Chapter 167 Deja vu - Benedict POV
It feels like I'm living in an alternate reality. One where Caroline was dead, but like Lazarus rose from it.
She's pretending like nothing is wrong, like she wasn't walking around the house like a zombie only a week ago. I also think she knows what's up with Samuel slipping drugs into her drinks and food, because she's extremely cautious with what she's drinking, only pouring her own drinks.
I don't know what to make of it, if I should be careful that she's going to stab me in the back at any time. She looks a little crazy to me, and I've instructed Samuel to look for Ben's suicide note, but he hasn't found anything yet.
It feels like I haven't had time to process the death of my son, because I have been so busy with winding up the company that I couldn't just sit and ponder about it aside from feeling angry at both of my children. I want to escape to a far away place where nobody knows me and just stay there until I die. It's not like Miguel would care. If he did, he wouldn't have left me to do everything on my own.
Losing the firm also feels like losing a child, one that you poured so much time into, sacrificed for, and now it's just gone.
I'm watching Caroline carefully inspect her poached eggs suspiciously, like the cook put in something when my phone rings.
I frown when I see it's Miguel, and I think of just letting it ring, but on the other hand I would love to know what he has to say for himself.
"Miguel." I pick up.
There is a pause on the other side, like he doesn't know what to say. Caroline also stiffens opposite me when she hears his name.
"Benedict."
Blood whooshes to my ears like it's always done when I hear that voice. The breathy whisper, the accent that is still there even after all this time. It's been years since that voice called me by my first name. Goosebumps break out over my skin, and I calmly get up from my chair, belying the storm that started raging inside of me.
"Benedict, you there?" She asks, her grammar still broken. How many English lessons didn't I give her in those early days? My excuse to be close to her as much as possible.
I go to my home office, shutting the door behind me. "Valentina."
She sighs heavily on the other side. "You have to come my house in California."
I frown immediately. Something is wrong, there is no way she would willingly speak to me otherwise. "What's wrong? Why are you calling from Miguel's phone?"
"You must come my home, Miguel is sick." I hear the underlying panic in her voice, along with concern.
"Sick? How?" The last time I saw him he was as healthy as an ox and a bit too defiant for my taste.
But Valentina wouldn't call me herself if something wasn't really wrong.
"Can you come? No?" Frustration enters her voice.
I have a shit ton of things to do, but there's something wrong with the only son I have left. "Yes, I will try and be there by tonight."
"Be fast." She says before hanging up, solidifying that there must be something seriously wrong.
"I'm heading out of town for an emergency business trip." I lie to Caroline when I go back to the dining hall again. "Are you going to be okay on your own?"
"I have been on my own for years, haven't I?" Her elegant brow lifts slightly, and I narrow my eyes at her.
We both knew what this was from the start. She acted as the perfect wife, and I gave her security. She never once complained about her lifestyle, but now that everything is fucked up, I guess nobody has to pretend here anymore.
"I don't know when I will be back, maybe it would do you good if you go out a little, see some friends." We both know that's bullshit, all our so-called friends vanished the second Ben's crimes came to light.
"Sure." She smiles, making me think she has something up her sleeve.
I quickly finish my breakfast and inform Samuel I'll be traveling straight from the office.
"Do you need me to organize anything while you're away?" He asks in his usual caretaking demeanor.
"Just keep an eye out for Caroline, please."
I go to the office first, still reeling that Valentina actually spoke to me without shouting or crying, that she actually called me by my name. I've never been very worried about Miguel before, he has always been strong, mentally and physically. He never got sick either. Apart from the time he got shot, he's always been healthy.
So when I arrive in front of the doorstep of his Californian home, and Valentina opens the door, my breath gets momentarily taken away, the way it always does when I see her. I also see the overwhelming worry in her green eyes.
"Benedict." She breathes out, opening the door wider so that I can enter. "We have problem with Miguel."
I want to touch her, run my hands through her silky hair, but I clear my throat instead. "Hello Valentina. What is wrong?"
She gulps. "He not getting out of bed."
"What do you mean?" I frown.
"Madison was here, and he was sleeping, then he choked her!" She shakes her head. "It is bad. He is very sad, but I know not why. He don't say anything."
"Madison is here?" I clarify, still not over the fact that Miguel is with her. Also the fact that it was probably her testimony that drove Ben over the edge to commit suicide. I know I can't blame her, not after what he did to her, but I lost my son. I can't help but to feel a certain way towards her.
"No, she gone now, because Miguel choked her. She leave to protect the baby."
The baby?
"What baby?"
Valentina blinks rapidly like she spilled secrets she wasn't supposed to.
"Is Madison pregnant?" I push, emotions I'm not ready to decipher rushing through me.
"Yes." She gulps. "But just come please, talk to Miguel, he not good."
I follow her, ready to rip Miguel a new one when she opens his bedroom door and I go insode.
Sensations I've experienced years ago rushes back to me in deja vu.
Miguel lies on the bed in a heap, his big muscled bodied curled into the fetal position and he just stares at the window that I assume Valentina opened.
He looks the exact same way like his mother did when I found her in her dingy apartment years ago.
Depressed to the point that she had to be institutionalized.
"Why is he like this?" I want to know.
"I don't know." Valentia sniffs softly. "But please help him Benedict, I can't lose my baby again."