Chapter 14 Elsa, Enough!
Harold sat across from his wife and daughter with his head lowered, silent.
Elsa had guessed correctly.
Before she had said a single word, her parents were already preparing to move out and return Alexander's money.
If they knew he was using money to trap her in the marriage, Elsa couldn't imagine how desperately they would react.
Harold stood and pushed the bank card into her hand.
"Listen to your mother. Give it back to him. In a few days we'll move out, and we'll return the apartment too."
Elsa tightened her grip around the card and did not refuse again.
Sooner or later, the truth about her marriage would come out.
Perhaps it was better to begin untangling things now.
Besides, no matter how much she hid, she was still their daughter.
If she was unhappy, her parents would feel it eventually.
So she would return what she could.
One piece at a time.
After hesitating, Elsa said, "Dad, I want to return to medicine. Can you introduce me to Professor Morris?"
Both of her parents immediately supported the idea of her working again.
Elsa's first love had actually been the violin.
Her childhood dream was to become a violinist.
But when she was eighteen, she accidentally discovered that Alexander suffered from severe insomnia.
Without telling anyone, she changed her university plans and entered medical school instead.
Once enrolled, she asked her parents to help her transfer into sleep medicine.
After graduation, she married Alexander and gave up a career.
Even so, because of him, she never stopped researching sleep disorders.
She had eventually helped cure Alexander's insomnia, and she held graduate degrees in both psychology and sleep medicine.
What she lacked was clinical experience.
If she wanted to make a real career in the field, she would have to begin again from the bottom.
That afternoon, Elsa went with her father to Saintville Central Hospital and met Professor Morris again.
He was a leading authority in sleep medicine and an internationally respected clinician in the treatment of sleep disorders.
After retirement, the hospital had brought him back with an extremely generous contract.
Elsa had spent three years as a full-time wife and was badly out of touch with practical medicine.
She wanted to become Professor Morris's assistant and rebuild her skills.
Years earlier, the Winters family had helped Professor Morris's son through a difficult situation, so Morris agreed without hesitation.
He told Elsa to complete a full physical examination, obtain the required health clearance, and report to him the following Monday.
Before she left, he also introduced her to a senior colleague who could help her learn the hospital's procedures more quickly.
At first, Elsa would earn very little.
But modern life was fast and stressful, and sleep problems had become increasingly urgent among people living under constant pressure.
If she devoted herself to the field, Elsa believed she could build something meaningful.
And when a person was truly absorbed in work, there was less time left to torture herself with thoughts she couldn't control.
For the first time in days, Elsa felt a small clearing in the storm inside her.
That evening, after dinner with her parents, she returned to the house she shared with Alexander.
To her surprise, he was home.
As Elsa changed into slippers, Alexander stood and poured her a glass of water.
"How is Mom recovering?"
Elsa accepted the glass, then placed it on the coffee table without drinking.
Alexander had always addressed her parents with the same warmth she did—Mom and Dad.
He maintained his image perfectly.
He had always been excellent at appearances.
Elsa took out the bank card her parents had given her and held it toward him.
"This contains the money you've transferred to my parents over the years. I checked at the bank. A little more than three hundred thousand is missing. The rest is still here. They asked me to return it first."
Alexander gave a quiet, "Mm," and accepted the card.
Elsa stood. "In a few days, my parents will move out. They'll return the downtown apartment too."
Alexander remained seated on the sofa, turning the card slowly between his fingers.
He looked up at her and gave another calm, "Mm."
He did not refuse.
Elsa went upstairs.
Alexander stayed on the sofa.
When the Winters family collapsed, he had paid more than nine hundred million in debt alone.
Even if Elsa returned everything else, that one amount was more than she could repay in a lifetime.
When Alexander finally went upstairs, he found Elsa carrying a pillow and blanket toward the next room.
He closed the bedroom door, walked over, and took them from her hands.
"As long as we're married, you sleep in this bed."
Elsa turned away.
Alexander wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back against him.
Their eyes met.
His voice softened.
"Stop thinking so much. Things are fine."
The hurt in Elsa's eyes made him lean closer.
He lowered his head to kiss her.
Elsa angrily resisted.
Alexander pushed her back onto the bed and placed a pillow beneath her waist.
At that exact moment, his phone rang.
He immediately pulled the pillow away, rolled off the bed, and stood.
Elsa struggled upright.
The speed with which Alexander turned off the screen stabbed directly into her nerves again.
She grabbed the pillow and threw it at him.
"Is it her?"
Alexander's expression darkened.
Elsa rushed forward and tried to grab the phone.
He moved it out of her reach.
The relentless buzzing slowly stripped away what remained of her reason.
Elsa reached for the buttons of Alexander's sleep shirt.
When he pushed her away, she lost control even more completely.
She threw herself at him and began yanking at his clothes.
"Didn't you want to sleep with me? Why did you stop?"
"Elsa, enough!"
Alexander put the phone on the nightstand and lifted her around the waist, carrying her back to the bed.
He held both her arms so she couldn't keep fighting.
"You don't have to sleep in another room. I'll stay elsewhere for a while. When you've truly calmed down, I'll come back."
He released her, picked up the phone, and went into the dressing room.
A few minutes later, fully dressed, Alexander left without looking back.
Elsa chased him into the hallway and heard his voice on the phone.
"Stop crying. I'm coming now."
"Is there anything you want to eat? I'll buy it on the way."
By the time Elsa reached the front door, Alexander had already driven away.
She ran out into the rain.
Standing in the downpour, watching the red taillights disappear, she screamed his name until her voice broke.
Then she began chasing the car like someone who had lost all reason.
Eventually her strength failed.
Elsa collapsed in the rain.
She had no way to solve the problem she was trapped in.
No power to end the relationship.
No control over her own emotions anymore.
She truly felt as though she was dying.
Late that night, in an upscale residential complex in central Saintville, Alexander arrived at Serena's home carrying late-night food and a bag of cold medicine.
Serena opened the door wearing a thin spaghetti-strap nightdress.
Noticing Alexander's low mood, she covered her mouth and coughed twice before accepting the bags from him.
"Alexander, I'm sorry. Of all times, I had to get a fever tonight."
He found a thermometer and handed it to her. "Check your temperature. If it's too high, I'll take you to the hospital."
Serena looked guilty. "I called you in the middle of the night. Your wife won't be angry, will she?"
Alexander shook his head. "She won't."
"Should I call her and explain?"
Alexander began unpacking the food he'd brought.
"Don't worry about her. She's probably asleep by now."