Chapter 59: Squashing An Ant
"No, you’re lying," Amelia said, almost instinctively. "There’s no way he would just―"
The very thought was unthinkable. She could not fathom how someone could possibly be ready to snuff the light from someone’s eyes, simply because they wanted to marry someone outside of their circle.
"And how would you know what Horace Hawthorne could do? You’ve only known him for... a week? Not even that," Caleb pointed out with a raised eyebrow. "Men like him don’t stay at the top of the food pyramid by having morals or a conscience."
"You’re one to talk about morals and a conscience," Amelia retorted with gritted teeth.
"That’s why you should listen to me about this. I know what I’m talking about," Caleb said, Amelia’s barb rolling off him like water off a duck’s back. "Haven’t you wondered why he was so desperate to see his daughter again that he would mistake someone like you, a stranger twenty years younger, for her? Isn’t it ridiculous?"
"How is it ridiculous? He’s her father! He has a right to miss her!" Amelia exclaimed, and Caleb snorted.
"He’s trying to assuage his guilt for fucking up her life decades ago, so much so that he’s looking for her in every blonde he meets," Caleb said mercilessly. "If I were a blonde woman, he’d call me Elaine too. That’s how delusional and senile he is."
"That’s so rude!" Amelia scolded, but Caleb waved off her words.
"Elaine Hawthorne chose to end her own life rather than marry the man he picked out for her. There’s a reason why no one really dares to bring her up in conversation in our circles."