“Mr. Burns, the situation with Filippa has been resolved. What else needs to be done now?”
Just as Elisa suspected, it was Hamish who arranged for the mentally ill patient to splash sulfuric acid on Filippa.
From the moment he saw it trending yesterday, he wanted to find Elisa. He knew how much Mimi meant to Elisa; her feelings for the cat were much deeper than those she had for him.
Among the various contents trending, the one that caught his eye the most was “Louis Elisa.” Their names side by side had an inexplicable allure.
In the years since Elisa’s death, he stubbornly believed that nothing had changed. In reality, everything had changed, and he was the only one still standing in the same place, hoping that Elisa would turn back and look at him.
The relationship between him and Elisa was the most familiar yet unfamiliar one in the world. He knew everything about her, yet he could no longer have her.
Their names had once been intimately written on a marriage certificate, but now, no matter what he did, he couldn’t be by her side.
Hamish covered his chest, coughing, and then, after recovering, asked, “Did you send the incriminating X Entertainment files to Elisa when I asked you to?”
“I did,” came the reply.
Hamish fell silent.
After contemplating for a while, Tobias hesitantly asked, “You used your account to send it at the time. Could it be that Miss Powell blocked you?”
Hamish’s face, already pallid with illness, turned even paler upon hearing Tobias’ words. His eyes darkened. “Who told you to use my account?”
Tobias scratched the back of his head awkwardly and explained, “I just thought that if Miss Powell remembered you in a good light, seeing how much effort you put into considering her, maybe she would soften.”
Soften…
If it were before, Elisa might have been moved, especially as she was particularly easy to placate back then, a piece of candy could soften her.
But the Elisa who had died once had long since discarded the notion of softening her heart.
He knelt in the rain, pressing his head against the ground, desperately begging for her forgiveness. She hadn’t softened. Would she soften for such a trivial matter?
Stop dreaming.
At the thought of Elisa’s cold gaze, his heart suddenly ached.
Hamish touched his left chest. He couldn’t afford to fall ill. Even if he coughed to death and died spitting blood, there would be no one left to care for him.
“Mr. Burns, do you want to send it again?” Tobias asked. “X Entertainment’s stocks are currently falling. Now is the time to acquire them. If you acquire the company, you will become Miss Powell’s boss.”
Tobias thought it was a good idea. They say opportunity knocks, and becoming Elisa’s boss, providing her with money and resources, Hamish was no longer the same. He would understand how to care for people. It might actually work…
“Doing so will only make her despise me more,” Hamish knew better than anyone. Elisa was a strong and independent person who didn’t like others controlling her life.
He was certain that if he acquired X Entertainment, Elisa would immediately move to terminate the contract, causing a complete rupture.
Hamish got up from the sickbed. “Give me the computer.”
Tobias opened his laptop and handed it to Hamish.
Hamish swiftly typed on the keyboard, accessing a page and observing the declining data.
Someone was manipulating X Entertainment’s shares. For Hamish, it wasn’t difficult to investigate and find out.
In just ten minutes, the data was analyzed. It was from the A. W group, represented by Louis, along with a hidden member.
Hamish’s mind immediately went to Elisa; this company was related to Elisa, and the group’s name… A. W. Suddenly, everything became clear to Hamish. For so long, Elisa had not been able to forget Autumn.
He didn’t need to take action now that he knew Elisa wanted to personally acquire X Entertainment. Hamish carefully considered what he could do for Elisa.
But Elisa had already returned to being the proud and confident Elisa from the beginning, no longer the potted flower locked away by him, unable to see the light.
In his heart, Hamish had always harbored a selfish thought. He didn’t have long to live, and he wanted Elisa to accompany him for a year. If she didn’t want to be with him, he didn’t want to see her with someone else during his remaining days.
Once this selfish idea took root, it was hard todispel. Now it had spread wildly, the seed had turned into a demon, constantly clamoring in his mind. Love itself is selfish.
Hamish managed a bitter smile. “Tobias, do you think forcing Elisa to stay by my side for a year is very selfish?”
Tobias hesitated. “Do you want to hear the truth?”
“Yes,” replied Hamish.
Tobias spoke solemnly, “Extremely selfish, Mr. Burns. Have you considered that if Miss Powell grows to like you during that year, but then you pass away, how would she cope? You’ve suffered for three years without her. Do you want her to experience that pain?”
“She wouldn’t grow to like me.”
“What if she did?” While Tobias never had a romantic relationship, he often read romance novels and played love games in his spare time. He considered himself quite knowledgeable.
“Liking someone doesn’t mean being together. If I truly love her, seeing her happy would be enough for me.”
“That kind of selflessness is too much for me. I might never learn it even until I die. The thought of her being with someone else makes me go crazy,” Hamish said, covering his chest and coughing softly. He always ended up mired in mud, struggling more only to sink deeper because of Elisa.
He remembered a phrase Elisa had said to him. To her, he had once been a star in the sky. Bright before, now indifferent to whether there was one more or one less. In the pitch-black night, if there was only one star twinkling, it was an indispensable presence to the darkness. But now Elisa’s world had been overtaken by the moonlight. Wasn’t that person the moonlight?
“Deal with Filippa’s economic company as well, those who can’t manage themselves are useless,” Hamish concluded.
Tobias nodded and closed the laptop on the table.
The trend had dominated the recommendation list for nearly 24 hours. It was hard to ignore, especially since part of Finn’s industry was involved in the entertainment industry.
Finn watched the trending video of the cat, momentarily stunned. “Isn’t that the cat from Hamish’s house? Why is it at ‘Aoife’s’?”
Finn was well aware of the significance of the cat. It was the one Elisa had raised three years ago. The cat meant a lot to Hamish; he wouldn’t have handed it over to a mere substitute.