The lung pain didn’t ease for a while, and Hamish couldn’t wait any longer. He located Louis’ phone and had someone drive him over there.
Staring at the computer screen, Hamish vaguely saw his own silhouette, dark, unfamiliar, trapped in anxiety and fear. Since New Year’s, he deliberately avoided news about Elisa and Louis. But at this moment, he deeply missed Elisa, an unquenchable longing. He wished she was right in front of him, to hear her voice, whether in happiness or anger. He’d endure insults, curses, and even physical blows if it meant seeing her safe before him.
The thought of Elisa’s disappearance and the potential dangers she might face tormented him. He was willing to sacrifice his own life for her, even though his life was already nearing its end. People always cling to their initial impressions.
Hamish had tried to forget Elisa, even hiring a hypnotist, but each time, he gave up. He couldn’t forget her, and from then on, they could only meet as strangers. If he chose to give up their relationship, it would mean a permanent end.
Hamish and Louis had an unspoken agreement at a particular location. Both wore grim expressions. The area was remote, with no surveillance cameras to trace the car that kidnapped Elisa. Louis studied the map, analyzing the terrain to guess where Elisa might have been taken, while Hamish had people investigate Finn. Both worked together, eventually finding a trail that led them to Elisa’s whereabouts once again.
In the outskirts, at the foot of the mountains, there was an abandoned brick factory. Louis was about to start the engine when Hamish got into the passenger seat.
Louis had no time to talk to Hamish. He simply accelerated into the dimly lit rural road, which seemed to have no end. Louis pressed harder on the accelerator, heading into a more secluded road that eventually curved into a winding mountain path.
Throughout the journey, Louis remained silent, every passing second torturous for him. Without a GPS location, he couldn’t anticipate Elisa’s current situation, or what her captors might do to her. Was she scared? Louis feared a repeat of what happened years ago, feeling utterly powerless as he watched her suffer.
Hamish also remained silent, gazing ahead at the road. After a while, he finally glanced at Louis, his gaze cold and meticulous, dissecting every expression on his face before suddenly saying, “Do you want to know about my past with Elisa?”
Hamish was unaware that Louis had already regained his memories. While driving, Louis had to pay attention to Hamish’s words. He remembered how Hamish had once told him, in the same tone, that he was merely a substitute for Elisa.
In truth, Louis almost felt like “thanking” Hamish. If it weren’t for him, Louis wouldn’t have known that he had always been in Elisa’s heart.
“Do you know how you mistreated Elisa in the past? How you pushed her to her death?” Louis tightened his lips, gripping the steering wheel tightly, causing the car to sway slightly out of control.
With a shaved head, Hamish had striking features, but his illness had taken its toll, making him look sickly, especially as the cold night air made his lips pale.
Louis glanced at Hamish through the rearview mirror, catching a glimpse of his eyes.
Hamish was resilient, Louis knew that, but now, due to extreme restraint, his eyes were red, with a hint of bloodshot.
“You are not me. I and Elisa have been through so much. I love her. If you were me…” Hamish wanted to tell Louis that his love for Elisa was no less than Louis’s, that he was willing to sacrifice his life for her. During the three years when Elisa passed away, he had often contemplated ending his own life. But remembering Elisa’s words before she died, asking him to live and not dirty her cycle of reincarnation, he couldn’t bring himself to commit suicide.
As he said, if Elisa were to disappear one day, he would go insane. He had suffered for her, loved her obsessively, truly gone mad for three or four years, until he met Elisa again and began to recover.
He had lung cancer, with no available medication to treat it. Time was running out for him; he didn’t have as much time as Louis did, and he was destined to be unable to grow old together with Elisa. His lifetime was too brief; how could he dare to delay Elisa’s life and death?
Faced with life and death, he was reluctant but had to give up on Elisa. He only hoped to receive Elisa’s forgiveness before he died, to make amends for his past mistakes, and for Elisa to accompany him in his final moments.
Louis, you are not me. If you were me, nearing death, wouldn’t you want to spend more time with Elisa? Time is short, how could one give up?
Louis scoffed, his lips appearing to smile from the side, but his face held no trace of amusement, his eyes even colder, like unmelted ice. He opened his mouth, and Hamish heard his words.
“I am indeed not you. If I were you, I would never mistreat her. So don’t compare me to you.” If Elisa had married him from the start, he would have cherished her, held her in his hands, and embraced her. Louis had never even raised his voice to Elisa. He couldn’t bear to imagine how Hamish could have raised his hand to her.
Hamish interjected, “I originally thought that Elisa would be safe with you. But she has been kidnapped and threatened repeatedly. What can you offer her? Your fans even shame her online. Since you cannot provide her with safety, this time, I won’t let go.”
Changing tack when you can’t argue anymore?
“Again?” Louis said coldly. “Have you let go few times? Do you want Elisa to come back to you, only to experience the pain of being abandoned again? Hamish, should I remind you how Elisa died? How her fingers became disabled? I gave you a chance, but you didn’t know how to cherish it.”
