Chapter Four

“How can you be so sure that it was premeditated?”

“I don't remember anything but that car had been following me since I landed at the airport. He was waiting for me!”

The police officer turned serious and asked, “Can you remember anything else?”

“I remember the last two digits of the car plates were 53, and it was a black SUV.”

The police responded with a hint of disbelief, “But Ms Roberts, this happened six years ago and you yourself said you’ve suffered from temporary amnesia, so how can you be certain the things you’ve remembered are in fact correct?” Caroline replied steadily, “That’s because the man wanted to kill me, how can one possibly mistake the details of his or her killer? Furthermore, even during my amnesia, my retentive memory was perfectly okay.”

The police were quick to believe her. This was because he had pulled Caroline’s records and realized she was a student from Harvard University, one of the top ten universities in the world. “Ms Roberts, do you have any suspects in mind or do you have any grudges with anyone in the past?” “The only suspects I have in mind are my stepmother and her daughter. After my father passed away, they were quick to cut me out of his will. Everything my father had was inherited by the mother-daughter pair even though I’m my father’s only biological heir.”

Hostility filled Caroline’s eyes when she spat out those words. Caroline’s parents also divorced when she was young. She grew up overseas with her mom. After her father remarried, Caroline would spend some time in the country with her father annually. She got along well with her new stepmother and sister.

They were always kind and nice to her. Caroline also treated them as her extended family but who would have known the pair had a hidden motive all along.When her father was on his deathbed, they were afraid Caroline would lay claim to a majority of his estate so their vicious nature finally reared its ugly head.

It was really a miracle that the car accident didn’t take Caroline’s life, but only her memory. Her father, before he passed away - perhaps finally realizing his new wife’s mal-intention - contacted Old Mr Pierce and requested that Caroline be married into the Pierce Family. Hence, after her father died, Caroline who had lost her memory became Andrew’s wife.

Following a series of ups and downs, she finally decided to file for a divorce and left the Pierce Family. Their divorce was the talk of the town so there was no way it could escape her stepmother. However, in the past three years, she had never once offered to help out. In fact, Caroline did try to approach her for help when she was almost homeless but her stepmother turned a blind eye to her plight.

The contrast in their attitude before and after her accident was so drastic that it was hard to believe that the mother-daughter paid had nothing to do with Caroline’s downfall. In any case, she was certain her stepmother and sister were the perpetrators behind her so-called accident. And now that she thought about it, her father’s death seemed quite unnatural and suspicious as well. Her father wouldn’t even touch a drink that had alcohol in it so how could he have fallen down the stairs in a drunken stupor?

Caroline swore to get to the bottom of these happenings and find out what actually happened. She would also make sure Alice and Vicky pay for what they did! When she left the police station, the sun had long set. Caroline didn’t return to the hospital to resume her treatment, instead she headed straight home.

Her divorce to Andrew left her penniless, it was her uncle who took her in. John Roberts was her father’s younger brother, and he used to work in the Roberts Family’s hotelier business. His transparency and lack of business acumen prevented him from achieving professional greatness. Her stepmother and sister took complete rein over her father’s estate after he passed away, leaving her uncle and his only son with nothing at all. In a way, Caroline and her uncle’s family found themselves landing in the same boat.

However, her generous uncle insisted on taking Caroline into his care. He treated her like his own daughter. This debt of gratitude, Caroline would continue to repay it for the rest of her life. After navigating a series of increasingly dirty alleyways, Caroline found herself in a decrepit residential area. She glanced around vacantly.

It would not be an exaggeration to call the place a slum. Grimy, smelly and filthy were fitting descriptions. Caroline never knew that she would ever end up in a place like this. Before she lost her memory, she lived a life of ease. Even without her father’s heritage, she would have survived quite well with her talent and capability.

In the game of life, she once stood tall and proud with her head held high. But then, fate struck her down. A car accident sent her down a slippery slope which brought her eventually to this slum. Her fate was like the concubines in Ancient dramas; favored one moment, abandoned the next.

It was not hard to see why she was so bitter about it. However, with the return of her memory, she was going to reclaim everything she had lost! With her talent and hard work, she believed she would soon see the back of this place. Her life would no longer be in fate’s hands! It was time to take matters into her own hands.