Chapter 196 It Really Has Been a Long Time
Alexander finally gathered his courage, pushed open the door, and walked in.
Caroline was still lying on her side with her back to the door. She heard him come in but didn't turn around.
Alexander walked to the bedside and stood in silence for a moment.
All kinds of thoughts crashed around in his mind, tearing at his already exhausted nerves.
But all those words got stuck in his throat when he saw her thin back that looked like it would shatter at the slightest touch, and finally turned into a barely audible sigh.
"I'm sorry."
He slowly knelt by the bed, not daring to touch her, only able to trace from a distance her outline that was so close yet so far away.
"I know this apology can't make up for anything. What I did can't be forgiven. I'm willing to compensate you in any way, Caroline. My wealth, my power, the rest of my life... even if you want my life, I can give it to you right now."
He paused, his eyes stinging badly, but he forced down the surging emotions.
"But before I can pay for my sins, I beg you, please keep living. For yourself, and for our daughter. Keep living, and then I'll have a chance to slowly make amends. Even if it takes a lifetime, even if I go to hell after I die, I accept it."
He waited for a long time, but Caroline didn't respond.
The light in Alexander's eyes dimmed bit by bit.
He slowly stood up, took one last deep look at her, and finally left reluctantly.
"Kenna," he spoke in a low voice to Kenna, who had been waiting outside the door.
"Please take good care of Caroline. Don't leave her side for a moment."
Kenna nodded hard, tears flowing again. "Sir, you must be careful and come back safely..."
Alexander didn't respond to this blessing. He just bowed deeply to Kenna, then strode away without looking back.
It wasn't until Alexander's heavy footsteps completely disappeared that Caroline's eyelashes on the bed trembled slightly.
After a long while, she finally moved.
She struggled to prop herself up, got out of bed, and slowly walked barefoot around the room.
The moments from when she was hypnotized flashed frame by frame in her mind.
Absurd.
So a carefully woven lie had once made her broken heart develop a shameful attachment.
She turned and walked out of the bedroom.
Kenna immediately followed nervously.
Caroline went to the nursery. In the small crib, the baby who looked especially tiny due to being premature seemed to sense something and unconsciously moved her lips.
Caroline stopped by the crib and watched quietly for a long time.
This was her daughter, a little life who had been connected to her by blood in her womb for over seven months and came into this world after such a difficult delivery.
She was so small, so soft, as if she would break at the slightest touch.
Kenna held her breath, her heart pounding.
She was afraid Caroline would suddenly lose control of her emotions.
But what she saw was Caroline carefully reaching out her hand and gently touching her daughter's tender cheek.
"Ma'am..."
Kenna finally couldn't hold back her sobs.
"When you lost your memory, you once told me you wanted a child. I thought at the time that if you really had a child, maybe you could get better and wouldn't be in so much pain. So I kept it from you and helped Mr. Hamilton... I'm very sorry, ma'am. I really just wanted you to keep living..."
Caroline didn't respond.
Keep living? Such a simple proposition, yet it weighed a thousand pounds on Caroline.
How should she face this little life? With love and joy?
But this child's arrival only made the shackles in Caroline's heart heavier and made her feel even more sinful.
She didn't understand what Alexander meant by "Edith doesn't love him," and even Alexander's "I love you" made Caroline feel her already sinful soul was dirtier.
She didn't deserve it.
In the end, Caroline just looked at the child and then turned to leave.
Grandhaven, an abandoned old warehouse.
Alexander had just gotten out of the car with a few of his men when they were held at gunpoint by people who had been lying in wait.
There were quite a few of them, clearly well-prepared.
Alexander raised his hand to stop his men from drawing their guns, his gaze coldly sweeping over the people surrounding them.
"Lead the way," he said coldly.
He was blindfolded, put in a car, and after a bumpy ride, was finally brought to a warehouse filled with the smell of rust and motor oil.
His blindfold was removed. In the dim light, Linus sat on a sofa in the center of the warehouse, relaxed, as if waiting for an old friend he hadn't seen in a long time.
He was only five years older than Alexander, but looked much older, with wrinkles already covering the corners of his eyes and half his hair turned white.
But those eyes, which resembled Alexander's somewhat, were still as sharp as ever.
"Long time no see, my dear nephew," Linus spoke first.
"It seems that for that woman, you really dare to go anywhere dangerous."
Alexander sat down across from Linus expressionlessly.
"Enough talk, Linus. I'm here. What do you want?"
"Don't rush." Linus poured himself a drink and swirled it slowly.
"It's rare for us uncle and nephew to meet. Isn't it nice to catch up? Remember when you were little, how I taught you to use a gun? And later, when we fought tooth and nail over those businesses... it was really exciting. Too bad you won in the end, and I had to go out and lay low for a while."
With each sentence he spoke, Alexander's gaze grew colder.
Those bloody past events, the struggle for power, had now become topics for Linus to discuss over drinks.
What a joke.
"I'm not here to reminisce with you about the past," Alexander interrupted coldly. "I'm here to kill you."
"Kill me?" Linus laughed loudly.
Suddenly, he clapped his hands.
A small door on the side of the warehouse opened, and two burly men dragged in a woman who was screaming and crying, throwing her hard onto the ground in front of Alexander.
Alexander looked down, and his pupils suddenly contracted.
It was Celeste.
She had long lost her former glamour. Her hair was messy, her clothes disheveled, clearly having been tortured badly.
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind—Celeste had been brought into the country by Armando but had fallen into Linus's hands?
But Alexander felt no satisfaction at seeing Celeste.
He only smelled a stronger scent of conspiracy.
As soon as she saw Alexander, Celeste immediately crawled toward him, clutching his legs, her voice shrill as she begged.
"Alexander! Save me! Please save me! I know I was wrong! I really know I was wrong!"
Alexander kicked her away in disgust, his gaze shooting toward Linus like a knife.
"What do you mean by this?"
Linus spread his hands. "Don't look at me like that, dear nephew. I'm helping you. This woman, behind your back, did a lot of bad things to your wife, didn't she? I went through some trouble to invite her here so you could deal with her yourself. How about that? Pretty thoughtful of me, right?"