"I buried a time capsule under the old acacia tree at the family house. This key is a keepsake for our daughter. —Lauren Hawke"
Dorian closed the lid and turned to look at the old man on the bed.
Alistair's head was lolling to the side, his clouded eyes fixed on the box.
"I'm going to find Grace right now."
Dorian wiped his face, his expression hardening with resolve. "If Grace sees these things, if she knows how much you once loved Mom, and that you once looked forward to her birth, she'll soften up."
"After all... blood is thicker than water."
As Dorian walked out of the hospital room, he felt his steps were heavy, yet filled with a sense of sacred duty.
What he didn't know was that the moment the door clicked shut...
The remorse in Alistair's cloudy eyes vanished, as did the trembling and twitching.
His hand, hidden under the blanket, was no longer shaking. It moved with steady purpose to press the call button by his bed.
Before long, an older doctor in a white coat hurried into the room.
"Alistair, how was my performance? Did the kid buy it?"
Alistair smirked. Though his face was still crooked, he spoke with much more clarity. "Hmph. That Dorian is too soft-hearted, too easy to fool. A few worthless letters I had someone write for me, and he's moved to tears."
"The medicine..." the old doctor hesitated.
"Keep using it," Alistair said, a flash of cruelty in his eyes. "As long as it gets that ungrateful daughter to come back, as long as I can turn the tables, what does it matter if I'm really paralyzed for a few months?!"
***
Dorian, clutching the box filled with "a father's love," drove toward Damien's villa.
The lights of Damien's mountainside villa blazed brightly.
Grace was curled up on the sofa, holding a glass of warm milk, watching a TV show with a distracted air.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Five Years Wasted Now They Beg Her Back