After They Stole My Life, Reborn I Called Another Man Dad Chapter 04

After They Stole My Life, Reborn I Called Another Man Dad Chapter 04

Austin bent down and straightened Chloe’s bow.

“Don’t run off later, okay?”

Chloe gave him a sweet smile.

“I know.”

Eleanor smiled too.

“If the pictures don’t turn out cute, we’ll just book another photographer.”

They looked like a perfectly happy family.

Then Eleanor suddenly looked up.

Her eyes met mine.

The smile on her face faltered for just a second.

I didn’t move.

For seven years, I had imagined that seeing her again would hurt.

But when it finally happened, all I felt was how much of a stranger she was.

She looked younger than she had when I was brought home in my previous life.

There were no fine lines around her eyes from years of crying.

She hadn’t yet stood outside in a freezing storm and coldly told me to get out of her life.

Austin followed her gaze.

His expression changed instantly.

Almost on instinct, he stepped sideways and positioned himself in front of Chloe.

Just like he had on the day I was born.

I almost laughed.

Seven years had passed, and he was still afraid I would somehow steal Chloe’s life from her.

Chloe peeked out from behind him.

“Austin, do you know her?”

Austin quickly looked away.

“No. Come on.”

They walked right past me without stopping.

I watched them disappear through the auditorium doors.

Only after the doors swung shut did I see Ethan rushing inside, completely out of breath.

“I’m sorry. The customer’s camera got water damage. I had to take it apart before I realized how bad it was.”

Then, as if he had been waiting for the perfect moment, he pulled a strawberry lollipop from his pocket.

“You’ve been waiting a long time, haven’t you?”

He held it out to me.

“I bought this for my little princess. It’s my apology.”

I took the lollipop from him.

And somehow, I realized I was okay with things being this way.

…

The years slipped by.

Before I knew it, I was eighteen.

High school graduation was only a little over two months away.

Then Chloe suddenly developed appendicitis.

During her pre-surgery testing, the doctors discovered that her blood type didn’t match either of the Millers.

At first, my biological father assumed the hospital had made a mistake.

But once he got home, the more he thought about it, the more something felt wrong.

He dug out Eleanor’s old prenatal records.

Then, without telling anyone, he secretly had a DNA test done.

The results came back.

The next day, he went to the hospital where Eleanor had given birth eighteen years earlier.

Using the delivery records from that same time period, he eventually traced the baby records back to the Vance family.

That afternoon, I had just gotten home from school.

I pushed open the door to our photo studio and froze.

A strange man was sitting inside.

Ethan stood by the window.

His face was so grim that it scared me.

I stared at the man for several seconds before finally recognizing him.

Arthur Miller.

My biological father.

In my previous life, he had already been in his fifties when I was reunited with my biological family.

Seeing him this young, I hadn’t recognized him at first.

But the moment Arthur saw me, he shot to his feet.

His eyes slowly turned red.

“You… you’re Zoe?”

I didn’t answer.

Ethan spoke first.

“She’s got after-school tutoring tonight. Whatever you need to say, say it to me.”

My father stared at him for a moment.

Then he said slowly, “I’m her biological father.”

Ethan’s fingers tightened around the camera in his hand.