“Sometimes the neighbor, Mrs. Clara, gives me a sandwich when she sees me outside,” Emma said. “Or I drink water from the garden hose.”

Daniel quickly found milk and cookies and set them on the table.

Emma drank the milk eagerly.

Just then two men walked into the kitchen. One of them was wearing Daniel’s robe.

They froze when they saw him.

“Uh… sorry, man,” one said awkwardly. “Vanessa never mentioned a husband.”

“What do you mean she never mentioned?”

“We paid to be here,” the younger man replied casually. “She charges extra for hosting clients in a rich guy’s mansion.”

Daniel felt the ground disappear beneath him.

“You paid?”

“Yeah. A hundred each.”

At that moment Vanessa walked into the kitchen wearing a thin nightgown.

When she saw Daniel, all color drained from her face.

“Daniel… I didn’t expect you back so soon.”

The two men hurriedly dressed and left without another word.

Daniel stood there silently with Vanessa and Emma.

“So,” he said coldly, “you’ve been charging strangers to sleep with you in my house.”

“I can explain—”

“And my daughter?” he interrupted. “Where was my daughter during all of this?”

Emma stepped forward holding her glass.

“Hello Aunt Vanessa. Daddy came back. You said he died, but he didn’t.”

Vanessa glared at the girl.

“Emma, go to your room.”

“No,” Daniel said firmly. “She stays here.”

Just then the phone rang.

It was Mrs. Helen.

“Mr. Brooks… thank God you’re home,” she said urgently. “I have proof of everything that’s been happening to Emma.”

Daniel looked at Vanessa.

Her face had gone pale.

Not long after, Mrs. Helen arrived carrying a bag filled with evidence—photos, notes, recordings.

She had documented everything.

Pictures showed Emma alone in the garden during storms, drinking from the hose, sleeping outside.

Recordings revealed Vanessa threatening Mrs. Helen for feeding the child. In one recording she even discussed sending Emma to a psychiatric institution so she would stop interfering.

Daniel listened in horror.

Emma had been neglected, starved, and manipulated into silence.

When confronted with the evidence, Vanessa finally confessed.

She had worked as a luxury escort since she was nineteen. After marrying Daniel, she secretly continued the business, using his mansion as a meeting place for wealthy clients.

Some of those clients were powerful figures—politicians, businessmen, even a judge.

Emma had simply been an inconvenience.