“Mr.Hamilton Miss Lavina was last seen near the Stone mansion.”
Alexander’s patience was running thin.
“What the hell are you talking about?!” he roared to the private detector. Instead of going anc searching her countryside home, you dare become lazy and offer such absurd information!“”
“S–Sir, we have searched every known contact, even traced her lawyer but some one is protecting her very well, we cannot get a single clue.” His assistant stammered. “It’s true sir, even the Stone Empire’s only heir Damien Stone was photographed recently with a woman in his car who closely resembles madam.”
Alexander grabbed the glass vase from his desk and hurled it across the room. It shattered as he spoke dangerously.
“I know Lavina. She can work in some old bar trying to fend for herself but will not follow a strange man.”
He turned to the giant portrait of his family on the wall where I used to stand beside him,
unnoticed and unloved.
But now he noticed.
It was at that moment his phone rang.
“Mr. Hamilton!” a nurse’s panicked voice came from the other end. “. I am speaking from the City Central Hospital. We have a patient brought in from a car crash site… her ID shows her name as Miss Stephanie Winslet.
“Stephanie? What the hell happened?! Is she alright?” Alexander’s blood drained from his face.
“Sir, she is in critical condition and you were listed as her emergency contact.”
“I will be there!” With that Alexander barely registered the world as he rushed outside.
Alexander’s drove halfway across the city through the early morning fog to reach the City Central Hospital.
“Stephanie Winslet!” he announced at the front desk, his heart thrumming erratically.
‘Mr Hamilton” The nurse behind the counter recognized him immediately. “Sir, Miss Stephanie is
in surgery. Extensive internal injuries from the crash made her bleed too much but we are trying our best.”
Alexander’s heart dropped.
‘Do whatever is required, spare no money, I just need her to be alright.”
“Sir, althought I am not authorized to say much” the nurse replied softly. “But… Miss Stephanie did regain consciousness for a moment before being taken in to the emergency ward.”
He froze. “What did she say?”
The nurse’s voice lowered, almost whispering. “She told the doctor that if Alexander Hamilton came… we should tell you something.
“She said… she doesn’t think that… she will make it. And if she doesn’t, all she wants is you to be happy.”
Chapter 18
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2:37 pm
“No!” Alexander’s throat tightened.
“Sir…I know its painful but I just want you to know her words which could be the last you hear from her. She said… you were torn between her and Lavina. And that it’s okay…that Lavina is a good woman and your confusion is understandable.”
Alexander could not believe his ears, the Stephanie who loved him so much said these words…it
meant that she has suffered too much.
The nurse continued gently, almost too soft like she was an actress in opera. “She also said… she was never the real daughter. That your family hates her now too and she was just a discarded child swapped by a nanny so she respects your decision to not marry her at all sir.”
Alexander’s hands curled into fists at his sides.
“She said she doesn’t blame Lavina for being the favorite. That she just… wishes you’d forget her. Move on. Be free.”
The words shattered something inside him.
Then the nurse hesitated acting as if concerned.
“There’s… one more thing, Mr. Hamilton.”
Alexander turned sharply.
The nurse glanced toward the emergency ward, her eyes gleaming with some sort of slyness. “The doctor confirmed… Miss Stephanie is pregnant.”
Alexander staggered.
“She said she hadn’t told you because… she didn’t want the baby to trap you. That if you loved Lavina, she didn’t want to come between that. She even spoke of aborting her child…your child, so you would never feel tied to her or guilty.”
Alexander’s world tilted as guilt hit him with full force.
“She cried a lot sir” the nurse whispered. “Said the child was conceived out of love… but she wouldn’t use it to make you stay.”
The words shattered him. Guilt ran so deep it drowned everything, the truth of my departure, the bullying I faced and how much I suffered.
“I want to wait here, I will wait till Steph is alright.” he said, voice hollow.
“Of course!” the nurse said kindly. “The doctor will update you soon Mr.Hamilton.”
Alexander nodded slowly, sitting with his eyes red.
But behind the operating room doors, there was no operation.
Stephanie lay comfortably on the bed, hooked up to a few machines with falsified vitals. Her body was devoid of a single blood stain as she held the makeup palliate, painting her neck red and it almost looked like a real bruise.
The nurse on the reception soon sneaked inside with a foxy smile. “You must have seen his face Stephanie. He believed every word.”
Stephanie opened one eye looking at her friend Lola who was in a nurse costume. In reality she was no legal practitioner at all but the lead doctor’s mistress. “Good,here is the money” she rasped, a victorious curl on her lips as she threw a stack of notes towards Lola.
Chapter 18
2:37 pm
“He thought that I am that stupid Lavina who would let him leave? Now let him think I nearly died for his happiness.”
2:37 pm
Chapter 19
