All Chapters of The Name Tariff: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

Our daughter, Emma Gables, stared at me incredulously with her eyes wide. It was as if she did not recognize me.But I simply held out my hand again. “One hundred thousand dollars. I don’t need to nag you for it, do I?”There was a loud “clang.”Lana slammed down her water glass, shielded my daughter behind her, and glared at me.“Lyle Stafford, do you find this amusing?”I looked up at her and smiled. “Why wouldn’t I? It wasn’t me who took Emma to see him.”Lana’s expression froze for a moment before returning to normal.She grabbed my hand and said gently, “I was wrong. Today is our wedding anniversary. Don’t be angry, okay?”Once upon a time, I would have dreamed of hearing her admit she was wrong.But I only felt annoyed by her attempt to deflect the subject.“I’m not angry. Just pay me on the kid’s behalf.”Lana’s patience completely ran out.“Fine. Very well.“Lyle Stafford, you’ve really surprised me.”She pulled a checkbook from her bag, wrote a check for two hund

Backstage at the press conference, the makeup artist was working hard to make me look ugly.Meanwhile, at the makeup table nearby, Eliot was surrounded by several famous makeup artists. They were making him look even more charismatic and handsome.Emma was circling around him. “Wow, Eliot is even more handsome than a movie star.”When she turned to look at me, her face twisted with disgust. “Daddy looks like an old monster.”Lana stepped out to take a call. The smile on Eliot’s face immediately vanished.“How does it feel? To be unloved by your wife and despised by your daughter?“What’s the point of remarrying Lana? She still loves me.”He tossed the speech manuscript in front of me.“Take a look at this. Lana wrote these charges for you herself.“Don’t you want to have a sneak peek?”I looked down, and a dense web of corrections caught my eye.To think that she used to believe that replying to text messages was a waste of time.I lowered my head in self-mockery before loo

The screen was showing the surveillance footage of my mother’s death after resuscitation efforts failed.My heart-wrenching cries still echoed on.The camera cut to the backstage area of the press conference.Eliot’s smug voice reverberated throughout the banquet hall. “Well? How does it feel to be rejected by your wife and despised by your daughter?“What’s the point of remarrying Lana? She still loves me.“Lana gave me this supplementary card linked to your mother’s hospital bill.“Tell me, what if I accidentally slip and stop the payments? What then?”The banquet hall instantly erupted into chaos.The reporters I had arranged in advance began snapping photos of the stage.Some even started live-streaming on their phones.Lana’s face turned pale.“Turn it off. Turn it off right now.”She rushed toward the control console, but she was blocked by the reporters I had arranged in advance.Eliot screamed and hid in a corner. He wished he could disappear into the ground.Emma

Emma looked at her in terror.Only then did Lana realize that tears were streaming down her face.She crouched down, hugged her daughter, and said hoarsely. “Emma, Mommy was wrong. Mommy has done so many wrong things.“Mommy misses Daddy.”On the third month, Emma Gables arrived.She stood at the entrance of the dessert shop. She had grown quite a bit taller.But her eyes were red, as if she had been crying.“Daddy.”It was the first time in all these years she had called me in that tone.I put down what I was holding and walked over to her.“What’s wrong?”She lowered her head, her voice muffled. “Eliot… Eliot is gone.”“He took all of your money, and he… he said I was a burden…”She looked up, her eyes filled with confusion.“Dad, why did he lie to me? Didn’t he say he loved me?”I was silent for a long time.“Emma, some people are nice to you because they want something from your mom.“When they don’t get it, you’re no longer useful.”Emma froze.“What about you?”