Chapter 18 New Discoveries
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After ending the call, Caroline stared blankly at her phone, lost in her thoughts in the spacious office.
She hadn’t even noticed when her assistant, Kelly Johnson,
entered. “Ms. Ashbourne, these documents need your
signature.”
Caroline snapped back to reality and gave a cool nod. Kelly turned to leave.
As Kelly closed the door thoughtfully behind her, she couldn’t help but quickly glance at Caroline’s elegant figure.
Even as another woman, Kelly had to admit Caroline was drop–dead gorgeous.
The only problem was how cold and distant she seemed, making her difficult to approach.
It was hard to imagine what kind of man could be worthy of her.
After giving it serious thought, Kelly concluded that probably no
one!
If Kelly had known that Caroline was not only married but had actually initiated the marriage herself, she would have thought she was hallucinating.
Chapter 18 New Discoveries
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Caroline opened the folder, but her pen hovered in midair.
She hadn’t asked, so Alistair hadn’t volunteered any information.
He could have handled the situation and had already resolved the trouble. Still, she wanted to help Alistair and be involved.
Caroline, who usually minded her own business, found herself inexplicably concerned about every aspect of Alistair’s life despite him being a stranger.
But Alistair hadn’t given her the chance.
After signing the documents, Caroline pushed them aside and picked up her phone again. She began researching Alistair’s personal information.
Caroline began investigating Alistair’s background.
When they first met, she felt an inexplicable urge to approach and get to know him better.
This feeling came without any apparent reason. While Caroline didn’t mind spontaneity, she disliked confusion without cause.
It couldn’t simply be that Alistair matched her type perfectly, and she’d fallen for him at first sight, could it?
Caroline believed such superficial reactions wouldn’t apply to someone as naturally methodical as herself.
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Unable to find answers, she looked for them in Alistair’s past.
She hoped to uncover clues in his history that might explain her attraction.
Caroline focused on Alistair because she had a year–long gap in her memories.
She remembered nothing from when she was twelve–an entire year completely erased.
She had asked about it before, and everyone told her the same story. She had been gravely ill that year, nearly dying. She had spent the entire time bedridden at the Ashbourne Manor. They assured her it was normal not to remember anything from such a difficult period.
Was that true?
If so, Caroline reasoned, even if she hadn’t forgotten, those memories would only be filled with the smell of antiseptic and the tedium of recovery–hardly worth dwelling on.
Yet, while Caroline outwardly accepted this explanation, a slight doubt occasionally nagged at her.
Why did everyone’s expression seem unnatural whenever I asked about that year?
Alistair had grown up in one of Chicago’s poorer neighborhoods.
As a child, relatives raised him while his parents worked in New
Chapter 18 New Discoveries
York.
When Alistair was seven, his mother died unexpectedly.
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That same year, his father remarried and used his savings and his late wife’s insurance to buy a house in New York.
Alistair continued attending elementary school in Chicago.
Alistair’s grandfather, Robert Harlow, brought him to New York for middle school. Alistair transferred to a middle school in New York. He later earned admission to New York’s most prestigious high school, thanks to his exceptional grades.
Caroline reviewed Alistair’s personal history multiple times and found almost no trace of Liam’s involvement in his life.
It was as if Liam had wholly forgotten his son.
During the spring semester of his freshman year, Robert passed away, leaving Alistair completely alone.
He managed to survive on Robert’s modest savings and financial aid from the school.
Just before the SAT, despite his teachers‘ high expectations, Alistair suddenly dropped out.
Caroline knew he had left school because of a teenage romance.
However, she noticed something puzzling.
Chapter 18 New Discoveries
According to her investigation, Alistair attended the regular honors program while Rebecca was in the international
program.
The regular and international programs occupied different buildings, so students from each program rarely interacted.
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How had Alistair, a determined, hardworking scholarship student, ended up in a relationship with a wealthy student like
Rebecca?
And they even had a son together!
Though all of this happened before Alistair knew her, and even though being with him now didn’t mean they were a conventional married couple, Caroline still felt bothered. She had no real reason to be jealous, yet she was.
She made a phone call. “I need you to investigate someone else for me–Rebecca Whitfield. She’s Alistair’s ex–wife. Get me everything you can find. The more detailed, the better.”
It wasn’t her only discovery.
According to the records, Alistair had lived in his hometown. until he was thirteen.
And Caroline, who was the same age as Alistair, had lost her memories when she was twelve.
Could there possibly be a connection between them?
DIPS HE
Chapter 18 New Discoveries
It seemed absurd to force a link between herself and Alistair
based on such a flimsy coincidence.
Yet these strange thoughts grew wild in her mind like weeds given ample sunlight and water.
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She might have convinced herself she believed it, but she only realized today how long she’d harbored doubts about her twelfth
year.
Chicago… Alistair’s hometown…
Caroline decided she would make time to visit someday, if only to clear her head.
*****
To help children adjust more quickly, the preschool allowed new students to leave early on their first day.
Though Eloise was in the middle class, this was her first day at preschool, so she, too, got the early dismissal treatment.
Alistair waited for her at the preschool entrance,
Eloise emerged, her small hand held by the teacher.
Alistair noticed her hair styled in a neat fishtail braid, with sparkly hair clips still perfectly in place.
The preschoolers napped at midday, and while boys‘ hair didn’t matter much afterward, the teachers always took time to fix the
Chapter 18 New Discoveries girls‘ hair before dismissal.
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She stretched her neck, searching toward the gate, and when she spotted Alistair, her serious, tense little face lit up instantly. She ran to him excitedly, calling out, “Daddy!”
Alistair drew her close, and the little girl nestled against him, looking up with pure adoration. Anyone watching would see a father and daughter with a deep bond. Nobody would guess they’d only been together as an improvised family for two days.
This preschool was the finest in New York, with annual tuition. approaching a million dollars. The children here came from wealthy or prestigious families. Since Caroline, like Rebecca, had money to spare, she naturally wanted only the best for Eloise. It wasn’t surprising that she would become Daniel’s classmate.
He would inevitably run into them while dropping off or picking up Eloise.
Alistair had thought such encounters would bother him, but now he realized he didn’t care.
Could you make flies extinct just because you despise them? If not, the best approach was simply to ignore them.
Alistair naturally wanted to ask about Eloise’s first day of kindergarten.
“There are so many kids at kindergarten,” she told him.
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“The teachers are really nice to me,” she continued, eagerly reporting everything that had happened at school.
“Nobody was mean to me, Daddy, so don’t worry! The food was yummy. I ate three big plates!”
Alistair couldn’t help but laugh.
To an adult, three plates meant three full servings of food.
But to a child, three plates meant three separate times.
Even if each “plate” contained just a single strand of pasta, it still counted as one.
When Caroline and Alistair dropped Eloise off at preschool in the morning, her teachers added both parents to WhatsApp.
They were giving Eloise special attention.
Throughout the day, Alistair had received numerous private messages from the teachers on his phone–practically a real–time broadcast of Eloise’s activities at kindergarten.
Caroline had undoubtedly received identical updates.
Even so, hearing about the day directly from Eloise was far more reassuring.
That was probably the essence of parental worry.
Though Alistair had been stuck with an irresponsible father,
Chapter 18 New Discoveries
ninety–nine percent of parents genuinely love their children, including Alistair himself, despite being a stepfather.
