Matthew caressed Lyanna's tiny face. His actions were filled with affection, but he still pried her hand off him, one finger at a time. "Be good, Lyanna. Your mother can celebrate your birthday with you."

I suppressed the anger boiling in my heart as I picked up the ring from the floor. I kept my tone as calm as possible when I said, "Michael, Matthew made a promise to Lyanna before he died. He promised to celebrate her birthday with her.

"Can you pretend to be her father and celebrate her fifth birthday with her? You can think of it as carrying out Matthew's final wish, or perhaps you can do it for poor Lyanna's sake."

Felicia entered the living room with a disgruntled expression. "Luna, I feel heartbroken that you lost your husband, and that Lyanna lost her father, but you shouldn't try to steal my man right in front of me and Elias."

Matthew's brows knitted together tightly. He looked as if he wanted to reject my request, but after meeting my calm gaze, he guiltily averted his gaze.

When his eyes fell on the wedding ring, his entire body quivered.

He pursed his lips before saying, "Darling, Luna is just thinking about Lyanna. Her birthday is coming up, and as her uncle and aunt, we should do our part to ensure that she has a perfect birthday celebration."

Matthew looked at me. "Luna, I will celebrate Lyanna's fifth birthday with her to fulfill Matthew's final wish."

I scoffed upon hearing his words. It seemed that Matthew had no trouble taking on Michael's identity. He referred to Felicia as "darling" without even batting an eye.

I tossed the wedding ring into the trash bin. "Good. I hope you're not lying to me."

A smile appeared on Lyanna's face after receiving Matthew's answer. She excitedly began to discuss what she wanted to do on her birthday and what food she wanted to eat.

My heart clenched painfully as I watched her. Matthew was her father, but she had to resort to begging so pitifully just to have him celebrate her birthday with her.

Matthew had not only abandoned me, but he had also abandoned his own child.

Not being able to keep my emotions in check, I hastily retreated to my room. Noticing how upset I was, Lyanna followed me and took my hand.

"Don't be sad, Mommy. I'll always be here," she said. "I know that Daddy doesn't want to be my daddy anymore. I also know that he doesn't want to celebrate my birthday with me. But I… I just want to have a daddy one last time. We might never see him again after this…"

I gazed at Lyanna, who showed a heartbreaking maturity despite her young age. I wrapped my arms around her in a tight embrace. "I'm sorry, Lyanna. Mommy isn't sad. I'm just—"

"I'm just heartbroken on your behalf," I thought.

I was heartbroken that she still longed for Matthew's fatherly love, even though he would rather fake his death to abandon his wife and child. She was so pitiful.

I knew there was no way I could tell Lyanna the truth, that he didn't love her or me. I couldn't tell her that she would be less upset if she abandoned her expectations of him. I could only pray that Matthew would take into account the relationship we once shared and leave Lyanna with a wonderful memory of him.

Once Lyanna's birthday was over, we would never bother him again.

On the night of Lyanna's birthday, she put on her favorite princess dress. We had made a hazelnut cake from scratch, and Lyanna was filled with barely-contained excitement as she waited for Matthew to return home.

Lyanna and I were the only ones in the house. Even Mitch Lorenzo and Kelsey Green, Lyanna's grandparents, were not around. I called Matthew a dozen times, but he did not answer. Eventually, Matthew switched off his phone.

It was almost midnight. Lyanna's joy had dimmed significantly. I bit my bottom lip and quietly asked, "Perhaps everyone is busy today. Why don't we eat the cake together tomorrow?"

However, Lyanna was stubborn. "But… Daddy said he would celebrate my birthday with me."

"Okay then. Let's wait a little while more," I said even as my heart clenched in pain.

A beep resounded at the door just as I finished speaking, signalling that someone had unlocked it using the fingerprint scanner. A large group of people stepped through the doorway, carrying bags of different shapes and sizes.

Lyanna shot to her feet and dashed to the door. Matthew was carrying Elias in his arms. His smile reached his eyes when he said, "Lyanna, this is the birthday present that we've prepared for you."

Surprise colored Lyanna's tone when she exclaimed, "I knew it! I knew that you didn't forget my birthday, Daddy! This is my first time receiving a present from you. I'm so happy!"

The worry in my heart dissipated slightly. Although things hadn't gone as planned, at the end of the day, Lyanna was still happy. This way, she wouldn't be so upset when I took her away with me.

However, the elated smile on Lyanna's face turned stiff when she unwrapped the present. It was an action figure of Amazingman with a card attached to it. It looked like a complimentary gift that was part of a kids' meal from Kidztopia.

I couldn't control myself anymore. "Is Lorenzo Corporation losing that much money? You can't even afford a proper gift for Lyanna, so you have to give her a free gift as a present?"

Matthew seemed to realize that his actions were inappropriate and rushed to explain. "Elias wanted to eat a Kidztopia Meal today, and the Amazingman figure came with it. I figured that the kids these days all love him, which is why I decided to give it to Lyanna as a present.

"If she doesn't like it, I'll buy her something else tomorrow."

"What five-year-old girl would like Amazingman?" I thought to myself heatedly. Even worse, the figure was a free gift, making it all too obvious that Matthew hadn't spent any time or effort picking out a present for Lyanna. He had completely disappointed her.

I was about to say something when Lyanna beat me to the punch.

