Chapter 93 Go Back for Caroline
Finally, with Kenna's help, a simple dinner was prepared and carefully plated on the dining table.
But the minutes crawled by. Outside the windows, darkness ate away the last threads of daylight, and still the front door remained closed.
Caroline sat motionless at one end of the long table, the meal growing cold in front of her.
She didn't move. Her gaze stayed locked on the doorway while the weak light in the room gradually faded with the dying day.
Night pressed against the windows. The entire house sank into a silence heavy as stone.
Alexander didn't come home.
Caroline finally picked up her fork and ate the cold food, one mechanical bite at a time.
Over the following days, Caroline stubbornly rose each morning. Even when her body was so weak she had to grip the furniture to stay upright, she insisted on preparing every meal herself.
Then she'd wait. Breakfast turned into lunch. Lunch into dinner. She'd sit at that table, staring at a door that never opened at the moments she hoped for, waiting for someone who never walked through.
When the food went cold, she ate it alone.
Even when her stomach cramped from too many cold meals, she'd simply press a hand to her abdomen and say nothing.
Kenna watched it all, her anxiety mounting daily.
She saw Caroline growing thinner by the day. Sometimes, passing her bedroom door, she'd hear muffled sounds of pain. Finally, Kenna couldn't take it anymore. She slipped into the storage closet and called Liam.
The phone rang for a long time before he answered. The background noise on his end shifted from chaotic to quiet, as if he'd moved somewhere private.
His voice fell to a low, guarded tone. "Kenna? What's happened?"
"Liam," her words spilled out in a rush.
"I don't know what to do anymore. Mrs. Hamilton has been waiting for Mr. Hamilton to come home every single day. She cooks for him, then waits until everything's ice cold before eating it herself. Her body was already fragile, and now her stomach's getting worse. She can't sleep at night. If this continues… I'm afraid she won't make it. Could you please talk to Mr. Hamilton? Even if… even if he just came home once. Just to see her?"
Liam was silent for a moment before responding, his tone reluctant.
"Kenna, it's not that I won't help. Mr. Hamilton's been in a terrible mood these past few days. He barely speaks to anyone, locks himself in his office during the day, sleeps at a hotel at night. Right now, who would dare mention Mrs. Hamilton? That's asking for trouble. I…"
Before he could finish, a door slammed open in the background.
Then came Alexander's ice-cold voice. "Who are you talking to?"
Liam nearly dropped his phone. "I'll call you back," he blurted into the receiver and ended the call.
He turned to find Alexander standing in the office doorway, his gaze dark and penetrating.
"Mr.—Mr. Hamilton…" Liam's scalp prickled. He lowered his head.
"Inside." Alexander turned and walked back into his office.
Liam followed immediately, closing the door softly behind him.
"Talk." Alexander settled behind his desk.
Liam knew there was no point in lying. He steeled himself and reported quietly, "It was Kenna from Ravenwood Manor. She said Mrs. Hamilton has been cooking every day, waiting for you to come home for meals. When you don't return, she eats the cold food herself. It's making her stomach worse. Kenna's worried about her health, so…"
Alexander stopped turning the pages of the document in front of him.
He looked up toward the overcast sky outside, silent for several seconds. Then he laughed—a cold, bitter sound.
"Playing the victim." The words fell from his lips like chips of ice. "A woman who killed Edith deserves whatever she gets. She thinks I'm going to rush home to check on her? Delusional."
Liam's lips parted. He stared at Alexander's profile, half-hidden in shadow. The question "Will you go home tonight?" formed on his tongue, but he couldn't force it out. He simply lowered his head in silence.
In the dining room at Ravenwood Manor, Caroline sat at the long table exactly as she had for days.
The dinner spread before her was elaborate but stone cold.
Kenna had tried to persuade her multiple times. Caroline only shook her head, always giving the same answer. "Just a little longer. Maybe he'll come."
But she seemed to understand, deep down, that she was lying to herself even as she clung to hope.
The person she was waiting for wouldn't appear tonight either.
She lowered her head with a soft sigh, resigned, and reached for her fork.
Just as she lifted a piece of cold steak toward her mouth, raised voices erupted outside.
"Miss, you can't go in there! Mr. Hamilton gave explicit orders—"
"Get out of my way! I dare anyone to try stopping me today!"
A shrill female voice rang out, followed by the sharp staccato of heels striking the floor, growing louder and closer.
The dining room door flew open.
Celeste stormed in, fury radiating from every line of her body. Her eyes locked onto the fragile figure at the table like a predator sighting prey.
"Caroline! How long are you planning to keep up this act?!" Celeste crossed the room in quick strides and slammed both hands on the table. "You think pretending to be mentally unstable, claiming amnesia, will erase all the disgusting things you've done? That you can escape the consequences?!"
Caroline jumped at the sudden intrusion. Before she could process what was happening, the aggressive interrogation left her frozen.
She blinked in confusion, shoulders hunching instinctively. "Who… who are you?" she asked carefully. "Are you the detective on my case? Or a lawyer? I'm sorry, my memory hasn't been good lately… is there something about my kidnapping I forgot? You said I'm guilty—did I accidentally… hurt someone when I was fighting back?"
Her response made Celeste's eyes go wide with disbelief.
She stared into Caroline's bewildered eyes as a thought struck her.
Could she really have memory problems?
No! Impossible! This had to be another one of her tricks!
"Stop the act!" Celeste's voice pitched sharply upward. "I'm talking about Edith! About how you killed Edith! You murderer!"
"Edith…"
At the sound of that name, Caroline's eyes brimmed instantly with tears. They spilled over without warning.
She dropped her gaze, fingers clutching desperately at her skirt.
"Edith's death, I… I've been devastated about it, but… I never wanted that to happen. I didn't know… didn't know she had feelings for Alexander too. I never imagined she'd be so heartbroken after his proposal that she'd go to the docks. But no matter what, you shouldn't joke about something like that…"