Chapter 44 Wait Until He Comes Back in Three Days
After lunch with Eleanor and Violet, Elsa returned to the home she had shared with Alexander.
She called a moving and renovation crew.
By the end of the afternoon, she had stripped almost the entire house back to its shell.
Furniture, decorations, and pieces of the life she had built there filled more than half the garden.
Elsa told the workers not to haul any of the "trash" away.
That evening, Serena arrived with Ethan.
She looked around the empty house, then cautiously at Elsa.
"Mrs. Horton, why did you ask my son and me to come here?"
Serena remembered how she had lied about Elsa to Alexander only days earlier.
Was this revenge?
Elsa stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking at the mountain of discarded belongings in the garden.
Her voice was calm.
"Miss Whitmore, I'm stepping aside. You and Alexander can be together."
Serena's eyes flickered.
"If you truly wanted to give him up, you would have done it already. Why now?"
For once, Serena genuinely didn't know what Elsa was planning.
Elsa turned and looked around the hollowed-out house.
"Alexander and I grew up together. I admit I love him. But unfortunately, you're the person he loves."
Serena hid the excitement in her eyes.
"Miss Winters... you really mean that?"
Elsa nodded.
"I've known Alexander for more than twenty years. He almost never lies. But for you, he lied to me. He pretended he was on a business trip, stayed away for a month, and never explained."
Serena lowered her eyes to hide a flash of guilt.
"I'm sorry. I tried to persuade Alexander to go home at the time, but he hadn't seen me for so long, and he..."
She deliberately left the sentence unfinished.
The implication hurt more than a complete explanation would have.
Elsa gave a self-mocking smile.
"You don't need to hide it. Alexander hasn't hidden his feelings for you from me."
She took a slow breath.
"He told me himself that you're the woman he wanted to marry. That he hasn't been happy since you left. That marrying me was something he did because circumstances forced him to settle for another choice."
Serena pressed both hands against her pounding heart.
She had known it.
Alexander still loved her.
Elsa's gaze moved toward Ethan, who was playing farther away.
"I've finally accepted it. You love each other, and you have a child. I should have stepped aside long ago."
Serena grabbed Elsa's hand excitedly.
"Thank you. Thank you for letting us be together."
Elsa quietly withdrew her hand.
"This house is Alexander's and my marital home. The master-bedroom dressing room and his study contain many of his valuable personal belongings, so I didn't touch those areas. Everything else that could be removed has been removed."
She continued, "I've already contacted a renovation company for you. Choose whatever style you like. I'll pay the renovation cost as a wedding gift."
Then she seemed to remember something.
"I didn't know what to give Ethan. I cleared out the music room upstairs and asked the designer to turn it into a child's bedroom. Consider that my gift to him."
Serena immediately called Ethan over.
"Ethan, thank Aunt Elsa."
The child had no understanding of the adult conflict around him.
"Thank you, Aunt Elsa."
Elsa gently touched his head.
"He's adorable. No wonder Alexander protects him like his life."
Serena's eyes shifted and she quickly sent Ethan away again.
Then she spoke carefully.
"Miss Winters, all of this is my fault. Alexander and I both wronged you. He's been under so much pressure because of Ethan and me. I didn't know how to help him. Thank you for finally understanding us."
Elsa shook her head.
At this point, she no longer wanted to decide who was right or wrong.
There was only love and the absence of it.
She had fought for Alexander.
She had begged for him.
And every answer had told her the same thing.
He didn't love her.
He didn't belong to her.
"I paid for urgent service," Elsa said. "The renovation crew will arrive tomorrow morning. Choose the plan quickly. Before Alexander comes back from his business trip, you and Ethan can move in."
Serena still looked stunned. "You're sure?"
Elsa didn't answer.
She walked into the garden and looked at the pile of things that had once filled her home.
Each object carried some fragment of Alexander.
Childhood.
Adolescence.
Marriage.
Elsa crouched and used a lighter to set fire to a teddy bear.
She couldn't remember exactly which year Alexander had given it to her.
Her mother once told her the story.
Elsa had been playing in the Horton garden and demanded that Alexander, newly home from school, push her on the swing.
He ignored her.
She cried and followed him all the way to the adults to complain.
To stop her tears, Alexander carried her out and bought the bear.
The flame spread quickly.
Soon the toy disappeared into fire.
Elsa stepped back.
The pile began to burn, crackling as flames lit the night around the garden.
She watched in silence.
It felt as though the same fire was reducing her heart to ash.
Behind her, Serena watched with a smile she could barely suppress.
She hadn't even needed to do much.
Elsa was leaving on her own.
Once Serena moved into this house, she had no intention of ever being driven out.
Elsa took a divorce agreement and a bank card from her handbag.
She handed both to Serena.
"Find a way to get Alexander to sign this. And tell him the card contains the one billion I owe him. The day he goes with me to finalize the divorce, I'll give him the PIN."
Serena held the papers and card tightly, excitement almost impossible to hide.
She hadn't expected Elsa to have access to so much money.
Then Elsa lifted her left hand and stared at the wedding ring on her finger.
She had worn it for three years.
Never once removed it.
She remembered how hard she had cried when Alexander slid it onto her finger.
He had told her that if she liked it so much, she should keep it on and stop taking it off.
Elsa had answered through tears that she would wear it for the rest of her life unless she died.
Looking back now, she felt foolish.
Serena's eyes remained fixed on the diamond ring.
If the Horton elders hadn't interfered six years ago, Serena thought, that ring should have been hers.
The title of Mrs. Horton should have been hers too.
When Elsa didn't move, Serena cautiously stepped closer.
"Miss Winters, if Alexander doesn't love you, that ring doesn't mean anything anymore. Could you return it too?"
Elsa looked up.
She saw the excitement in Serena's eyes.
Without a word, Elsa removed the ring.
Then she slid it directly onto Serena's ring finger.
Her own eyes reddened.
"I'm giving Alexander back to you."
Elsa paused at the door.
"Don't tell him yet. Let him focus on his project overseas. When he returns in three days, you and Ethan can surprise him."