Flash Marriage to a Stunning CEO (Alistair and Richard)

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Chapter 171 Her Goodbye?

Mabel was still burdened by guilt over not protecting Caroline.

To Alistair, that was simply unacceptable. She was a

grandmother, not a guardian by law, and she had already given Caroline everything she could.

Without her presence, Caroline's childhood might have been even more suffocating and bleak.

"Please don't blame yourself. It wasn't your fault," Alistair said softly and then hesitated before asking, "Do you remember when you first got sick?"

Mabel thought for a moment. "I believe it was when Caroline had just started eighth grade. Right at the beginning of the school year."

Alistair's heart gave a sudden jolt.

In Caroline's memories, after Mabel fell ill, Paige had taken over her care--though "care" was hardly the word. It was control, plain and simple. The real breaking point came when Giselle went through her room and opened the belongings her mother had left her. That act lit the fuse.

From that moment on, Caroline and Paige had been at odds. And during the year Mabel spent in the convalescent home, Caroline had been stuck under Paige's thumb, surviving under

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Chapter 171 Her Goodbye?

her rule.

Okay, maybe "surviving" was a little dramatic.

That was just his own mental exaggeration.

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Caroline had never described exactly how she got through that year. She'd only mentioned what had happened between her and Paige, leaving out the rest.

But knowing her, she would never have bowed her head just to make life easier. And Paige was the type who thrived on dominance, with a need to control every little thing.

Two people like that under one roof? Someone was going to suffer. And it didn't take a genius to know who that someone was. Caroline, barely in her teens, hadn't even grown her wings

yet.

Then, without meaning to, Alistair found himself thinking about that house in Chicago, the one not far from his own. The one with the child who'd been locked upstairs.

At first, he'd ruled Caroline out because the child had been assumed to be a boy. But now he wasn't so sure. That assumption had been based solely on the short haircut. No one had ever confirmed the gender. The two women living there had kept to themselves, rarely speaking to anyone. Who was to say the child hadn't been a girl?

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a girl...

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him to her, ever since they'd gotten married, Alistair had

as low blood sugar. It hadn't added up. Which

he hoped he was wrong. Even if those memories belonged to a younger version of her, he hoped her past hadn't been quite

timeline Mabel gave him now matched up exactly

his tone casual, Alistair asked, "Do you know what really happened between Caroline and Paige? What caused their

her answer echoed what

her position was far more complicated than his. Alistair was Caroline's husband. He hadn't even met Paige back then. All he

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Chapter 171 Her Goodbye?

things weren't so

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was her granddaughter, someone she'd raised from infancy. When both sides were family, when mother and granddaughter told entirely different. stories, who was she supposed to

was that Mabel had never once

girl. I raised her. She's not who Paige makes her out to be," Mabel said, her voice tightening. "Gordon was just as blind. Paige told him Caroline was unruly and dangerous, that she needed to be sent away to one

eyebrows shot up.

didn't match

was nothing official or clinical about it. Only three people lived there, and none of them

then again, if the Ashbourne family had wanted to commission a private

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Chapter 171 Her Goodbye?

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Mabel's tone shifted. Her fingers wrapped around his, and

that year. She's asked about it before, and we've always told her she was sick. Maybe she was, in a way. Maybe she just couldn't face what happened, and

course he wouldn't.

proved she didn't

her a solemn nod.

had been lifted from her chest. "That's a

changed

looked up quickly. "I swear, I really had nothing to do with that, not even

her head. "You already told me. I believe you. You don't need to keep saying it. If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't have let

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Chapter 171 Her Goodbye?

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much she meant that

especially talkative that day. What started as a conversation about Caroline

her newest hobbies, and how much taller

with amusement. But the longer she went on, the more something unsettled

into his mind, uninvited and unwelcome,