The Faceless Billionaire Celebrity Wife-Chapter 192: Happy Birthday.

Liam frowned.

"I don’t understand, Chris. Shikera might not be my biological daughter but she is still—"

Chris cut him off with a laugh.

"She is still your daughter, right, Liam? I know that, and I won’t argue with you. But you do know that the safest place for her will be away from you. What has being your daughter ever done for her apart from bringing her harm?"

Liam kept quiet, and Chris continued.

"You could clear your guilt before by saying it’s her fate for coming to this world as your daughter but now? Does she still have to suffer, Liam?"

Liam sighed, massaging his temple with his fingers."Still, it would only be wicked of me to separate her from Ethan since they have feelings for each other now. If Ethan does not oppose, she can stay married to him and I will keep my promise..."

"What are you saying, Liam?" Chris laughed, mockery lacing his voice."What did you take Ethan for, a man who doesn’t know how to separate business from emotions? He does know what a contract means and if they will be separating anyway, it won’t harm to do so soon."

"Are you home?" Liam asked.

He got a positive reply and alighted from the car. Since their mansions were in the same estate, the Anderson’s mansion was just five minutes walking distance away from the DeLoach’s mansion. He walked down the pathway leading to the gates when he heard an unfamiliar voice calling him.

Turning to see that it was Natalia, he frowned at how strange her voice had sounded. It might be age, but her voice was very different from how he remembered it. And though he had been noticing it for a while now, he was still brushing that suspicious feeling off.

"Is there a problem?" he asked lightly, when she was near enough to hear him. Even though they had been living together for these past few days, they rarely talked or met with each other. Plus Natalia always left home as early as she could and came back home late.

"No, not on my part. But I saw Elizabeth crying in her room just now and asked what’s wrong. She said you just would not let her go out with you and she concluded you don’t think she’s worthy of walking with you."

"What?!" Liam asked in disbelief. All of the years he had spent with Shikera, he had always treated her like a baby and called her princess, but she was always independent. He never saw her cry. How could a 25 year old...wait! Shikera’s birthday is tomorrow!

His thoughts were interrupted by Natalia’s voice.

"I know Elizabeth might have been pestering you but you should be patient with her. She’s just so excited to spend the day with a father she never had...And Liam, even if our relationship will not be rekindled, do not deprive our daughter of the love she is supposed to have," Natalia said, her tone showing how sad she was.

Liam felt guilty as he stared at her, just plain guilt and nothing else.

"Tell Elizabeth I am sorry. She can go with me next time," he said. Without waiting for an answer, he walked away from Natalia’s front.

★★★

Her fourth day living as the ’thief’ in the villa was just like the other days. She was left at home with Hazel, while the rest went to work and school respectively.

Shikera lounged idly on the couch placed on the patio of the villa, with a book in hand. Hazel had gone to the back villa to pick something up she she was currently alone. Therefore, she was shocked when she heard the sound of a car approaching the villa. Ethan specifically told her he would be late today so she was sure he’s not the one. She didn’t think it was Raymond, Ruthlyn, or Enoch either.

By the time the car came into view, Shikera was already up from the couch and standing in front of the villa. She recognized it now as her father’s...or rather, Liam Anderson’s. What was he doing here?

And that was exactly what she asked.

Liam didn’t reply, alighting from the car with a bouquet of flowers and a bag in hand. With a wide smile spread on his face, he walked towards Shikera.

"Happy birthday, Princess!" he exclaimed.

Shikera was shocked. It was her birthday already? Slowly, she looked from the flower in his hand to the bag which she was sure, contained a birthday gift.

"Thanks," she whispered, before adding, "But you should go deliver the gift to your daughter. She should have been waiting for a while now."

The smile on Liam’s face didn’t fall and if anything, it only widened.

"And I am here already with my daughter. Here, your flower and...what do you think I got for you this year?" he asked, gushing in excitement.

Even though Shikera wanted to ignore him, the excitement from deep within her acted as a restraining force. Her father had always gotten her a different gift every year for her birthday and she was always excited in anticipation. It was the same now, even when she knew that this day was probably not her birthday.

Taking the bouquet of flowers and the gift bag from him, she cleared her through.

"Uhm...will you sit with me for a moment? You have come a long way so..." She trailed off, scared that she had been too forward with inviting him. But Liam could not be more than excited at the invitation.

"Where do I sit?" he asked, looking around as if he would gladly agree if she asked him to sit on the tree.

Shikera smiled and led the way back to the patio.

He sat down and she did the same, not minding if the space between them was little to nothing.

"Thank you for wishing me today. I... totally forgot it was my birthday," she said.

Liam frowned at that, "Ethan didn’t remember?"