Chapter 142 A Dilemma
"I failed Edith! She won't let me have this baby!"
"Liam! Where's the doctor? Are they all dead? Get them in here now!"
Alexander pinned Caroline down, roaring toward the door.
Liam burst in with the on-call medical team — doctors, nurses, all rushing.
"Hold her down! Restraints! Now!" Alexander's eyes were bloodshot, his voice low and urgent.
Several nurses moved forward, struggling to pull Caroline from Alexander's arms. They pressed her onto the bed and quickly secured the restraints.
Liam half-supported, half-dragged Alexander out of the room. The door closed behind them, but Caroline's heart-wrenching screams still pierced the corridor.
Alexander leaned against the wall, too drained to lift his hand.
Time passed. Eventually, Caroline's cries faded.
The attending physician pushed through the door, his forehead slick with cold sweat, his steps unsteady.
Alexander slowly raised his head, locking eyes on him.
The doctor's chest tightened under that gaze, but he forced himself to speak.
"Mr. Hamilton... Mrs. Hamilton has calmed down temporarily. But there's a more serious complication. She's pregnant. We can't medicate her the way we did before."
Alexander stared at him, unblinking, giving no response.
The doctor licked his dry lips and continued.
"Without medication, given her current mental state, she can't control her behavior. We can't guarantee she won't do something extreme during her next breakdown."
He looked up at Alexander, his voice heavy.
"Mr. Hamilton, it's an impossible paradox. Without medication, we might lose the baby — or Mrs. Hamilton might harm herself in a psychotic episode and risk her life. But with medication, the baby likely won't survive. And if it does..."
He didn't finish. The implication was clear.
Everyone held their breath, waiting for Alexander's decision.
Alexander was silent for a long time.
Sweat trickled down the physician's temples. He wanted to push for an answer but didn't dare.
Liam glanced at Alexander's ashen face and immediately signaled the doctor to stop.
Alexander's gaze moved past the doctor, through the small window in the door, settling on Caroline, still struggling against the restraints.
He watched for a long time before finally moving.
He gave no answer to the doctor, just pulled his gaze away, turned sharply, and strode off.
Liam hurried after him, but Alexander's pace quickened.
"Sir!" Liam called, sweating. "Please—"
"Get away from me!" Alexander exploded.
Liam froze in place, not daring to approach.
Alexander shook everyone off. Anyone who tried to follow was shoved aside without discrimination.
Until no one dared come near. His figure vanished at the end of the corridor.
Late that night, Liam finally found him in a private room at a bar.
Alexander was slumped on the floor, leaning against the couch. He had already downed two bottles of hard liquor alone.
Liam's heart seized.
He had followed this man for years and had never seen him drink this much when losing control.
He couldn't imagine the mental torment Alexander had endured in the past hours.
"Sir, you've had too much. Let me take you home." Liam stepped forward, trying to help him up.
Alexander was heavily drunk, but he shoved Liam away violently.
He grabbed another freshly opened bottle, tipped his head back for a massive swig.
"Sir, your liver..." Liam watched him disregard his health, growing more worried.
He reminded quietly, "The doctor said you can't drink this much at once."
Alexander's movement stopped.
That injury — from his twentieth birthday, when Linus's men kidnapped him, beat him nearly to death, and left permanent damage.
The doctor had said it hurt his liver, irreversible. He would need to be careful for life.
After that beating, when he woke from his coma, the first thing he saw was Edith at his bedside, covered in scrapes.
She held his hand, tears streaming down, telling him he'd terrified her. That she'd snuck out from home and searched desperately until she found him.
In that moment, Alexander swore to himself he would use the life Edith saved to protect her.
Through countless battles with Linus afterward, brushes with death, he clawed his way back every time because of his love for Edith and his promise to her.
Edith had been the only light in his dark world — the entire reason he stayed alive.
But that light, five years ago, without warning, went out.
The world collapsed. Simple as that.
And then there was Caroline, Edith's twin sister — the woman who crawled into his bed during his grief and became the outlet for all his hatred and pain.
He tortured her, humiliated her, turned her into a crude replacement for Edith, and watched her suffer, as if that could somehow balance his shattered world.
He just wanted to drag her down with him, make her pay for the light he'd lost.
But now... someone was telling him it might all be wrong.
Caroline might not have used Edith as a shield, but still went mad with guilt over Edith's death. And that night when he thought Caroline climbed into his bed, there might be another explanation?
"It's fake..." Alexander stared at the liquid swirling in his glass, his voice hoarse.
"Medical records can be forged. Her account could be fabricated... she wants to escape punishment..."
But if so, why hadn't Caroline produced them earlier?
Liam was silent for a moment, then finally spoke quietly. "Sir, about Mrs. Hamilton's medical records... I looked at them again more carefully."
Alexander didn't move, but his fingers tightened around the glass.
Liam continued. "She replayed the scene in her mind over and over, eventually arriving at a method that could have saved Ms. Edith Neville."
Alexander's lashes trembled.
"And Mrs. Hamilton went to the docks to test it. I asked around privately — some of the old-timers there remember it."
Alexander's head snapped up. The drunkenness cleared halfway in an instant.
Next second, he stood and stumbled toward the exit.
"I'm going to the docks..."
Liam rushed after him.
"Sir! You've had too much! It's too late! You can go tomorrow!"