3
Upon hearing the bad news, my mind went blank, and I was unsteady on my feet.
Staggering, I rushed to the outside of the hospital room and looked through the glass at my daughter being resuscitated; my heart felt like it was being ripped apart.
My daughter lost her mother at birth and has depended on me ever since.
My daughter is my everything.
Ten years ago, my daughter was harassed by a gang leader. To protect her, I stabbed the leader who bullied her to death and crippled his three accomplices for life.
After dealing with the perpetrators, I chose to turn myself in and was sentenced to ten years in prison.
I should have been released in six months, but because of my good behavior, the prison reduced my sentence by half a year.
I didn't want my daughter to know the secret that I was a murderer, so for all these years, I've been writing letters to her, pretending to be working away from home.
During the ten years in prison, I longed day and night for this day of father-daughter reunion!
But now that we've finally reunited, could fate really be so cruel as to make a white-haired parent bury a black-haired child?
After enduring the agony outside the emergency room for two hours, my daughter was finally resuscitated.
I finally breathed a sigh of relief, and my numb legs slowly regained feeling.
But the next moment, the doctor's words brought my drop of relief right back to my throat.
"The patient is showing severe signs of depression; there might be another suicide attempt."
In my mind, my daughter's lively, innocent face flashed over and over.
This beautiful and kind girl was forced to the brink of suicide by Li Chen!
Suppressing my inner rage, I went to the police station, but the answer from the officers dropped me into an abyss of despair.
The police officer glanced at the report and had a troubled look on his face: "Your daughter's husband is a lawyer and has relatives in the court; intervention is difficult for us."
I was stunned, looking at the officer's helpless face, as if seeing the cruelty of reality.
Li Chen's background is so powerful that even the police are afraid.
I stood up and walked out of the reception room.
The sunlight outside pierced my eyes painfully, but all I felt was darkness.
Just then, my phone suddenly rang.
I froze for a moment, instinctively glanced at the screen, and a video popped up showing my daughter being subjected to domestic violence.
She was huddled in the corner, her body covered in bruises, her hair disheveled, and her eyes full of fear and despair.
Her lips were bitten so hard they turned pale, with a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth.
I tightened my grip on the phone, my nails digging deep into my palm, blood dripping steadily. I felt a whirlwind, almost crushed by this despair.
Then, Li Chen's mocking voice message came through. "Weren't you planning to report me? Here's the evidence you wanted, and if it's not enough, I have more!"