Chapter 376 How Long Will You See Him Once
“Her ex, or her current husband?” Alexander asked menacingly.
He recognized that his and Courtney’s wedding was a sham from the start. It all started with Elijah and ended with him too. There was no space in her heart for him all along.
Speaking with hints of anger, Elijah said, “I don’t care about the status as long as she’s happy. But I’m afraid that this problem has nothing to do with you now. You should know very well what we want to discuss with you.”
The word ‘we’ stabbed Alexander’s heart, making his face darken with anger.
“Ok, then. I’m curious to see what terms you will offer when discussing my son’s custody.”
After hanging up, Alexander simply stood at his desk for quite some time.
Just then, his servant knocked on his door to tell him his meal was ready. Raising his head, he had a devilish look with extremely bloodshot eyes. With a deep voice, he bellowed, “Get out!”
Petrified with fear, the servant only closed the door after a while before going away.
With a swoosh, all the things on the table were pushed onto the ground; along with it were expensive porcelain pieces that were smashed into pieces. Just a few minutes later, the whole study was left in a state of chaos.
Then, the usually calm man sat on the sofa with his long slender arms grabbing his hair in frustration.
It wasn’t until a long time had passed that he suddenly remembered something. His seething anger calmed down as a cold sneer began forming at his mouth.
Let’s see who will have the last laugh for the custody case!
The next day, at 2.00PM, Courtney had arrived early for the meeting at a private club with Elijah. Only after waiting for more than one hour did Alexander arrive.
After sitting down, he glanced at Elijah.
“If you want to talk about Jordan’s custody rights with me, then I don’t want any outsiders present.”
Just as Elijah was about to act up due to his words, Courtney interrupted.
“Wait for me outside.”
Seeing Courtney so determined, Elijah decided to hold his tongue. “Call me if anything happens.”
“I will.”
Replying faintly to Elijah, Courtney watched as he stepped outside the private room.
Left inside the teahouse’s enormous private room then was only Courtney and Alexander.
This was the first time they met after the eve of mid-winter holidays.
Regarding the issue of Alexander’s tardiness, Courtney chose to not bring it up. Whether it was intentional, or just that he was occupied, she didn’t have a lick of interest in knowing about it. She only wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible and settle the things regarding Jordan.
Before going out, she had purposely applied light makeup, which made her look radiant, to cover up her pale visage.
But in the eyes of Alexander, Courtney’s look only annoyed him.
Observing Courtney loosely, he mocked, “You look very radiant after not meeting for a few days. You’ve been anticipating this day to arrive, haven’t you?”
Calmly, Courtney set down her teacup and said, “I’m not here to argue with you. Since you seem to think that I approached you with ulterior motives, I won’t bother to explain anything. But know that I always do things with a clear conscience.”
“A clear conscience?” Alexander sneered hearing this. “Women like you really can say anything, huh?”
Besides foreseeing that the talk this time wouldn’t go smoothly, Courtney also guessed that Alexander would mock her. After staying silent for a short while from his words, she cut straight to the chase.
“I know you will not hand over Jordan’s custody to me, so I did not plan for that. But if possible, I still wish to see him periodically.”
“Periodically?”
With his gaze easing up, he asked, “How often will you see him?”
Seeing him loosening up, Courtney breathed a sigh of relief; she thought they could still smooth things over, so she said, “Once every three or six months. As long as you agree, I can fly back from America anytime.”
When Alexander heard this, his face darkened suddenly.
“America? You’re going back?”
She’s just going to drop everything here to go back to America? Is her aim only to visit Jordan even if she does come back?
Not knowing what Alexander was thinking, Courtney just simply explained her standpoint.
“Since we have fallen out, I’ll still be bringing Tina back to America with me. You don’t have to worry about me affecting your and Jordan’s life; seeing him periodically will be enough for me.”
After Courtney stated her piece, Alexander fell silent without a reply.
Casting her gaze on him, she asked carefully, “What do you think?”
After a while, a mocking laugh came from Alexander in the opposite seat.
“You’re going back to America and coming back to see Jordan once in a while?” Alexander laughed as if he had just heard a joke. With his voice deepening, he uttered, “Who do you think you are? Do you think you are qualified to make such demands?”
Going pale, Courtney rebuked, “Jordan is my own flesh and blood; I am his biological mother. In the first place, I wasn’t even the one you chose for surrogacy.”
“Nevertheless, you signed the contract.” Alexander stared icily at her. “Since the contract was signed, whether it’s a son or daughter, they all belong to the Duncans. Also, besides Jordan, you should return my daughter to me too.”
“That’s out of the question!”
Suddenly, Courtney stood up, her calmness from just now nowhere to be seen. Instead, she said hurriedly, “Tina is my daughter. She doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
“Nothing to do with me?”
Looking upward at Courtney with contempt, Alexander spoke with a deep tone. “Then did you get pregnant all by yourself six years ago? Did you have such a great ability that you could conceive a child alone?”
“Alexander Duncan!” After slightly collecting herself, Courtney was going to grab her bag and leave huffily. “Alright. Since you don’t want to talk it out with me, then nevermind. Jordan was raised by you, so I have no say nor custody over him. But don’t you dare touch Tina. I’ll be bringing her back to America tomorrow, and we can pretend that I never came back.”
“Too late.”
Courtney, who already reached the door, heard Alexander’s cold voice coming from behind her. “Do you know why I didn’t show up and was one hour late?”
As Courtney’s heart skipped a beat, she also stopped in her stride.
“I was out looking for you and Elijah’s nest. You left your daughter all alone in the apartment for your crazy best friend to watch over her. If the court really did give a judgment, I don’t think they would even consider giving you custody.”
With her face becoming pasty white, Courtney asked, “What have you done to Tina?”
“She is, after all, my daughter and the esteemed princess of the Duncan Family. What do you think I would do to her?”
Alexander then stood up slowly.
“Of course I brought her back to the Duncans’ to let her regain her rightful status.”
“No, this can’t be. I don’t believe you.” Courtney felt her world turning upside down. She even called Cameron before going out. Through the phone, she said that everything was fine and that Tina was napping at her place.
“Then, by all means, feel free to find out.”
With eyes full of hostility, Alexander walked to her side and slightly lowered his head.
“You are free to come find me anytime after you’re done investigating. Since you wanted to discuss with me about our son’s custody issues, it’s only polite of me to return the favor to you. Now, it’s time for me to discuss with you the issue of our daughter’s custody.”
