Chapter 496 Permanent Out
Inside the car, several people were seated.
"Esme, Nicholas, it's strangely quiet here. Should I go in first to check things out?" Eric turned to the back door and addressed the passengers.
Esme looked up through the window, her eyes reflecting deep contemplation. "No need. We'll go in directly."
Eric responded with a simple "Okay."
Shortly after, they walked through the grand entrance of Hearst Castle into the main hall. Nicholas pushed the wheelchair while Leroy and Eric flanked them on either side.
Both men surveyed the hall, noting its unusual quietness.
In the center of the hall stood a middle-aged man in a suit—the hall manager.
The manager approached them, taking a step forward. "Welcome. I'm Daryl Fields, the hall manager. Do you have a reservation for a private room?"
Hearst Castle offered many private rooms aside from hosting large banquets, but all required advance booking.
Leroy replied, "We're here for a banquet today."
A banquet? There wasn't supposed to be any banquet today, except for...
Daryl hesitated momentarily before his smile grew even more pronounced.
"I see. Please follow me," he gestured invitingly.
His brief hesitation had already aroused suspicion among the four visitors.
Yet Esme remained silent, and Nicholas and the others didn't dare speak up.
They took the elevator to the sixth floor, where Daryl led them to a banquet hall entrance.
The doors were closed tight, with no signs of activity.
"Mr. Fields, are you sure we're in the right place?" Eric couldn't help asking.
They increasingly suspected a trap, yet Esme, seated in her wheelchair, hadn't questioned anything.
Daryl maintained his professional smile. "If you're here for the banquet, then this is correct."
Eric found this answer utterly frustrating.
Just then, the doors opened from within.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Victoria received news that her mother Esme had gone to Hearst Castle with her companions.
"Victoria, are you really not going?" Winter asked curiously.
Victoria sat in the hospital corridor, arms crossed, head slightly bowed, her thoughts unreadable.
After a long pause, she replied calmly, "Yes."
Alexander had been taken for a CT scan, and since she couldn't accompany him, she waited in the corridor.
At Hearst Castle, the vast banquet hall contained only two people—one standing, one seated.
Outside the hall, Eric glanced at Nicholas with concern. "Nicholas, is it really okay to let Esme go in alone?"
Similarly worried, Leroy added, "Dad, who is that man anyway?"
The young men didn't recognize Zephyr.
Nicholas simply replied, "Don't be so nosy. You'll know when you need to know."
Inside, Zephyr gazed at Esme sitting in her wheelchair—alive and real. His emotions surged, his eyes reddening.
He had searched for her for so many years, believing he would never see her again—a lifelong regret. Despite twenty-some years passing, her familiar face and presence remained etched in his mind.
In contrast, Esme appeared much calmer.
"Speak up. Why did you lure me here? What do you want?" Her composed, cool voice echoed through the vast hall.
She had indeed appeared after seeing news of the family reunion, but knowing Victoria's character, she realized her daughter would never agree to such an event. Still, she came, knowing she and Zephyr would eventually meet again.
Better to clear things up sooner rather than later.
Zephyr's heart sank at her cold, distant tone.
"Esme, do you hate me? I know I was entirely wrong back then. I was too naive. I lost you both," he said.
His words carried genuine remorse.
But she hadn't come to hear his repentance.
Still, since he asked sincerely, she felt obliged to answer.
Her response came quickly, her tone even and detached, almost casual, "Hate you? Of course I do. But I hated myself more—for ever falling in love with you."
Then, shifting tone, she added, "Yet I don't regret it. In fact, I should thank you for giving me a daughter. But she is solely my daughter. She has nothing to do with you."
She delivered the final sentence with absolute conviction.
Hatred—she had long since moved beyond it.
Having released that hatred, she had found a certain peace.
But that didn't mean forgiveness.
The hatred was gone, and so was the love.
Her relationship with Zephyr had ended twenty-some years ago.
Zephyr understood exactly what she meant.
Even after all these years, she remained the decisive, straightforward Esme he had known.
She faced him with such composure, calmly stating her hatred, yet her heart was like still water—incapable of creating even the slightest ripple.
She had never been one to pity herself, always able to take things or leave them.
He was the one who couldn't let go.
"So even if I removed all obstacles now, you would never return to me?" he asked, still hopeful.
Esme laughed coldly at this. "Zephyr, we're not the same people we were twenty-some years ago. Don't you find your question rather redundant, even ridiculous?"
"But you're the only one I've ever loved, Esme."
Esme paused briefly, but showed little emotion.
She had heard something about him and Anouk.
But what was missed was missed.
"I admit I loved you once. But," she fixed him with a determined gaze, "let me be absolutely clear: when you married Anouk, you permanently lost any chance with me."
The word 'permanently' made Zephyr tremble.
Then she continued, "You should be grateful I never sought revenge. We loved once. Let's consider this a tribute to the time we spent together."
He couldn't fathom her despair and pain then.
And she no longer cared for his devotion now.
"Then why did you come, knowing this was a trap I set for you?" Zephyr had never been able to let her go—or perhaps he simply couldn't accept defeat.
Esme smiled faintly, but her words were final. "Don't flatter yourself. I simply don't want you disrupting my life or my daughter's life in the future."
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