Ms. CEO’s Baby Daddy Is the Merchant of Death Episode 5

📖 The Story Continues

Scarlett heard disbelief in Connor’s response and felt humiliation ignite beneath her anger. She had not dreamed of forcing a stranger into marriage, but Summer deserved stability after four years of questions. If Connor considered marrying her an unbearable burden, she wanted him to say it plainly. She lifted her chin and asked whether he found her too ugly to accept.

The accusation startled him more than the proposal. Connor immediately denied it, his gaze moving over the elegant woman standing before him. Scarlett was beautiful enough to unsettle a man who had trained himself never to reveal weakness. Her appearance was not the reason he hesitated; if anything, it made the danger of wanting her worse.

He tried to explain that he would love to be Summer’s father. The words sounded strange in his mouth, but they were true. His fear was that he had no idea how to become one. Men raised in violence did not receive lessons in bedtime stories, scraped knees, or the promises children trusted without question.

Scarlett cut off the explanation. She had listened to excuses from the Hayes family, corporate directors, and every investigator who failed to find Connor. She would not accept another one from the man whose choices had shaped her daughter’s life. Telling him to get into the car, she announced that they were getting married.

Connor glanced at Summer, expecting the child to share his alarm. Instead, she clapped her hands and cheered. Her happiness made resistance feel selfish, and Scarlett was already walking away with the certainty that he would follow. The feared commander of Dominion Tech discovered that surrender could take the form of climbing obediently into a woman’s car.

The marriage was completed with startling speed. There were no flowers, guests, or vows crafted for romance—only legal documents, firm signatures, and Summer watching with shining eyes. Scarlett treated the process like an urgent business acquisition. Connor, accustomed to contracts involving nations and weapons, found this modest certificate far more intimidating.

When it was done, Summer threw her arms around him and celebrated that she finally had a real daddy. The word no longer struck Connor as an accusation. He lifted her easily, and the joy on her face unlocked a tenderness he had buried so deeply that he barely recognized it. He told her she was the most beautiful little girl in the world and meant every syllable.

Summer hugged his neck and declared her love with the fearless generosity of a child. Connor held her closer, unable to answer immediately. He had spent his life surrounded by loyalty purchased through power, money, or fear. Summer offered affection simply because he was hers.

Scarlett watched them with guarded relief. This was the sight she had wanted for years, yet Connor’s sudden gentleness complicated the anger that had sustained her search. She reminded herself that one loving embrace could not erase four years of absence. Trust would have to be earned through consistency, not sentiment.

Now that Summer had found her father, Scarlett could return her attention to the disaster consuming her company. The Hayes business was losing money at a rate that threatened collapse, and her family intended to use the crisis to control her. An urgent matter required her presence, leaving no time to test Connor’s new commitment. Duty had always demanded that Scarlett move before her emotions caught up.

She told Connor she needed to leave and would call him later. His simple agreement did little to reassure her. Connor had disappeared once without warning, and four years of searching had made suspicion instinctive. Scarlett warned that if he tried to run again, she would make certain he regretted it in the most personal way possible.

Connor acknowledged the threat loud and clear. A smile almost touched his mouth, but he did not make the mistake of laughing. Scarlett Hayes was entirely capable of hunting him across the country a second time. More importantly, he no longer wanted to escape as much as he wanted to understand the family that had just claimed him.

Summer lifted her wrist toward him before following her mother. A colorful children’s smartwatch circled it, designed to hold a few trusted contacts. She asked Connor to save his telephone number in the watch so she could call whenever she missed him. The request was small, but its faith in his availability carried enormous weight.

Connor entered the number carefully and checked it twice. His private contacts changed constantly for security, yet this one would now remain active because his daughter expected him to answer. Summer tested the saved name and beamed when “Daddy” appeared on the screen. Connor promised that she could reach him whenever she needed.

Scarlett observed the exchange, unaware that the number connected Summer not to a poor truck driver but to one of the most heavily protected communications networks in the world. Connor could disguise his clothes, job, and fortune, but he would never again permit a call from that watch to go unanswered. Neither mother nor daughter understood what kind of protection had just entered their lives. One touch of that tiny screen could now summon the most dangerous man they knew.

Summer gave him another hug before saying goodbye. Connor watched her leave with Scarlett, a strange emptiness opening as soon as their car moved away. Only that morning, solitude had represented safety. Now the garage felt too quiet without a child’s voice calling him daddy.

Fay stared at him as though he had become a stranger. In the space of an hour, the man who rejected every attachment had acquired a daughter and a wife. Connor offered no explanation. The truth behind his life was too dangerous to share, and even Scarlett could not learn it until he knew who might still be watching.

The legal DNA report was convincing, but Connor’s instincts demanded independent verification. His wealth made deception possible, and his enemies could exploit any weakness they discovered. He hated himself for questioning Summer, yet protecting her required certainty. If she truly was his child, every defense surrounding Dominion Tech would have to be redrawn around her.

Connor looked at the number now linked to Summer’s watch and imagined the childhood he had missed. He could not restore her first four years, but perhaps he could be present for every year that followed. The possibility felt both miraculous and terrifying. He had never wanted to belong to anyone, and now two people could destroy him simply by being harmed.

He took out his encrypted phone and contacted Cypher. The order would sound like another intelligence assignment, but Connor knew it was the most important investigation he had ever authorized. Scarlett believed the matter settled and Summer already trusted him completely. Before Connor gave them his entire life, he needed his own people to answer one final question: was Summer Hayes truly his daughter?