Ficorpio
Chapter 1
In my previous life, I walked my daughter to the school gates every morning.
Except for that one day, when the company was hounding me to get back.
With two blocks still between us and the school, I pulled over.
“Sweetheart, can you walk the rest of the way by yourself?”
She nodded obediently.
“Then Dad will come pick you up tonight.”
By noon, the police had found me.
Sophie’s red umbrella had been discovered at the mouth of an alley, three hundred yards from the school.
They found her inside an abandoned storefront.
She survived only after three surgeries. From then on, she walked with a limp and could never dance again—not the dancing she had loved more than anything.
Claire hated me, too.
“If you’d earned a little less money that day, we wouldn’t have starved!”
Three years later, the predator was released from prison and began following my daughter again.
That time, I protected her.
The two of us died together with him.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back on that rainy day. My daughter was no longer in the car.
Ignoring the horns blaring behind me, I threw open the door and ran toward the alley like a madman.
A man was trying to squeeze beneath Sophie’s tiny red umbrella.
“Hey, sweetheart. Mind letting Uncle stay dry with you?”
I rushed up from behind and scooped her into my arms.
“Baby! Daddy’s here.”
I held my daughter tightly against my chest.
The little red umbrella slipped from her hand and rolled halfway across the pavement in the wind.
Sophie jumped in fright and quickly wrapped her arms around my neck.
“Dad, weren’t you the one who told me to walk to school by myself?”
I couldn’t answer her. First, I ran my hands over her arms, then checked her legs.
Everything was fine.
She was completely unharmed.
In my previous life, when they carried her out of that abandoned storefront, her right leg had been covered in blood.
The doctors had operated on her three times.
Afterward, whenever it rained, the metal pins in her leg would ache.
The pain kept her awake, yet she never dared tell me.
She knew that the moment she cried out, I would hide in the bathroom and beat my head against the wall.
The memory made my eyes burn instantly.
Sophie stared at me, bewildered.
“Dad? Why are you crying?”
I wiped at my face.
“It’s nothing. Dad just wasn’t comfortable leaving you alone. I wanted to walk you to school after all.”
The man beside us spoke up.
“You’re her father?”
I looked up sharply.
It was him.
Even after three years—even though we had both died together at the end of my previous life—I could never have mistaken that face.
The man shifted uneasily beneath my stare. He took a step back and hurried to explain.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I just didn’t bring an umbrella.”
He gestured toward Sophie.
Chapter 2
“I saw a little kid walking alone and thought I’d share hers for a minute. You know, keep her safe.”
Sophie’s red umbrella was tiny. It was just big enough for her by herself.
But the man had already bent down, half his body nearly beneath the canopy.
And right beside them was the alley.
I would never forget that alley.
In my previous life, when the police brought me there, the entrance had been surrounded by people.
Sophie’s red umbrella had fallen right there.
More than three hundred yards inside stood a row of old storefronts scheduled for demolition. They found her in the very last one.
Still holding my daughter, I stepped directly in front of the man.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
He blinked, clearly caught off guard.
“What?”
“I asked where you’re going.”
His expression darkened.
“Where I go is none of your business. I haven’t done anything to your daughter.”
He turned as if to leave.
I immediately reached out and blocked him.
The man lost his temper.
“What the hell is wrong with you? Did I touch your daughter?
“I was just borrowing an umbrella. Why are you stopping me?”
It was the morning rush, and the school was only two blocks away. The street was crowded with parents walking their children to class.
As soon as we started arguing, people began turning to look.
The owner of the breakfast shop nearby leaned out through the doorway.
“What’s going on?”
The man pointed at me at once.
“This guy’s completely lost it. I saw his daughter walking alone and wanted to share her umbrella. He came running over and won’t let me leave.”
After hearing that, a few bystanders tried to reason with me.
“As long as the child’s all right, that’s what matters. Sharing an umbrella in the rain doesn’t necessarily mean he had bad intentions.”
I ignored them.
If I had been standing in that crowd in my previous life, I might have thought it was all just a misunderstanding too.
But I knew that in a few more minutes, my daughter would be led into the abandoned storefronts behind us.
I wanted nothing more than to kill him right there.
But Sophie was still in my arms.
She was only six years old.
And in this life, Graham Vance hadn’t actually done anything yet.
If I beat him half to death now and the police took me away, who would protect my daughter?
The thought forced me to swallow my fury.
I pulled out my cell phone and called the police.
“Hello? Police?”
The man’s eyes widened.
“You’re calling the cops?”
I didn’t acknowledge him.
“There’s an alley behind the elementary school. A strange man is approaching my daughter. I believe he’s trying to lead her inside.”
The man panicked completely.
Chapter 3
“Who the hell are you accusing of abducting a child? Do you have any proof? I haven’t even touched her!”
Cursing, he tried to leave again.
I blocked him once more.
“The police are on their way. If this is a misunderstanding, you can explain it when they get here.”
The man let out a cold laugh.
“Fine. We’ll wait.”
He seemed convinced that he had done nothing wrong. With a sneer, he moved beneath the awning of the building beside us and lit a cigarette.
I bent down and asked my daughter, “Sweetheart, what did that man say to you?”
Sophie still had no idea what was happening. She pointed toward the alley behind us.
“He said the road ahead was hard to walk through and told me to go this way.”
My heart sank.
The man immediately lowered his cigarette.
“What does a kid know? When did I ever say that?”
His raised voice startled Sophie. She grabbed me and hugged me tightly.
I couldn’t hold back anymore.
“Try yelling at her again.”
The man’s temper flared.
“Was I wrong? You left a child that young by the road, and now you’re blaming me?”
His words drove into my heart like a needle.
Because in my previous life, I had thought the same thing.
If I hadn’t left my daughter there, if I had walked her two more blocks, none of it would have happened.
I instinctively pulled her closer.
In this life, unless I was dead, I would never let her out of my sight again.
The man continued smoking beneath the awning.
The police were already on their way. I stopped arguing with him and simply stood there, holding Sophie and watching him.
If he stayed, I would wait.
If he tried to leave, I would follow.
Either way, I would not let him disappear before the police arrived.
Sophie tugged at my collar.
“Daddy.”
I looked down at her.
“What is it?”
She leaned close to my ear and whispered, “That man knows me.”
My breath caught.
“What do you mean?”
Sophie thought for a moment.
“He asked me why you weren’t walking me to the school entrance today.”
The blood drained from my body.
The hand holding the cigarette paused as well.
I turned toward him at once.
“How did you know I usually walk her to the school entrance?”
The man stared at me for two seconds, then quickly drew his brows together.
“When did I ever say anything like that?”
Sophie grew anxious.
“You did say it! You also asked if Daddy had something to do today.”
The corner of the man’s mouth stiffened. He threw his cigarette onto the ground, turned, and walked away.
I took off after him with Sophie in my arms.
“Stop!”
He didn’t even look back.
“Forget it! You father and daughter are both crazy. I don’t have time to waste on you!”
The man who had just insisted he would wait for the police was now walking faster and faster.
And suddenly, I understood.
Today was the first time I had left Sophie at that spot.