“In the amusement park, tampering with the roller coaster, plotting to harm Louis with an accident, was it not you? And the brake failure, Hamish, you really keep surpassing my understanding of you time and time again!”
He had gone to great lengths to force her to come here, and now he feigned ignorance for whom exactly?
Elisa released her hand, pinching Hamish’s neck, feeling repulsed by the touch of his flesh.
Elisa’s grip on him wasn’t strong, but it was enough to make him struggle for breath. As she let go, a small burst of cold air rushed into his throat and down to his chest, causing Hamish to suddenly start coughing.
For a moment, the air was filled only with Hamish’s coughing, heavy and stifling, each cough seemingly more forceful than the last, as if he was coughing out all the pain.
Elisa needed to do nothing, just one cold, indifferent look was enough to make him surrender completely.
Yes, she had come here today for Louis.
Indeed.
After all, in her eyes, he had always been a person who used despicable means. First causing the White family to go bankrupt, now Louis’s accident was also on him.
Hamish held her hand without moving, now he could only laugh at himself. He was pitiful enough to warm himself with self-mockery.
With blood in his mouth, Hamish said, “Elisa, I’m almost dead.”
Elisa looked down at the blood on the ground, and upon hearing Hamish’s words, “I’m almost dead,” she showed no reaction, evidently already well aware.
“So, if you’re dying, you want to drag others down with you, is that it? If you die, nobody around you should expect to live happily, right?”
When she was diagnosed with cancer, all she wanted was to escape from Hamish. After all, they were getting a divorce, and she would have been fine spending her last days alone, dying cleanly. But Hamish only wanted to tarnish her, even if he was dying, he wanted to torment her life.
With red eyes and blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, he seemed to be somewhat sorrowful, as if he was coughing out all his pain at once.
Elisa clenched her fists, breathing heavily, cursed, “Damn you!”
Veins bulged on Elisa’s forehead as she thought about the messages on her phone and remembered everything Hamish had done. She wanted to grab him and beat him up, even wished to stab him to death with the knife in her hand.
Unfortunately, now all eyes were on the White family, on her, and on Hamish. If she killed Hamish here and now, it wouldn’t be long before it made headlines. Then, the White family would be implicated.
There is a saying, don’t argue with a dying person, because if they go insane before dying, you might die before them. She really felt helpless against Hamish. He was capable, truly capable of tormenting someone to death.
Hamish remained silent.
Elisa lived cleaner than he did, like water, and he was a fish that depended on water to survive. To live comfortably, he had dirtied the water, and now, the water he depended on was going to drown him.
This fish, was going to be drowned by the water.
He had tried countless ways to make Elisa stay by his side, he had also considered not repeating the same mistakes, but ironically, what ultimately made Elisa stay briefly by his side was the same as before, filled with hatred, suspicion, and vigilance.
“Elisa, it seems we’ve never really had a chance to be together properly,” Hamish said, holding onto the railing, swaying as he stood up. He was much taller than Elisa, even though he was sick and slightly leaning forward, when he looked down at Elisa from a higher step of the stairs, he was still looking down at her.
“I’m almost dead, can’t you take care of me…”
Elisa frowned, “It should be a doctor taking care of you, not me, besides…” she smirked, “the Elisa who would take care of you is dead, and you know better than anyone how she died.”
She showed no emotion, her words were devoid of any tone, yet they felt icy.
She had thought of talking to Hamish properly, but he had repeatedly pushed her to her limits, making her lose the strength to talk to him.
After so many years with Hamish, she had rarely been happy, she had even forgotten how to smile.
“Perhaps you love me very much now, Hamish, but love… compared to the harm you caused me in the past, it’s not worth mentioning. Your love is worthless, it only makes me look cheap.” Elisa extended her right hand, revealing the diamondring on her ring finger.
“You always begged me to give you a chance to change, but I have indeed given you many chances. You gave me two rings, one worth thirty dollars, and another worth millions, neither of which suited me. Have you ever thought about the reason?”
Elisa continued, “Time and time again, I’ve tolerated, forgiven, and been repeatedly disappointed. Now you’re using these despicable means to force me here, and you expect me to take care of you? Am I your mother? Why should I take care of you!” Every word felt like a dagger to the heart, yet Elisa spoke with the utmost calmness, for her heart was already ashen from the past.
“Now that I’m here, what will you do? Do you still intend to treat me as you did before?” Hamish replied, “If that’s how you want to think of it.”
Elisa had already branded him a villain, capable of any means to an end, though it was true. Why did Elisa know he was sick and dying, and how did she misunderstand his intentions towards Louis? He couldn’t fathom. His only thought was this: if this misunderstanding could keep Elisa by his side for a brief moment, then let it be, for she already hated him, and a little more or less made no difference, a fate he could completely endure.
Ignoring Elisa’s gaze of enmity, Hamish said, “Just as you said, a dying man is capable of anything. You also know my methods are ruthless. Who knows, even in death, I might find a scapegoat. During my remaining time, you are not to take a single step out of here, you will live under my watchful eyes.”
He knew very well that this was the only way to keep Elisa by his side, albeit briefly. What he was doing now was just a desperate struggle for survival. But Hamish was someone who couldn’t help but struggle, even if it meant heading into a dead end.
Hamish watched as Elisa’s hand moved inside her coat, and he could vaguely see the shape of something inside, a phone, and something else, the handle of a knife already visible. Elisa was capable of stabbing someone; she had pierced his palm with a western dining tool in the past. Back then, her hand was still impaired, barely able to handle a fork, yet she could grasp a knife with both hands and stab him without batting an eye. From that moment, he knew that they could never love each other like other lovers.
He was confident, but he also had self-awareness. However, when a person is in extreme pain and knows that there are things that can never be undone, they can easily delude themselves.
Elisa came today with thoughts of an early death and rebirth. She only believed about seventy to eighty percent of what came out of Hamish’s mouth. When a person reaches the lowest of the low, they become invincible. She had never encountered anyone more despicable than Hamish.
The blood at the corner of Hamish’s mouth hadn’t been wiped clean, his eye sockets were sunken, his dark circles heavy. He looked as fragile as paper, as if he would crumble at the slightest touch. If Elisa truly wanted to kill him, she could definitely do it, but she didn’t dare to guarantee whether Hamish had a backup plan, nor did she dare to guarantee her own escape from legal responsibility.
Elisa truly couldn’t tell whether Hamish’s current attitude towards her was possessiveness or obsession. If it was genuine love, she didn’t love someone like him. At this point, Elisa didn’t even consider trying to understand his thoughts.
…
Elisa settled in North Bankshire, a place she had lived for several years before. Returning now didn’t feel strange, although she had changed her room. She had no intention of moving back into the master bedroom that once symbolized their marital home.
In the room, there was a floor-to-ceiling window. Elisa stood there, looking at her own reflection, occasionally touching the ring on her hand, then glancing at the photos on her phone. She had set her phone to “Do Not Disturb” mode, for a simple reason: she didn’t know how to talk to Louis when he called.
She was like a turtle, triggering her self-preservation instincts and withdrawing into her shell at the first sign of trouble.