Chapter 196 A new life - Benedict POV
I smile down at the video that Miguel sent me of his son. Im a grandfather, and it's about time I get out of solidarity and go see the baby boy.
I have been so sad, finding out that Ben was not my son. Maybe some people would be relieved knowing what he has done, but all I see when I think of Ben is that cute baby boy, much like Thiago's little face.
I can't believe that Ben was born evil. I do believe that Caroline brainwashed him into what he became. I'm finding it hard to think of my father as a rapist, too, but maybe I'm just being what I have always been. Fucking ignorant.
Valentina keeps on texting me to come visit the baby. She's staying with Miguel and Madison, I don't know for how long, but I feel so much guilt when I look at her. I ruined her life, and I feel so bad about that. I don't even know how she's still smiling when her life was so cruel. And I played such a huge role in it too.
The intercom of my penthouse buzzes, and I go to pick it up.
"Yes?"
"Mr, Cargill, I have two police officers here that would like to talk to you." The security at the front desk tells me and I sigh.
"Send them up." It won't be the first time I'm still being questioned by the police about Ben's affairs, more victims of his revealing themselves every day. I would be much better off on a secluded island where nobody fucking knows me and nobody cares who the hell I am either.
I open the door for them, looking them up and down in their black suits. "Let me guess, FBI?"
The female officer purses her lips, and shows me her badge, followed by her partner, proving me right.
"What can I do for you officers? I have already told all the officers that came before you all that I know." I walk over to the well-equipped bar, one of the things I like to keep track of. These days I can't even fall asleep without having at least three drinks. "I take it you're on the job and don't want a drink."
I pour myself a hefty one, and sniff it before taking a tiny sip.
"Mr. Cargill, I think it's better if you take a seat for what we're about to tell you."
I chuckle and lean against the bar. "Believe me when I say, nothing shocks me anymore, so hit me."
"It pertains to your wife, Caroline Cargill."
I still, putting my drink down on the counter. "Did you find her by any chance, because she disappeared off the face of the planet. But wherever she is, tell her to sign the divorce papers and stay exactly where she is."
The two officers exchange a look and the woman clears her throat before she looks at me. "We found her body, Mr. Cargill, on the Caribbean Coast in Mexico."
My world goes still, my mind trying to decipher what she just said. "What? Is Caroline dead?"
"Her body was found by her maid. She was brutally raped, her throat was slit and it looks like all her money and personal possessions was robbed." The man looks remorseful, clearly not knowing what kind of woman Caroline was. "Multiple semen sources were found on the scene and on your wife's body, none of them in the Mexican database. We thought it might have been a cartel's doing, but not even fingerprints were found that were already in the system."
"So her killers aren't found, is that what you're saying?" Caroline is dead. I have been looking for her for three months, wanting to divorce her and cut all ties, and she ends up dead.
They say you die as you lived. That might have beem true in Caroline's case.
"We are sorry for your loss, Mr. Cargill, we will be in touch if there is anything new on the case, someone will be in touch regarding your wife's body."
I probably can't tell them that I have no interest in getting her body back, but they might think I had something to do with her murder.
Caroline is no more. Raped and murdered.
I feel like I'm a new person, like a chapter has been closed in my life, so I take a shower as soon as the officers leave, and I go over to my son's house, the sounds of a baby crying loud and welcome in my ears.
Valentina smiles when she sees me as she opens the door, wrapping me in her arms in a hug like I didn't ruin her life. "Benedict, you came! Baby crying now, because he take bath."
I follow her into the beautful home my son and Madison created. it feels nothing like the house of horrors. This house is warm and the love is palpable.
Madison and Miguel smile at me when Valentina leads me to the bathroom where the little one is screaming while his mother is pouring water over him.
Tears burn my eyes, not out of sadness this time.
This is my family, the one I always wanted.
"He looks just like you when you were a baby." I tell Miguel.
Valentina gasps in abandon. "I say so too! A little Miguel!"
"Now I have to convince Madison to give me a girl that looks like her." Miguel says, not sounding like he's joking at all, but Madison rolls her eyes and takes little Thiago out of the water, his blonde hair sticking up everywhere, just like his father's did.
I spend the evening holding my newborn grandson, and realize that there is nowhere else I want to be.
And soon, I will ask Valentina if she would like to start over with me.