Chapter 268 I Can No Longer Tolerate You
The bodyguard didn't answer right away.
He knew very well—even locked up here, Armando showed no signs of breaking.
"People like him seem weak their whole lives," the head bodyguard said quietly, "but they've been scheming all along. The more pathetic they look, the tougher they are inside. It's hard to make them bow."
Alexander looked away, his tone flat.
"Then push him until he shatters completely. That's when he'll talk."
He paused, making himself clearer.
"By then, even if he can't speak, he'll still have hands to write with. As long as he's useful, that's enough."
The bodyguard lowered his head respectfully.
"Yes. I understand."
Alexander said no more and kept walking.
As he passed Armando's cell, the cursing suddenly stopped.
The next second, Armando lunged at the iron door, grabbing the bars, his voice hoarse and shrill.
"Alexander! You animal! How dare you show your face here? How long have you kept me locked up? I'm your father—you've got my blood in your veins! You ungrateful bastard! You'll burn in hell for this!"
Alexander finally stopped.
He turned around and walked back slowly, standing outside the cell door, looking down at the furious old man behind the bars.
Armando's hair had turned completely white. After months without care, it hung in matted tangles past his shoulders. He was skeletal, his cheeks sunken, but his eyes still burned with venom.
Seeing Alexander turn back, Armando cursed even harder, as if trying to hurl every ounce of his malice at him.
"You think locking me up means you've won? You think your dead wife will thank you? She hated you—hated you with every breath! You're the one who pushed her to that point, you killed her, you couldn't even protect your own child! What right do you have to stand before me? You're the one who deserves to die!"
Alexander just watched him, quiet to the point of coldness.
Time crawled by. Armando felt a chill creep down his spine under that gaze. Just as his voice was weakening, Alexander's lips curved into a slight smile.
"Done?" His tone was flat. "If you're finished, save your energy. I'll have questions for you in a few days."
With that, he turned and left without looking back.
After two seconds of silence, an even more piercing howl erupted behind him.
Alexander ignored it and headed straight for Carl's cell.
Carl was locked up at the very end of the corridor.
His condition wasn't much better than Armando's—he was terribly thin. When Alexander arrived, he was huddled in a corner, arms wrapped around his knees, curled up and trembling, with a few half-eaten crackers scattered by his feet.
The bodyguard approached Alexander and reported quietly.
"Carl's been begging for mercy since day one, saying Armando forced him to do everything, saying he never did anything himself. Actually, no one's deliberately tortured him during this time, and his food's been much better than Armando's. But he's been tormenting himself—eating one meal and skipping the next. That's why he's ended up like this."
Alexander nodded slightly.
"Open the door."
The bodyguard stepped forward and unlocked it with a key.
The sound of the metal lock finally got a reaction from Carl. He jerked violently and stiffly turned his head.
The moment he saw Alexander, Carl froze in place, pupils contracting, what little color remained in his face draining away completely.
He screamed and clutched his head, shrinking backward.
"Don't kill me... please don't kill me... I really didn't do anything, I swear... he forced me... Father forced me!"
Alexander stepped into the cell.
"You really didn't do anything with your own hands," his voice was steady.
Carl froze, hesitantly looking up.
Alexander bent down to meet his eyes.
"But from the day you were born, your existence has been a mistake."
Carl's lips trembled violently, tears streaming down his hollow cheeks.
"I... I couldn't choose my own birth..." he stammered defensively. "He's the one who had a mistress and fathered me, I had no choice... I really had no choice..."
"That's right," Alexander nodded, his tone unhurried. "If we're blaming you for that, it wouldn't be fair."
A faint glimmer of hope appeared in Carl's eyes.
Alexander slowly crouched down, his gaze level with Carl's.
"But Armando arranged for you to marry the Cook family's daughter. Later, when I went to the island to take care of Caroline, Armando tricked me into coming back—and you didn't try to stop it."
He paused, making it direct.
"Doesn't that mean you also had thoughts of competing with me?"
Carl's face went completely white.
"I didn't... I really didn't..." He shook his head desperately, his voice breaking with fear. "I didn't dare say anything. I didn't dare go against him... you know what he's like. Anyone who doesn't fall in line comes to a bad end. I was just scared..."
"Scared?" Alexander laughed softly and stood up straight.
"Being scared means you can hide in the back and let others do your dirty work? Being scared means you can pretend you don't know anything and wait to reap the benefits?"
He looked at Carl, his tone cold as ice.
"Also, Carl, you can't pretend you didn't know—three years before you married the Cook family's daughter, I was already head of the Hamilton family. If you really wanted to refuse him, you could have come to me."
Carl seemed to have his throat squeezed, instantly unable to speak.
Alexander's gaze didn't soften one bit.
"I won't wrongly accuse you. But let me make this clear—from the moment you had thoughts of competing with me, I couldn't tolerate you anymore."
He paused briefly, as if drawing a final line.
"Before, you had no real ability, and I couldn't be bothered to take you seriously, so I didn't touch you. Now? No matter what, I won't let you go."
Carl's body shook even harder.
He suddenly lunged from the corner and fell to his knees, clutching desperately at Alexander's pant leg.
"I was wrong... I was so wrong..." He cried so hard he couldn't breathe. "Alexander, no—Mr. Hamilton! I was wrong! I shouldn't have had those thoughts... but I was just insecure about being illegitimate, I just wanted a place in Grandhaven's high society... I never thought about replacing you! Please spare me, even if you make me a beggar on the street... just let me live..."
Alexander lifted his foot and kicked Carl's hands away cleanly.
"If you'd said this a few days ago, maybe I would have spared you," he said calmly. "But now I've changed my mind."
Carl's crying abruptly stopped. He looked up at Alexander, only fear left in his eyes.
Alexander looked down at him, his voice sharp as a blade.
"Your dear father-in-law, when I was at my lowest, spread rumors everywhere—saying I'd gone crazy, saying I couldn't even protect my own wife."
"He kidnapped my most capable bodyguard, locked him in a cage in the basement, strung him up and beat him until he was covered in blood."
Carl's expression froze on his face.
Alexander continued, each word pressed with fire.
"He even humiliated me to my face, saying my wife was dead, calling me a murderer. If I hadn't snapped out of it in time that day, I'd already be dead at the end of his gun."
Carl's face turned as white as paper, reflexively raising his hands to cover his ears.
Alexander reached out and forcibly pried his fingers apart, not letting him hide.