Chapter 3

Christian must have noticed how quiet the house had become.

To make up for missing Olivia's exhibition, he insisted on taking her shopping that Saturday afternoon.

He crouched in front of her and ruffled her hair. "Whatever you want today. LEGO, dresses... Daddy's buying."

Olivia didn't light up the way she used to. She simply nodded and slipped her hand into his.

I stood by the front door and watched them leave.

I had an interview that afternoon for the Director position. After that, I needed to stop by my lawyer's office to pick up some paperwork.

Before I left, I looked Christian. "Just stay with her today. That's all I'm asking."

At four o'clock that afternoon, Gunfire erupted inside the downtown luxury mall.

Screams exploded through the building.

The packed shopping center descended into instant chaos.

Christian wrapped Olivia in his arms and pushed through the panicked crowd toward the underground parking garage.

In the crush of people near the emergency exit, Christian saw Helena and Carter.

"Christian!" Helena screamed. A split second later, a bullet grazed her arm. Blood soaked through her sleeve.

Carter burst into terrified sobs. Helena collapsed to the floor and grabbed Christian's pant leg with both hands.

"Please! Help us! Carter's just a little boy! I can't die here. Please!"

Christian looked at the blood running down her arm. Then he looked at the little girl shaking in his own arms.

Helena couldn't walk. Carter was only six. One shove from the panicked crowd could crush him.

He pulled Olivia into a blind corner beside a concrete pillar. Cupping her face with trembling hands. "Listen to me, sweetheart. Stay right here and don't move. This spot is safe. I'm just taking aunt Helena and Carter to cover."

"I'll come right back for you."

Olivia grabbed the buttons on his coat with both hands. Her eyes pleaded with him not to go. But he pried her fingers away.

Then he lifted Helena onto his back, caught Carter's hand, and disappeared into the rushing crowd.

The stampede grew worse.

With a deafening bang, the heavy security door slammed shut. Olivia vanished from sight.

Twenty minutes later, the tactical response team secured the mall. The shooting was finally over.

As paramedics loaded Helena into an ambulance, Christian climbed in without hesitation. He stayed by her side all the way to the hospital.

He never once remembered that he'd left his own daughter alone in a smoke-filled corner of the mall.

At that moment, I had just picked up the divorce papers from my lawyer.

Staring at the familiar words on the divorce papers, I felt a flicker of hesitation. Ten years of marriage wasn't something I could erase overnight.

Then my phone lit up with breaking news—Active Shooter at Downtown Mall.

I drove there like a madwoman.

When I finally found Olivia and she was standing alone.

The strap of her dress had been torn in the chaos and her face was streaked with dust.

I called Christian again and again. Every call went unanswered.

He had already silenced his phone while riding to the hospital with Helena.

I pulled Olivia into my arms and held her tightly.

At that moment, I had never hated Christian more.

I didn't call him again. Instead, I took Olivia home.

Within an hour, I had packed everything that belonged to us.

I laid the signed divorce papers on the bedroom desk. Then I took my daughter's hand. We were leaving.

Before we walked out, Olivia stopped at her desk one last time.

She looked quietly at the half-destroyed LEGO cathedral. Then she removed the last golden spire.

She didn't place it in the little box beneath her bed. She tossed it into the trash.

Then she shoved the cathedral with both hands, it crashed onto the floor. Thousands of tiny bricks scattered in every direction.

The last symbol of her father's love was gone.

"Mom, let's leave."

Together, we stepped over the broken bricks and never looked back.