Chapter 183 He Has Been Missing for Twelve Days
The guard understood immediately. His hand went to his waist and came up with a syringe he'd been carrying all along.
In the split second while Alexander's attention was locked on his father, while guns were drawn and aimed on both sides, the guard lunged forward.
"Mr. Hamilton, look out!" Liam caught the movement from the corner of his eye, his heart seizing. He swung his weapon around.
The gunshot cracked through the air.
Liam's bullet punched through the guard's forehead. Blood and bone sprayed outward in a violent burst.
But it was half a second too late.
Before the bullet hit, the guard had already driven the needle deep into the side of Alexander's neck and emptied the pale blue liquid into his bloodstream.
It all happened in a heartbeat. There was no time to stop it.
Alexander felt a sharp sting at his neck, then a wave of numbness spreading through his body like wildfire.
His vision swam, blurred at the edges. He tried to lift his arm—it felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. He tried to shout—only a low, breathless rasp came out.
"No... Caroline..."
In his last moment of consciousness, all he could see was her face—smiling softly on that island, waiting for him.
His tall frame swayed once, then collapsed to the floor like a felled tree. Unconscious.
"Sir!" Liam's voice tore through the room as he rushed forward.
"Take them down! Lock them all in the basement! No one gets out without my direct order!"
Armando's voice was cold, final.
"You bastards! You can't do this! Mr. Hamilton has a will in place! This is a crime—this is murder!" Liam fought off the guards swarming toward him, his voice raw with fury.
"Stop now and you can still walk away from this! Let him go and we can talk! But if anything happens to him, that will goes into effect immediately! You'll get nothing! The Hamilton family will be finished!"
"A will is just paper. People are what matter." Armando walked over to where Alexander lay crumpled on the floor. He looked down at his son with cold detachment. "As long as I'm alive, I can deal with a piece of paper. Take him away."
Time dragged itself forward, slow and agonizing.
Twelve days passed.
The island of Coral Haven was still beautiful, still looked like something out of a storybook. But the air around the villa grew heavier with each passing day.
In just twelve days, the baby in Caroline's belly had grown noticeably. Her stomach was larger now, rounder, harder to carry.
She'd always been slender, and the weight was taking its toll. Her ankles were swollen. She couldn't sleep at night. The doctor was increasingly worried she'd go into labor earlier than expected—he'd already quietly prepared the surgical suite, just in case.
But none of that was what hurt Caroline the most.
Physical discomfort was nothing compared to the gnawing anxiety eating away at her from the inside.
Every morning when she woke, her eyes went straight to the window, searching the helipad in the distance.
Every afternoon, with Kenna or Felix helping her walk, she made her way to the terrace with the best view. She'd sit there for hours, staring at the horizon where the sea met the sky, waiting for the familiar sound of helicopter blades, waiting for that tall, broad-shouldered figure to appear and walk toward her with a smile.
But it never came.
Twelve days. Not a word from Alexander.
No phone calls. No video chats. Not even a text to say he was okay. Liam had vanished too, as if he'd dropped off the face of the earth.
The first few days, Caroline had told herself he must be dealing with something urgent, something complicated. She'd even felt relieved that she'd encouraged him to go back, that she hadn't held him up.
But as the days stretched on, the dread inside her grew thicker, darker.
What if something had happened to him?
That afternoon, after another long stretch of staring uselessly at the empty sky, Caroline turned to Kenna, who sat beside her looking just as worried.
"Kenna, what if something happened to Alex?"
"No, ma'am. Don't think like that." Kenna took her hand—it was cold—and squeezed it, shaking her head hard. But her voice lacked conviction.
"Mr. Hamilton is probably tied up with something extremely important. Maybe he's in negotiations. Maybe he's handling classified business and can't communicate. He's brilliant. He'll be fine. He promised you he'd be back before the baby came. He never breaks his promises."
"But... he's left before." Caroline's voice trembled. She looked down at her swollen belly, one hand resting on it gently, trying to soothe the restless little life inside.
"Even when he was busy, he called me every day. Even if it was just for a few minutes. And if he couldn't, Liam would send me updates, let me know where they were, put my mind at ease. But this time... nothing. Twelve days, Kenna. Not a single word. This isn't right. Something's wrong. I know it."
Her fear was rising, spilling over. She grabbed Kenna's hand tighter.
"Kenna, please. I'm begging you. Call the helicopter. I need to go back to Grandhaven. I have to find him. I have to see with my own eyes that he's okay. I can't keep waiting like this—I'm losing my mind!"
"Ma'am! No! Absolutely not!" Kenna's face went pale. She shook her head frantically.
"You're in your third trimester—you can't travel that far! It's too dangerous! And Mr. Hamilton made us promise before he left—he told us to keep you safe, to make sure you didn't leave this island under any circumstances. We don't know what's happening in Grandhaven right now. You can't go there!"
"But he's there! He could be in danger!" Tears finally spilled down Caroline's cheeks.
"If he was safe, he would have contacted me. He knows I'd be worried... Kenna, please. I'm so scared. I'm terrified that he..."
Her voice broke. She couldn't finish the sentence. She just held onto Kenna's hand, her grip desperate, pleading without words.
Watching her cry like this—so helpless, so broken—felt like a knife twisting in Kenna's chest.
She was worried too.
Over the past twelve days, she and Felix had tried every method they could think of to reach Grandhaven. But every normal channel came up empty. Even the secret lines seemed deliberately cut off.
It wasn't normal.
Felix stood a few feet away, silent, his hand resting on the holster at his waist. His expression was grim.
His loyalty was to Caroline. If she insisted on going, even if it meant defying Alexander's orders, he would escort her there and protect her with his life.
But... he wasn't sure if he should let her go.