“What?” Mrs. Baker seemed unable to grasp the meaning behind Micah’s words, her face filled with confusion and apprehension.
Micah calmly absorbed her expression, averted his gaze, and coldly stated, “Elisa is dead… Mom, are you satisfied now?”
“M-mom, are you satisfied now?” After hearing this, Mrs. Baker seemed as if struck by lightning, her fingertips trembling slightly, her eyelids reddening.
“How could Elisa have died? How could she have died?” Mrs. Baker repeatedly asked in confusion from behind.
Carrying his suitcase, Micah turned around and paused before saying, “Everyone dies. She was diagnosed with advanced-stage stomach cancer three years ago and wasn’t expected to live for long. If I hadn’t forced her to take her medication, she might not have made it past two years.”
Mrs. Baker’s face went pale, she let out a sob, tears streaming down, blurring her face. “She was diagnosed with advanced-stage stomach cancer three years ago, why didn’t she tell us?”
“Because she was afraid you’d worry, she asked me to keep it from you. Mom, Elisa never did anything wrong to us, but what have we done to her?”
“You knew Hamish treated her poorly, that he was the one responsible for her family’s hardship. On the day she filed for divorce from Hamish, why did you help him by giving false testimony that she was mentally ill?”
After Micah finished speaking, his previously calm emotions started to boil up again. He took a deep breath, choked with powerlessness, and roared, “Do you know what this meant to her? She was abandoned by the people she cared about the most, and we became the final straw that broke her.”
Each word from Micah was like tearing at the heart. Just the thought of the days without him, his parents had made Elisa’s already precarious situation even worse, pushing her further into the abyss. It felt as though a lump of blood was stuck in his throat, ready to be expelled at any moment.
Mrs. Baker lowered her head, her shoulders trembling, tears welling up in her eyes, uncontrollably streaming down. She cried in a heart-wrenching manner, her eyes on the verge of splitting.
How could this have happened? Elisa was dead, and they had pushed her to it.
Micah, as if not hearing the crying behind him, resolutely left with his suitcase.
Upon hearing the crying, Joshua came out and saw Mrs. Baker slumped at the doorway, tears and snot streaming down. His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly grabbed some tissues, lifting his wife who had gone limp.
“What’s wrong?”
Mrs. Baker slumped into his arms, clutching his clothes tightly, shaking with sobs. She shook her head, her voice choked, “We treated Elisa as our own daughter… and she’s dead…”
Joshua’s reaction was quicker than Mrs. Baker’s, but he still couldn’t believe it. “Who told you?”
“Micah went to Chiwood to claim Elisa’s body. You know how much Micah cared for Elisa. He wouldn’t joke about something like this to distress us. It was us who made Elisa suffer. If you hadn’t testified for Hamish in court that year…”
Micah was right; they had become the final straw that broke Elisa.
Joshua’s eyes reddened. One wrong step led to another, and people always disliked admitting their mistakes. They stubbornly believed that time could resolve everything.
But they forgot that time could change everything, and in the end, there might not even be a chance to admit their mistakes.
Elisa was never liked from the beginning. The Baker family initially took care of her out of pity, and as they watched the little girl slowly grow up, their pity turned into genuine care.
Mrs. Baker loved having a daughter, but her health didn’t allow for another pregnancy, so she took care of Elisa as if she were her own, even considering letting Micah marry Elisa.
Lacking love from a young age, Elisa rarely felt secure. Whenever someone was kind to her, she would reciprocate tenfold.
The Baker family’s current status couldn’t have been achieved without Elisa; after she took over the Powell Group, she signed a long-term partnership with the Baker family.
Later, when the Powell family ran into trouble, to avoid burdening the Baker family, Elisa sold off all her shares to them, tearing up their previous agreement.
While Hamish oppressed the Baker family from behind, it was Elisa who, by acquiring the land on South Water Island and collaborating with the Baker family, pulled them back from the brink of bankruptcy.
But what did they do? They said they cared for Elisa as their “daughter,” but where were they when Hamish mistreated her? Where were they when shefell ill with stomach cancer? Where were they when she truly suffered from mental illness in the hospital?
Elisa was secretly taken to Chiwood by Hamish, they knew but did nothing, preferring to keep their distance, fearing they would become the next Powell family.
Joshua felt deeply remorseful, holding his wife tightly, filled with pain and regret.
“We have wronged her, made her suffer. We were wrong, we truly were, we’ve wronged such a good person as Elisa…”
The father’s indifference, the constant cursing from his brother, betrayal from those closest to her, the cruelty of the oppressor, and the indifference of bystanders-all gradually broke the wings of the one who should have soared among the clouds.
They knew Hamish treated her poorly, yet they handed him the means to harm her.
They all contributed to driving Elisa to her death.
Micah and Ivan boarded a flight to Chiwood at four o’clock, landing at eight in the evening. Upon disembarking, Micah immediately contacted the Chiwood police.
They were told to come back the next day.
Micah knew right away that things weren’t as simple as they seemed. Grief didn’t cloud his judgment. Considering Hamish’s character, he hadn’t let Elisa go when she was alive, and he certainly wouldn’t after her death.
Taking Elisa’s body away was going to be more difficult than he had imagined. For now, all they could do was wait and see how things unfolded tomorrow.
Seeing Micah end the call, Ivan anxiously asked, “What’s going on?”
“We’ll find a hotel to stay in tonight and wait for the police to call tomorrow.”
“Why?” Ivan asked, puzzled, his eyes reddening with urgency. “We’re already in Chiwood, why can’t we see her?”
Micah’s face showed nothing but weariness. He hadn’t rested much throughout his journey back home, and now, due to Elisa’s death, his emotions were in turmoil. His mind felt like it was being stuffed with a sponge, constantly expanding, causing him a throbbing headache.
“This is Hamish’s territory. If I’m right, Elisa is still with him. We can’t take her away for the time being.” Power, it always made people feel powerless.
Micah bitterly smiled. What he feared most now was that they couldn’t even take Elisa’s body away, leaving her in the hands of the person she despised the most.
Ivan remained silent, overwhelmed by various emotions. He felt powerless, in agony.
Micah looked at him, his voice low and mocking, both at Ivan and at himself, “Now you regret and feel uncomfortable. What were you doing earlier?”
They had already left Bankshire, but the sounds of his parents’ crying over Elisa’s death still echoed in his ears.
People in this world are strange; they yearn for what they cannot have, don’t appreciate it when they do, doubt when together, long for it when lost, and regret when it’s too late. Throughout their lives, they are filled with regret.
After Elisa’s death, everyone began to love her, but what was the use?