Chapter 129 Won't Leave a Second Time
Alexander said, "Cemetery landscaping and maintenance are substantial projects. Those management fees you've been paying are just a drop in the bucket compared to the actual costs."
Grace insisted, "We still need to continue investigating this. At the very least... we have to find the baby's ashes."
She felt overwhelming guilt about that child, and now that his ashes had vanished, replaced with concrete powder, her remorse only deepened.
Alexander said, "I will. I promise I'll find him. Don't forget—he's my child too."
With that, he stood and moved behind her wheelchair. "Let's go home."
Go home...
Those simple words stirred something unexpectedly warm in Grace's heart.
Before she knew it, Alexander was pushing her wheelchair out of the hospital room.
Radiant Pinnacle.
Entering the house, Grace gazed at the cold, empty space and felt momentarily disoriented by its unfamiliarity.
How long had it been since she'd returned here?
She couldn't even remember.
She had thought she'd never come back.
The housekeeper immediately appeared in the foyer, "Ms. Foster, welcome home!"
She fussed over Grace with concern. "How are you feeling? Is your recovery going well?"
Grace replied, "Much better."
She looked around the space.
The house's layout hadn't changed dramatically, yet everything felt different.
Perhaps after so many weeks in the hospital, with just Alexander and Liam living here, the vast space felt utterly devoid of warmth or life.
The housekeeper wheeled Grace's suitcase to her room, unpacking clothes into the closet and taking the laundry to be washed, bustling about efficiently.
Alexander secured her wheelchair and casually instructed the housekeeper, "You can start preparing dinner."
The housekeeper nodded. "Right away."
She disappeared into the kitchen to begin preparations.
Grace slowly rose from her wheelchair and walked to her bedroom door, gently pushing it open. The room was spotless—exactly as she'd left it, unchanged in every detail.
She still felt some sense of belonging to this home.
Alexander approached from behind, glancing at the expression on her face. "From today on, you and Max will both live here again. Is there anything else you need me to arrange?"
Grace shook her head.
Alexander said, "That matter I mentioned before—have you given it serious consideration?"
Grace looked up blankly. "What matter?"
"Remarriage."
Grace froze.
She asked with some doubt, "Why do you want to remarry me? Is it because of Liam? Or because of Max? I think you shouldn't be so hasty. Marriage is a lifelong commitment—I don't want to go through a second divorce."
Alexander said, "There won't be a second divorce. If we remarry this time, I won't divorce you again."
Grace asked with some surprise, "But what if you fall for another woman someday? Alexander, I need my husband to be faithful to me alone."
She wasn't getting the answer she wanted.
She hoped Alexander wanted to remarry her because of her—not because of the children.
A marriage built around children wouldn't last.
Grace continued, "Have you still not found out who Liam's birth mother is? You want to take responsibility for me because Max is your son—but what if you find Liam's birth mother someday? Would you feel obligated to take responsibility for that woman because of Liam too?"
Alexander replied, "Liam cares about you. He loves being with you."
Grace pressed unsatisfied, "But if he found his real mother and loved her too, would you marry that woman as well?"
Alexander's expression stiffened.
"What about Emily?" Just mentioning that name made Grace feel sick. "Don't you love her? You loved her enough to... cover up a murder."
Alexander's brow furrowed, his eyes showing slight displeasure. "She didn't commit murder."
Grace's gaze flickered for several seconds. She pressed her lips together, her voice trembling with stubborn hurt. "Then what was it? She pushed me from that height—wasn't she trying to kill me? If that's not attempted murder, what is?"
Despite Alexander having given her two hundred million dollars.
Despite her agreeing that in exchange for that money, she wouldn't pursue the matter further.
This incident remained her nightmare, her psychological trauma, an unresolved knot in her heart.
Grace clenched her fists, her whole body trembling. "Falling from that height—it hurts! You've never fallen like that, so you don't know. That feeling of approaching death, of being unable to breathe, the desperation... I could see Liam and Max right there beside me, but I was terrified that if I closed my eyes, I'd never see them again. That kind of despair—have you ever experienced anything like it?"
She turned to face Alexander, her eyes blazing. "When the needle isn't pricking your own skin, how could you possibly empathize?! She is a perpetrator—that's already been established. You gave me two hundred million to cover up her crime. I can choose not to pursue it, but asking me to let it go? I can't do that. And asking me to remarry you? To remarry an accomplice to an attempted murderer? I definitely can't do that."
She closed her eyes, trying to calm her emotions and force herself to think clearly. "I admit, I had started to see you differently. When you mentioned wanting to remarry, I did consider it, but..."
When Alexander had asked her to drop her pursuit of Emily's culpability, her heart had turned cold toward him.
He seemed to think that giving her two hundred million dollars could permanently close the book on this matter.
Grace said, "I came back to this house for Liam's sake. That doesn't mean I'm willing to remarry you."
Alexander asked, "What do you think would be appropriate compensation? Whatever I can do, I will."
Grace suddenly asked, "If Emily had been the one pushed off that ledge instead—if she'd nearly died, lying in the hospital emergency room fighting for her life—and I had been the one who pushed her, how would you have treated me? Would you have wanted to strangle me with your bare hands?"
She continued, looking directly at Alexander. "Would you have wanted to kill me to avenge Emily's life?"
She desperately needed an answer.
Alexander clenched his fists, his Adam's apple bobbing, unable to give any response.
Grace urged, "Answer me."
She knew Alexander never lied.
She knew that whatever answer Alexander gave would be honest and unvarnished.
Alexander closed his eyes, then reopened them, saying quietly, "Yes."
Grace's eyes went blank.
Alexander said, "She means a great deal to me."
Grace stared at him for a long moment before snapping back to reality. "I can see that. She really is important to you."
For someone as principled as him, Emily must hold a truly special place in his heart to make him abandon his principles.
She asked again, "If I had insisted on holding her accountable back then—if I had been determined to send her to prison, what would you have done..."
Alexander cut her off. "Don't ask anymore."