crawl under the rug and stay there forever.

Laziel froze. His gaze dropped from my horrified face down to the little girl clinging to his pant leg.

"Marry me?" Laziel repeated.

"Uh-huh," Anastelle nodded seriously. "Because your wife is mean. Mommy isn’t mean. So you should marry Mommy."

She paused, grinning up at him.

"Then I can call you daddy."

The amusement completely disappeared from Laziel’s face. His expression went entirely blank.

Something deep behind his cold eyes shifted.

Anastelle didn’t notice the sudden tension. She just giggled, completely unbothered, and tugged on his leg again.

"I’ll call you daddy," she repeated happily.