“Hadley, look at me.” Eric gripped her face with gentle but unwavering firmness, compelling her to meet his earnest gaze. “I believe you completely. I believe you didn’t push her. She threw herself down those stairs.”
“What?” Hadley froze, convinced that her desperate heart had somehow twisted his words into what she longed to hear. Her expression flickered between crushing disbelief and the faintest glimmer of hope.
“It was her.” Eric nodded with solemn conviction.
He wasn’t merely offering empty comfort to soothe her pain—he had finally discovered the truth years later and believed it with every fiber of his being. Time had carved away the lies and deceptions, allowing buried truths to surface into the harsh light of day.
Looking back, Eric felt virtually certain that the child Linda had been carrying belonged not to Ernest but to Robin, making her entire charade even more despicable. The reason Linda had acted with such calculated ruthlessness to get rid of the child was that she and Ernest had never shared anything resembling a genuine relationship.
“She framed you!” Eric’s voice rang out with steady, unshakeable conviction.
Hadley’s sobs caught in her throat before she collapsed into complete emotional release. “Yes! Finally! That’s precisely how it unfolded!”
Despite the passage of countless years, in this moment she wept with the raw vulnerability of a lost child.
“Forgive me!” Eric’s heart shattered under the crushing weight of guilt and shame, leaving him feeling completely worthless. “You could have confided in me sooner… Didn’t Elissa ever tell you about Linda and Robin?”
“I couldn’t bring myself to speak. I lacked the courage. I couldn’t bear to…” Hadley’s eyes were swollen and bloodshot from weeping. “She held the position of your savior! I was insignificant in comparison. My existence meant nothing!”
During Linda’s latest hospitalization, Eric and Ernest had maintained a constant vigil by her bedside, alternating their devoted care. Hadley had already resolved to abandon their relationship, making further explanations seem pointless. Moreover, she possessed only nagging doubts—no tangible proof to support her claims.
“Hadley!” Eric bowed his head until their foreheads touched. Tears gathered in his eyes as his voice broke with overwhelming emotion.
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Regret devoured him whole, leaving nothing but hollow anguish in its wake. From that crushing regret erupted a violent hatred—directed at himself, at the catastrophic incident that had birthed all of Hadley’s torment. He ached to rewrite history, to erase that fateful day and give his younger self the wisdom to hear her desperate pleas.
Only now did the cruel irony become clear—why Hadley had recoiled from his misplaced “gratitude” toward Linda with such visceral pain.
“I’m sorry. I’m so deeply sorry.” Eric’s apologies poured forth like a broken dam, each word heavy with remorse.
The devastating truth crashed over him—Hadley was the person he had wronged most profoundly in this world. He had abandoned her to face unbearable pain in complete isolation when she needed him the most. Eric pressed his lips tenderly to her forehead, his voice breaking into whispered fragments. “This is my fault. I treated you with such cruelty.”
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