It was past eight in the morning. Liz had assumed Ste would have been up ages ago, ready to stir up trouble.
Remington threw a nce at the door, his eyes as cold as a sharpened de.
But when he looked back down at Liz, the warmth returned instantly.
He took her hand, gently massaging her fingers which were a bit flushed, and asked softly,
"Are your hands tired?"
Liz''s ears instantly burned bright red. She kicked his shin in flustered
embarrassment and hissed,
"Focus on the matter at hand!"
She had a strong suspicion something happenedst night. Why would Remington lock Ste in that room?
Was he purely worried the woman would cause trouble in the house, or had he done something else?
Remington squeezed her fingers a couple more times before saying, "Let her out. You can see for yourself."
He made a quick phone call. Soon, a bodyguard came upstairs and used a key to unlock the door across the hall.
The moment the door clicked open, a figure practically fell out of the room.
Her hair was a tangled rat''s nest, her face and clothes were filthy, and her skin was ghastly pale. Blood was still oozing from a cut on her forehead and the corner of her mouth.
Who else could this trembling, stumbling woman be but Ste West?
Liz stared in utter shock at Ste, who looked like a literal ghost leaning heavily against the wall for support. She couldn''t fathom what on earth had transpired overnight to reduce the woman to this state.
"Oh my, Ms. West. Are you quite alright?"
Liz''s tantly insincere tone made Ste snap her head up. When she saw Liz and Remington standing together, her zed, vacant eyes slowly regained focus.
She lunged forward, reaching out to grab Liz wildly.
"Liz! Tell your baby to stop haunting me! I... I didn''t hurt him! It wasn''t me! It wasn''t me!"
Before Ste''s hands could even brush Liz''s clothes, the bodyguard swiftly yanked her back.
Ste stumbled backward, her back mming hard against the wall. She looked up and met Remington''s gaze over Liz''s shoulder. He was staring at her with terrifying coldness.
His eyes were piercing, seeing right through her. Fresh cold sweat broke out on Ste''s forehead. Her eyes darted around in pure panic as tears began to stream down her face.
Hearing Ste''s hysterical babbling, Liz easily pieced together what had happened.
She knew the room across from the master suite was the nursery they had originally prepared for little Joy. She had deliberately arranged for Ste to stay therest night.
She wanted Ste to take a good, hard look at everything they had lovingly prepared for Joy, to see if the woman had even a shred of conscience or felt any
remorse.
But based on Ste''s current unhinged state, Remington had obviously added a few... touches of his own.
Liz stepped forward and firmly seized Ste''s wrist.
"Ste, just how guilty is your conscience that spending one single night in Joy''s room has driven you half mad?"
Meeting Liz''s eyes, which were zing with undisguised hatred, Ste shrank back. She forcefully bit down on her own tongue.
The sharp pain brought a modicum of rity. She had passed out twicest night and woken up twice.
Every single time she regained consciousness, she was greeted by the sound of a child''s eerie crying andughing.
She vividly remembered her slippers being soaked in thick, crimson blood, yet when she woke up in the morning, the floor by the door was spotlessly clean.
Even the slippers she had kicked off in panic were pristine. The impossibility of it all had terrified her even more, leading to her frantic pounding on the door and deranged appearance.
"Liz, I''m not guilty of anything. I just hit my head yesterday. Between that and being so upset over the
situation with Ron didn''t get any rest. Was
I delirious and had a
nightmare. You''re overthinking things."
Ste would obviously never admit to anything, and her excuse was, annoyingly, somewhat usible.
Liz let out a coldugh. "Can you
even convince yourself with that tie? Ste West, curse you. I curse you to be haunted by nightmares every single night for the rest of your life!"