My Billionaire's Weird Love

"Clang... clang..."

The sound of metal hitting the floorboards vibrated through the hallway, punctuated by screams that didn't sound like Jane anymore. Caroline stood frozen. Her older sister was usually the composed one, the one with the Master’s degree plans and the secret smiles. Now, she sounded like a wounded animal.

"Stop, Jane... please, just stop. Let me talk to your father!"

Their mother’s voice was a shrill, desperate ribbon of sound trying to tie the chaos together. It didn't work. Jane’s responses were incoherent sobs mixed with a rage so hot it seemed to burn the very air of the second floor.

Caroline looked for an escape. She slipped into the kitchen, hoping for answers, but Tamini and Linda were huddled near the counters, their faces pale. Her caregivers, usually the bedrock of the house, could only shake their heads in a heavy, helpless silence. The slamming of a door echoed from upstairs right next to Caroline's room. The house felt like it was tilting.

Unable to go up and unwilling to stay, Caroline turned toward the back balcony, but her feet dragged as she passed her father’s office. The door was ajar.

He was inside. Silent.

The silence was almost worse than the screaming. Why wasn't he stopping it? Caroline pushed the door open, her heart hammering against her ribs.

"Father?"

Mr. Hale was a man of precision. Even now, he sat in his work suit, his tie knotted with surgical accuracy. When he heard her, he spun his chair away, shoulders tensing as he adjusted his posture before facing her. He offered a smile, but it was a brittle thing, held together by sheer willpower.

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked softly.

A visible wave of relief washed over him. He had clearly expected a confrontation, an interrogation about the war happening upstairs. Instead, he found only his youngest daughter’s concern.

"Just a little messy, Caroline," he said, the lie tasting like ash.

"Can you make it stop? The chaos?"

Mr. Hale simply shook his head, his gaze dropping to the mahogany desk. Caroline felt the weight of that silence. It was a dismissal. She began to back away, the heartbreak of the room's atmosphere Choking her, when his voice cracked the quiet.

"Wait. Caroline."

It was a plea, not a command. She stopped, returning to the chair across from him.

"How old are you now?" he asked. Before she could answer, he covered his face with his palms. "I’m sorry. I’ve been so buried in work... I’ve forgotten the milestones of my own children."

"I’m twenty, Dad," she reassured him, reaching out to touch the edge of his desk.

He took a deep breath, his hands trembling slightly as he dropped them. "I don’t want to burden you. I never wanted this. But if your sister refuses... I have nowhere else to turn." He looked her in the eye, his gaze hollow. "Caroline, do you want to get married?"

The question felt absurd, a jagged piece of