Filed to story: When His Wife Can’t Forgive
“I wasn’t updating Mr. Ward, Ms. Bennett. You’re thinking too much.”
Alicia smirked to herself. It was no surprise that Caden had such confidence in this driver. With such a naive demeanor, there was no way he would betray or plot against his employer.
As they reached their floor, the elevator doors opened to a bustling scene accompanied by the strong scent of blood.
“Make way!” shouted doctors and nurses as they rushed a stretcher past them.
Alicia caught a glimpse of the person on the stretcher. Despite the blood hiding his face, she recognized him immediately.
“Blake…” Alicia gasped as she saw his disfigured wrist, her eyes widening in shock and her complexion turning pale.
Blake lay motionless, looking pale and practically lifeless. If one didn’t look closely, one might easily assume that he had stopped breathing.
The doctors were understandably frantic. Before Alicia could even grasp the situation, she was ushered by the driver to give them space.
More than saving Blake’s severed hand, the doctors’ main concern was to stop his bleeding and ultimately save his life.
The sight of Blake’s hand was seared into Alicia’s mind. It had lain on his abdomen, with the bone exposed. To say that it was horrifying would be a gross understatement.
She stood outside now, waves upon waves of nausea overtaking her as she watched the elevator doors shut. Her legs turned to jelly, and she had to lean against the wall to keep from crumpling to the floor.
Tears were streaming freely down her cheeks, as though she had completely lost control of her own tear ducts.
Alicia took some time to regain her composure, then she headed to the emergency room.
Blake’s injury was unfortunately severe. There had been too much damage to the nerves that his hand could no longer be reattached. In the end, the doctors performed a suturing procedure and moved him into a private ward.
Alicia made to follow into the room, but a group of towering bodyguards blocked her. She immediately recognized them as the same ones who had previously accompanied Caden.
One of them stepped forward and addressed her respectfully.
“Ms. Bennett, I’m afraid the circumstances are too gory for someone like you. It would be best if you don’t go in.”
His casual tone made Alicia suspicious. She grabbed him by the collar and demanded, “Do you know how he got hurt? Tell me what happened!”
The bodyguard was taken aback by her sudden ferocity. He blinked and quickly recovered his bearings before asking, “You don’t know?” He feigned confusion in a display of his impeccable acting skills.
“But it was Mr. Ward who instructed me…”
Alicia froze momentarily, her eyes going wide. Her fingers, still clenched around his collar, began to tremble.
“According to Mr. Ward,” continued the man, “he wanted to punish Mr. Langstaff for touching you. He specifically ordered me to chop off one of Mr. Langstaff’s hands. Are you not aware of this?”
Alicia staggered back, overwhelmed by a mix of pain and anger. Her emotions were all over the place, almost robbing her of all reason.
It was true that Caden had mentioned something about making Blake pay – more than once, in fact. And lately, his anger toward Blake seemed to have intensified. Alicia wouldn’t put it past Caden to do something like this.
The bodyguard took note of her distressed expression and smiled to himself.
“Are you all right, Ms. Bennett?” he asked, pretending to be concerned.
Ignoring him, Alicia did her best to swallow her raging emotions. She turned to the driver and asked, “Is Caden at the company right now?”
The driver knew that his boss was innocent, so he took it upon himself to speak up for Caden.
“Please do not make groundless assumptions, Ms. Bennett.”
Alicia didn’t explode at his forwardness.
“Tell him,” she said slowly, putting heavy emphasis on each word, “to stay in the company and wait for me.”
Just then, a nurse approached, carrying some items in her arms.
“Are you Blake Langstaff’s family?” she asked, holding up a bag in their direction.
“These are his clothes and other personal belongings. Please look after them in the meantime.”
Without warning, the bodyguard’s hand shot out to grab the bag, but Alicia was faster than him.
“Ms. Bennett,” he said in a rather exasperated voice.
“There is an item in that bag that Mr. Ward is after. Please hand it over so I can do my job and report back to him.”
Alicia clutched the bag to her chest, her pale face betraying no emotion.
“That won’t be necessary. I will deliver everything to Caden myself.”
She already knew what was inside. She also knew that she could only trust herself to deliver it to Caden safely.
The bodyguard opened his mouth to argue further, but Alicia’s icy glare silenced him within a second.
She cast one last glance at the door of Blake’s ward before leaving.
Once she was out of the hospital, Alicia made a quick call to her contacts and instructed them to detain the questionable bodyguard.
In the car, Alicia took out the blood-stained USB drive from the bag. Bits of flesh had gotten into the gap in its port. She couldn’t help but think back on Blake’s wound. If he hadn’t hidden the drive where he had, that suspicious bodyguard might have taken it.
Alicia took a deep breath. The situation had become more complex than she could have anticipated. She could barely make heads or tails of everything that was going on.
Deep down, however, her instincts told her that she would find peace and clarity with Caden.
She headed straight to the Blizzard Group headquarters and went directly to the CEO’s office.
Hank was visibly surprised when she stormed out of the elevator.
“Ms. Bennett? Are you here to see Mr. Ward?”
Alicia walked past him without a glance, her face cold and blank.
Hank immediately realized that something was wrong. He strode to keep up with her and opened the office door before she burst right through it.
Hearing the commotion at the door, Caden quickly tucked a paternity test report into one of his desk drawers. He looked up to find Alicia striding with purpose toward him.
Caden frowned.
“Why do you look so upset? Are you hurt somewhere?”
He jumped to his feet to go to her, only for Alicia to slam something onto his desk.
Caden stared at the bloodied USB drive as the air in the room seemed to thicken with an ominous tension.
But then Caden blinked, and he didn’t look the least bit startled.
Caden was unfazed. He calmly pulled a tissue out of a box and proceeded to clean Alicia’s bloody hands.
“What is so important that you had to bring it here?” His heart tightened when he realized that her hands were ice-cold.
“Where did all this blood come from?”
Alicia didn’t seem to hear a word he said. Her gaze was fixed on Caden’s face, so intent that he began to bristle.
“Answer me, Alicia,” he prodded.
“What happened?”
Alicia’s eyelashes fluttered as she took a ragged breath and withdrew her hands. Struggling to maintain her calm, she pulled out her phone and showed him a photo of the bodyguard she had confronted at the hospital.
“Is he one of your men?”
Caden took one look at her screen and said, “Yes.”
Alicia gripped her phone tightly, her face pale with distress.
“Did you send him to harm Mr. Langstaff?”
Caden paused, realizing what had caused her to react this way.
“Not at all,” he replied calmly, choosing his words carefully.
“I have many bodyguards, but I seldom use them. This one looked familiar because he’s been assigned frequently.”
He was no stranger to baseless accusations. They’d become so common that he’d grown indifferent. Yet, as he took Alicia’s hand, he found himself deeply concerned. Did she believe him?
Alicia, still shaken, stared blankly at him.
She believed him. Despite everything pointing toward Caden, Alicia trusted his character. She felt that if he truly held such resentment for Blake, he wouldn’t have waited this long to act – and he wouldn’t have denied it if he had really done it.
But now that things had happened, even if it wasn’t Caden’s doing, what difference did it make?
Alicia turned to leave, but Caden grabbed her, pulling her back to face him.
Tears filled her eyes, spilling onto his hand and sparking a profound unease within him.
He couldn’t bear to see her cry – especially not for someone else.
“Blake was attacked?” he asked, displeased.
“How badly was he hurt for you to be this upset?”
Alicia’s voice was faint.
“He lost his right hand.”