Chapter 73 The Cruel Way
"It's true, miss, I swear I'm not lying..."
The servant's voice was choked with tears.
"This afternoon, I was passing through the second floor when Mrs. Hamilton came out looking frantic... I was about to greet her and leave, but she grabbed me, demanding to know where the back door and hidden passages were. When I refused to tell her, she pulled a knife on me and threatened to kill me..."
"I... I was terrified. I had no choice but to take her to the storage room passage. Once we got down there, she thought I was moving too slowly, fearing I'd call for help, so she hit me with a chunk of concrete and stabbed me with the knife..."
The servant's breathing grew more labored, his eyes losing focus.
"Then she... she climbed through the vent and ran... Help... help me..."
Before he could finish, his head lolled to the side and he collapsed.
"Oh my God!"
"Quick! First aid! We need a tourniquet!"
"Call the police! No—notify Mr. Hamilton first!"
The manor erupted into chaos once again.
Alexander arrived twenty minutes later.
The car had barely stopped before he shoved the door open, his long legs carrying him straight toward the house.
The butler and servants immediately swarmed him, but no one dared speak. The air felt suffocating.
Alexander's expression remained unchanged as he strode inside.
"Alex!" Celeste was the first to rush forward.
Tears streamed down her face, her carefully applied makeup smudged and running.
"I'm so sorry, this is all my fault! I shouldn't have left Caroline alone in that room, shouldn't have believed her when she said she wanted to bathe... I never imagined she'd hurt someone and run away."
Celeste's tears fell one after another.
"She can't speak, she's injured, she's out there alone... What if something happens to her?"
She clutched desperately at Alexander's sleeve, her guilt overwhelming her, nearly driving her to her knees.
Alexander's brow furrowed, but he didn't respond. He simply brushed her fingers from his sleeve and turned to the head of security standing rigidly nearby. "Report. Have you found her?"
The security chief's heart tightened. He stepped forward immediately.
"Sir, we reviewed the surveillance footage. The hallway camera outside Mrs. Hamilton's room shows a three-minute gap after she left—preliminary assessment suggests the lens was deliberately blocked.
"The back door and main corridor cameras show no trace of her. However, the hidden door in the second-floor storage closet was opened. There are bloodstains on the abandoned staircase, continuing through the service passage to the back gate, where the trail disappears. Additionally..."
He paused, his expression growing complicated.
"We found a bloodstained piece of concrete at the bottom of the stairs, along with a bloody knife. The blood on the knife matches the injured servant's wounds. The servant's statement before he lost consciousness aligns with our findings."
Alexander's face turned to iron, a terrifying fury churning in his dark eyes.
She ran?
She actually dared to run!
He'd been worried about her condition, and she'd been plotting her escape—and hurt someone in the process?
"Search." Alexander's voice was glacial. "Contact the police. Issue a city-wide alert under the Hamilton family name. She's injured—she can't have gone far. Comb Grandhaven from end to end if you have to, but find her!"
"Yes, sir!" The security chief didn't dare hesitate, immediately departing to carry out the orders.
The hallway fell into brief silence, broken only by Celeste's soft sobbing.
Alexander stood quietly for a moment, rubbing his throbbing temples, then turned to look at her.
"Stop crying. This isn't your fault. Go back to your room and rest."
Celeste's crying hitched. She looked up at him through tear-blurred eyes.
"Alex, I'm really worried about Caroline... She must have acted on impulse..."
"I know." Alexander cut her off.
Clearly irritated by her tears, he had no patience left. He turned to the butler. "Escort Celeste to her room."
Without another glance at her, he strode toward his study.
Celeste stood frozen, watching his retreating figure with no hint of hesitation in his stride. Her fists clenched at her sides.
He hadn't even offered her a single word of comfort.
That woman—Caroline—had hurt someone and fled, yet he still cared this much? Enough to launch a city-wide manhunt?
Fine. Perfect.
She'd see if Alexander maintained this attitude when Caroline was found—filthy, broken, and dead.
Ice-cold water poured down from above, violently dragging Caroline back to consciousness.
Her eyes flew open. She coughed violently, gasping for air.
Her vision swam. Freezing water streamed down her hair and face, blurring the dim light around her. She could barely make out the dark space—distant walls flickered with colored lights, like a nightclub or underground venue.
Fragmented memories flooded back.
Caroline's eyes widened in terror. Her hands were bound behind her back, her entire body strapped to a high-backed chair.
The seat was upholstered in soft velvet, but it brought no comfort—only deeper dread.
"Awake?" A rough male voice spoke from nearby.
Caroline's head snapped up, searching for the source.
Three shadowy figures stood a few steps away, backlit so she couldn't make out their faces—only their large, imposing silhouettes.
One held an empty champagne bucket, still dripping water.
The man in front stepped closer and crouched down, bringing his scarred face—a jagged line cutting through his eyebrow—inches from Caroline's.
He grabbed her chin with rough fingers, forcing her head up.
"Not bad merchandise. Bit roughed up, but good bones." He glanced back at his companions.
Then his gaze returned to Caroline's terrified eyes, his mouth twisting into a cold smile.
"Don't be scared, sweetheart. Someone paid good money for us to 'take care of you' for a while. We'll make sure you... never forget today."
"Stop wasting time," a voice warned from behind. "Remember what happened last time? Alexander—that psycho—came looking himself. Made those guys spill everything, then they disappeared one by one into the river, tied to concrete blocks."
"Yeah, I heard their bodies washed up days later, all floating face-down, hands and feet still chained. One of them struggled in the water for a long time, until his lungs filled with freezing river water and he finally sank."
Caroline flinched violently at their words.
Alexander... that's how he dealt with people who hurt her?
But now wasn't the time to think about that.
She began struggling violently.