"It's okay. Thank you for giving me this birthday present, Daddy."

She offered Matthew the hazelnut cake we had made from scratch. "Mommy and I made this cake ourselves. Have a taste, Daddy!"

I lit the candles on the cake again. However, Elias suddenly broke free from Matthew's grip and lunged toward the cake, wanting to grab a bite of it.

Matthew's expression twisted. Reflexively, he swept the cake off the table before angrily grabbing Elias by the scruff of his collar. "Don't put things in your mouth without knowing what it is!" he scolded.

The cake that we had meticulously prepared splattered to the floor in a heap, stunning both Lyanna and me in place.

Matthew turned pale. He frowned as he said, "I'm sorry. Elias has a nut allergy, so I was worried that he would accidentally eat the cake. My hand moved before I fully registered what I was doing. I'll buy an even bigger mango cake for you tomorrow, alright?"

Tears spilled down Lyanna's cheeks. She bit down on her bottom lip, refusing to let out her sobs. She quietly picked up the cake topper that read, "Happy 5th Birthday!" that she had placed on the cake herself.

I curled my hand into a tight fist. My disappointment was immeasurable when I glared at Matthew. "Matthew, don't you know that Lyanna has a mango allergy?"

"Of course, I don't. Luna, I'm Michael. How would I know that?" Matthew blurted out as he averted his gaze.

Of course, I knew that he was lying. He was Lyanna's father. In the past, when her allergy was triggered after she ingested some mango, he was the one who had sent her to the hospital in a panic. How could he possibly have forgotten that she was allergic to mangoes?

Mitch and Kelsey attempted to mediate the tense situation. "Luna, this is Michael, not your husband, Matthew. We made a mistake when we asked him to take care of you. Please don't take our words to heart."

Felicia also shot me a displeased look. "They're right, Luna. Matthew might have passed away, but that doesn't give you the right to try to steal Michael away from me."

The atmosphere in the house was so tense that it could be cut with a knife. I kept my gaze pinned on Matthew, but he refused to make eye contact with me. He just stood among the rest. Although he felt unbearably guilty, he didn't dare admit who he really was.

The clock chimed, signalling that it was midnight.

Lyanna rubbed the tears from her eyes. She smiled at Matthew and said, "It's okay. Everything's okay. Thank you, Uncle Michael.

"The cake may be ruined, but I can still make a wish. I wish for Uncle Michael to be able to live the life that he wants from now on. I wish for Uncle Michael to be happy every day, and I also wish for Mommy to be happy every day."

I lowered my head, unable to believe what I was hearing. Even though Matthew had faked his death, Lyanna had recognized that he was her actual father, which was why she continued to call him "Daddy". But for the first time since his "death", she changed the way she addressed him.

"Lyanna…"

Surprise was written all over Matthew's face as he stared at her as if he wanted to discern some sort of truth from her eyes.

He had daydreamed many times about an alternate future in which he had married Felicia instead of me. In that timeline, he had nothing to do with me, so Lyanna did not exist. He had thought it was a wonderful future.

He never expected to grow panicked when hearing his biological daughter call him "uncle".

Lyanna shifted her gaze away from him. She took my hand and murmured, "Mommy, let's go."

I pushed aside the pain in my heart and patted her head. "Okay," I replied.

Matthew grabbed my hand suddenly. "Where are the two of you going?"

I yanked my hand out of his grip and said disinterestedly, "We're going back to our room to rest."

He sighed in relief upon hearing my answer. "You're right. It's getting late, so Lyanna and you should get some rest. I admit that I made some mistakes today, but I'll make it up to Lyanna tomorrow by buying her a huge cake."

"Darling, why do you have to make it up to her?" Felicia asked suddenly. "You didn't wrong them in any way!"

Matthew snapped out of the strange mindset he was in after hearing Felicia's voice. He hastily explained, "It's because… I did promise Lyanna…"

I had nothing more to say to him, so I picked up Lyanna and left the living room. I placed a call, making arrangements for someone to pick us up tomorrow morning. I abandoned sleep that night in favor of packing up all our belongings into our luggage bags.

The next morning, I bid farewell to Mitch and Kelsey.

"Mitch and Kelsey, I think both of you made a good point with your earlier suggestion. Lyanna needs a father to accompany her as she grows up, so I've made the decision to remarry and start a new life for both of us."

Kelsey was enraged by my words. "Have you gone mad? My son has just passed away, and yet you're already planning to take my granddaughter away and marry another man?"

I met her gaze calmly. "Kelsey, Matthew has chosen to continue his life with another identity. He abandoned Lyanna and me to watch over the person he wants to protect. I think that gives us the right to choose how we want to live our lives as well.

"I won't invite you to my wedding when I remarry. In fact, he's on his way to pick us up now. I hope we never see each other again."

Mitch and Kelsey, who always carried themselves with an intimidating air, were rendered speechless by my declaration.

Meanwhile, the person I had called the night before to pick Lyanna and me up had arrived at the house bright and early in the morning. As he drove the car away from the house, we coincidentally passed Matthew, who had just returned after purchasing a cake.

When Matthew entered the house, he realized that Lyanna and I were missing. "Mom, where did Luna and Lyanna go?" he asked.

Kelsey sighed deeply. "Luna is taking Lyanna with her to marry someone else."