"Get out, Blackwell! Take your little bastard and freeze in the streets where you belong!"
**CRASH!**
A battered black suitcase exploded through the third-floor window, slamming into the snow-packed alley below. Torn children's books and threadbare clothes scattered like dying birds in the howling wind.
Ten degrees below zero. The blizzard cut through flesh like broken glass.
Ethan Blackwell stood motionless in nothing but a thin t-shirt, his arms locked around the trembling form of his five-year-old daughter. His spine curved like a bow about to snap under the weight of a world that had crushed him into nothing.
Once, he'd commanded a billion-dollar empire. Now he was less than a stray dog.
"Please, Mr. Hayes." Ethan's voice cracked like gravel, barely audible over the wind. "One more night. She's burning with fever. She can't survive this cold."
"Please? PLEASE?"
The landlord spat, a glob of yellow phlegm landing inches from Ethan's bare feet. Steam rose from the disgusting puddle. "Everyone knows you crossed someone untouchable. Having you here brings me bad luck! No money? Go sleep under a bridge!"
Ethan's fingernails dug crescents into his palms until blood seeped through. He could handle sleeping rough. But not Lily. Never Lily.
A tiny, frostbitten hand emerged from beneath his arm.
"Mr. Hayes... please don't make Daddy leave."
Lily Blackwell peeked out from her father's embrace, drowning in an oversized adult coat. Her lips were purple, her cheeks raw from the cold. In her trembling fingers, she clutched a grimy plastic bag.
"Lily has money... Lily will give you all her money..."
The little girl stretched on her tiptoes, offering the bag like it contained the crown jewels of England.
Inside weren't bills. Just dirt-crusted pennies, nickels, and dimes. Even a few rusted bottle caps. Each coin bore tiny teeth marks—she'd held them in her mouth while sleeping, terrified they'd be stolen.
Two dollars and fifty cents.
Three months of following Daddy's cart, digging through dumpsters, collecting her "fortune" one piece at a time.
"Is it enough, mister?" Lily's voice broke, tears freezing on her cheeks. "If not... Lily can find more tomorrow..."
Staring at that bag of coins—still warm from his daughter's body heat—Ethan felt his heart explode. The pain was so sharp he couldn't breathe.
This was his princess. His everything. She should have been pampered in silk and gold, not begging with pocket change for a roof that leaked.
"What is this garbage? You trying to insult me, kid?"
Hayes raised his boot and kicked Lily's wrist with vicious force.
**CLATTER—**
Coins erupted like shrapnel, scattering across the snow. Bottle caps rolled into storm drains with hollow pings.
"AHHH!" Lily screamed as she hit the ground, skin tearing from her knuckles. Blood dotted the white snow like crimson flowers.
But she ignored the pain, crawling desperately after her scattered treasure. "My money... please don't run away... Daddy needs you..."
"Two-fifty for rent? What a joke!" Hayes raised his boot again, aiming for the child's head. "Worthless little—"
**CRACK!**
An iron grip seized his ankle mid-swing.
Hayes looked down into eyes that had gone completely black. Not the broken man from moments before. These were the eyes of something that killed without hesitation.
**[WARNING: Host emotional threshold exceeded!]**
**[S-Class Pure Filial Heart detected!]**
**[FATHER'S LOVE SYSTEM... Reboot successful!]**
**[Skill Unlocked: Eye of Truth (Basic)]**
**[Swiss Bank Authority Access... $10,000,000 deposited!]**
Ethan didn't check his phone.
Crimson data streams flowed across his vision as floating blue text materialized above Hayes' head—like a video game highlighting an enemy's weakness.
"You... what are you doing? Let go!" Hayes felt his ankle bones grinding together, about to shatter. "I'll call the cops!"
"Call them."
Ethan yanked the 250-pound man down until their noses almost touched. His voice dropped to a whisper colder than the arctic wind:
"Perfect. When they arrive, we can discuss what happened in Room 302 at Sunset Apartments."
Hayes' body went rigid like he'd been struck by lightning. "What... what are you talking about?"
Ethan leaned closer, his words drilling into Hayes' skull like bullets:
"March 10th. You stole your wife's property deed and used it as collateral for $150,000 at an underground loan shark. You spent every penny on a cam girl named 'SweetiePie69.' That same night, you took her to the Regal Hotel, Room 237..."
"Want me to describe the positions too?"
Hayes' pupils dilated in pure terror. Sweat poured down his face despite the freezing temperature. His legs gave out and he collapsed into the snow.
If his wife found out, death would be a mercy.
"Mr. Blackwell! Sir!" Hayes groveled, trying to grab Ethan's leg. "I was wrong! Keep the apartment! No rent! Just please... don't tell anyone!"
Ethan shoved him away like diseased garbage and turned toward his daughter.
Lily was still on her hands and knees, sobbing as she clawed at coins frozen to the pavement. "Daddy... the money got dirty... Mr. Hayes won't want it... we have nowhere to go..."
Ethan's heart shattered all over again.
He knelt in the filthy slush, carefully collecting every single coin and placing them back in the plastic bag. His movements were reverent, like handling sacred relics.
"Who says this money is dirty? This is the cleanest money in the world."
He lifted his daughter and grabbed their broken suitcase, looking down at Hayes with the contempt reserved for insects.
"Any one of these coins is worth more than your entire existence. Disappear."
Hayes scrambled away like a beaten dog, not daring to breathe too loudly.
Ethan didn't return to that freezing apartment. He was done with places that reeked of humiliation.
Carrying Lily through the storm, his phone suddenly buzzed.
A cold, arrogant female voice cut through the static:
"Ethan Blackwell. This is Roxanne Sterling, bankruptcy liquidation attorney."
"Our monitoring systems detected a suspicious $10 million deposit in your account. I've already filed for an emergency asset freeze."
"Be at my office tomorrow at 8 AM to sign the papers. Try to move that money, and you'll spend the rest of your life in federal prison."
**Click.**
**[WARNING: Funds have been locked!]**
**[Extreme anger detected! Hidden exchange mechanism activated!]**
**[Exchange 'Humiliation Points' for special breakthrough items?]**
Ethan stared down at his shivering daughter, his eyes empty of warmth but blazing with lethal resolve.
They wanted to push him past the breaking point?
Fine.
If they thought a cornered wolf was dangerous, wait until they met a father with nothing left to lose.
The system pulsed in his vision like a heartbeat, and for the first time in years, Ethan Blackwell smiled.
It wasn't a pleasant smile.