Hamish’s pupils suddenly contracted. Louis calmed himself, his eyes deep and serious. “I risked my life to save you, lost my memory and became foolish for fifteen years because of it. Hamish, did you ever consider repaying me?”
“Do you remember?”
“Yes, I remember. If you hadn’t remembered, would you have continued to deceive me with some other act? When you said I should return Elisa to you, did you feel no guilt at all? Hamish, oh Hamish, you are the most shameless and unscrupulous person I have ever met. If it weren’t for the wrong timing today, I would have beaten you to death. Return Elisa to me? Could you return the Elisa who was once healthy and happy?”
It’s not that Hamish owed anyone an apology; it was his selfishness that harmed everyone. Louis’s face darkened. “You are truly despicable and filthy!”
Louis truly remembered everything. Initially, Hamish thought he still had a chance, but now that Louis remembered everything, what chance did he have?
Hamish gave a self-mocking smile, glancing outside into the darkness, feeling a chill. Elisa had once questioned why his heart was so cold, why, after all these years, she had failed to warm it. What she didn’t know was that when something becomes frozen to the core, it becomes fragile. How could one dare to warm it?
“You are right to call me despicable and filthy. I knew she mistook me for your love, yet I never told her. I shamelessly took advantage of the situation, attempting to completely replace your presence. When I heard of your death, I was quite pleased. I thought, finally, no one could threaten my relationship with Elisa. My feelings for her are no less than yours.”
“Indeed, you met Elisa first, but I was the one with her for all those years. I was with her longer than you were. You say I am not worthy of Elisa’s love, but who decides what kind of love is worthy? Like a potted plant, your love may have been nurturing, while mine leaned towards possession. Does that mean my love is unworthy?”
A potted plant will wither eventually. Some people love a flower as they watch it wither in a pot, while others love a flower during its most beautiful moments, pressing it as a specimen or preserving it for a lifetime. Both are forms of love. Who can say which love is shallow? His love for Elisa was no less than Louis’s.
Hamish’s words once again revealed the depths of his shamelessness, underestimating Louis once more. Louis took a deep breath, stepped on the gas, and the car roared along the mountain road.
“So your love means letting her die?” After enduring over ten hours on the plane, Louis’s eyes were sore. Now, driven by Hamish’s emotions, tears streamed down his face.
“Hamish, don’t confine Elisa with your love. She is not a potted plant,” Louis said heavily. “I got to know her through three identities, and only now have I been with her. I’ve been with her for so long, yet I dare not even speak loudly to her. She is a treasure that one encounters once in a lifetime. I hold her in my mouth for fear of melting, in my hands for fear of dropping. But you, in my absence, tormented her alive. Do you know how much Elisa fears pain? How much she loves to cry?”
Hamish’s body stiffened. He hated his past self, and if he could go back, he would have killed his former self without hesitation. How could he not know how much Elisa feared pain and loved to cry?
Louis’s words were filled with hatred, anger, and a desire for destruction. Yet, after speaking, a lump formed in his throat, as if someone were choking him. Half of his anger dissipated, leaving only unprecedented sorrow and despair.
Regaining his memory, recalling the past, Elisa had been returned by Hamish. The Elisa who hadn’t met Hamish was even more proud and confident than she is now. It was Hamish who ruined her, causing her to stifle her radiance. Like a hedgehog retracting its quills, once without protection, only injury and death awaited.
If Hamish had only tried to take Louis’s place with Elisa, he wouldn’t have been hated, but he absolutely should not have hurt Elisa, leading to her death in the fire at the age of twenty-seven!
In Louis’s eyes, there surged hatred, anger, a desire to kill, and a thirst for destruction…
As the time drew near, darkness had already descended, with only fields of mountains in sight, not a house in sight.
Louis stopped the car, ran his fingers through his hair, feeling the cold wind, his face drained of color.
The car wasparked far away and hidden to avoid alarming anyone down the mountain. The remaining route required a covert approach. Patrick, experienced in such situations, began to analyze the current circumstances, arranging for some individuals to scout the area and then comforting Louis, asking him to wait a little longer.
Five minutes later, the police officers also arrived. The location was remote, and the signal was somewhat disrupted. Three groups quietly descended to surround the abandoned factory, beginning to deploy personnel and formulate an assault plan.
Louis didn’t want to wait a moment longer, eager to charge ahead, but reason overcame emotion.
The factory was large, so naturally, they should first block the entrances. Louis and Hamish had to cooperate for Elisa’s safety.
The surrounding area was eerily quiet. Every little movement seemed significant.
Meanwhile, inside, Elisa had already been subjected to a second electric shock. Finn was attempting to use this method to bring out Aoife, but anyone with a normal mind knew it was impossible. Possession was beyond science, and even if there was a dissociative identity, such a violent method would not be used for treatment.