Hamish got out of the carriage and took the umbrella in one hand, holding Elisa’s cold little hand in the other.
When they entered the cemetery, Elisa saw tombstones as far as the eye could see. The gloomy sky pressed down overhead, making it somewhat hard to breathe. Koby had been buried only a few days ago, and the cleanest part of his tombstone was his grave.
A bouquet of lilies was placed in front of the tombstone. The withered petals had been drenched by the rainwater and were in poor shape. Elisa crouched down and tidied up the flowers bit by bit, then squeezed her sleeves to wipe the photo on the tombstone. The Koby in the photo was young, wearing formal attire and smiling brightly with astute eyes.
It was his wedding photo. His mother’s photo, also a wedding photo, was placed next to his. The two looked perfectly matched, as if instantly returning to twenty-eight years ago.
Koby wasn’t a good father, but he was a good husband. After his mother died twenty-three years ago, he never remarried. What’s more, he had bought the plot of land next to his mother’s grave early on.
He was afraid of death, but perhaps he wanted to see Elisa’s mother even more. This time he finally got his wish.
The reason Koby hated Elisa so much was probably because her birth led to the death of the woman he loved most, yet he could do nothing about it. Instead, he had to raise the “murderer” of his wife with his own hands, watching her grow to look more and more like his late wife.
The rain drifted with the wind onto Elisa’s face. She wiped it and for a moment couldn’t distinguish between raindrops and tears.
Elisa’s knees gave way and she knelt before the two graves, kowtowing. The chilly weather made her knees feel pierced through, yet she didn’t feel any pain.
She was like a wisp of a lonely ghost, as if the wind could blow her away at any moment. “I’m sorry, Mom, for coming to see you so late. Your daughter has been remiss in her duties, unable to protect our family or Dad,” she said.
Elisa’s voice seemed to be blown away by the wind. Only her choking sobs could be heard.
After the trembling words fell, Elisa bowed down to the ground and kowtowed six times. Then she turned to Koby’s tombstone and said, “Dad, I’ll remember what you said.”
These words were heard clearly by Hamish behind her. Hamish’s thin lips were pressed together tightly, his eyes dark and inscrutable. The day before Koby jumped to his death, Hamish had gone to see him in prison and talked about some things regarding Elisa.
It was to get Koby to treat Elisa a little better in the future, but Hamish didn’t expect Koby to impulsively commit suicide by jumping off the building.
After kowtowing, Elisa staggered to her feet, swaying unsteadily. She looked up at the umbrella shading her from the rain, then turned to look at the man holding it for her.
A thought flashed through her mind: The person who can block the wind and rain for you can also make you never see daylight again.
“Let’s go,” Hamish said.
“Ellie.” Just as Elisa was about to turn around, she seemed to hear someone calling her from behind. Her heart trembled, and an indescribable feeling of grief welled up within her. Tearful, she choked back her tears and turned to look back.
She took one last look at her parents’ tombstones. She had lost her mother at birth, and now her father had left her too.
Hamish said she was worthless, and she was indeed worthless, actually wishing to keep hearing Koby scold her.
Koby was dead, but the debt still had to be paid. Elisa sold off her family possessions bit by bit, scraping together the money with great difficulty.
As for Powell Group, it had already been acquired by Hamish. Elisa sold her remaining 3% stake, and now the nominal CEO was left with nothing. With a wave of his hand, Hamish made her lose everything.
Elisa also tried borrowing money from former business partners, but in hard times like these, getting help was difficult while snowballing troubles came easily. Plus, Hamish had expressly warned them, so those people avoided Elisa as soon as they heard her name.
The banks were even more hopeless. To get a loan, she needed to put up equivalent capital, but penniless Elisa had nothing left to leverage. What bank would lend to her?
And so Elisa watched helplessly as the Powell family assets were emptied out bit by bit, unable to even keep the old mansion.