Chapter 439 He Won’t, But I Will
Alexander zoned out and stared at the screen for a while before Elise snatched the phone over to pick up the call. She had just placed the phone against her ear when she heard Madeline’s stern tone on the other end of the call. “I know you’re willing to do anything for that woman you like, Alexander, but we are your parents—we were the ones who brought you up!
If you refuse to stay by our sides and repay our sacrifices, you should at least stop causing trouble for us! You think of Elise as some perfect angel, but has she ever cared for you? Everyone in Tissote knows that you’re my son. Whatever you guys did to Maya… Have you ever considered how that would impact your father and me?
You abandoned everyone in the Griffith Family for your own selfish reasons, and you’re enjoying your life out there. Yet, you’re making us pay for your stubborn behavior. I’ve wasted more than 20 years of my life caring for you, Alexander. Do you think I deserve to be placed in this situation?!”
Madeline’s voice was piercing—it hurt Elise’s eardrums just to listen to the woman. “Are you done?” Elise’s calm voice sounded while Madeline paused to take a breath.
“Why are you the one answering the phone?” Madeline froze for a moment before she continued speaking in a sarcastic voice. “I sure taught my son well! Now, he’s even ignoring his mother for the sake of some woman!”
“You’re right. You did a good job teaching your son. But if you’re not impressed with whatever he’s doing, then why are you calling him now?” Elise asked flatly. “I know why. Deep down, you know that Alexander will never bring himself to be cruel to you guys—that’s why you’re not afraid to confront him in such a harsh tone. You know that I’m the one who did those things to Maya, but you’re too afraid to question me, right?
That’s because you know that Alexander’s the only one who will give in to your bad temper. You wish to control his whole life, and you proceed to hurt him whenever he tries to rebel against you. He might not be a good son, but do you think you’re a good mother? Do you think speaking in grandiose terms makes you right? You claim that your actions are for his own good, but the truth is that you’re doing all of this just to satisfy your sick and terrifying need for control!”
Elise then handed the phone back to Alexander. “I’m sorry. I lost control of myself there.”
It was rare for Alexander to see Elise say so much in one go, so he was rather stunned at first. He stared dazedly at her side profile for a few seconds before he took the phone from her. He ended the call without any hesitation. Elise noticed what he did from the corner of her eye, but she quietly turned away to act as if she didn’t know anything.
They were silent for a while before Alexander changed the topic. “I’m going out for a while later. There’ve been too many uncontrollable forces surfacing in Tissote recently—I need to go check it out.” First, it was their opponent; then, it was the SK Group. There were even some influential individuals who were showing up in the black market because of Elise. Tissote was a melting pot at that point.
“I got it. You can go ahead,” Elise replied.
“Okay.” Alexander turned to give Jeanie a nod—that was his form of greeting to her. Then, he walked out of the house calmly, as if the entire phone call hadn’t happened at all.
Trevor watched Alexander leave before he parted his lips to speak. “Is he secretly going to treat that Dahlen girl?”
“He won’t do that. He’d tell me if he wanted to do so,” Elise replied in a firm, confident tone. Trevor turned to look at the determination in Elise’s eyes. It looks like there’s still a lot that I don’t understand about Elise and Alexander’s relationship.
“But I can’t say the same for myself,” Elise uttered as she walked out. She changed directions when she arrived at the front door—she turned around to sneak into the house next door, where Alexander stayed.
Claude was secretly stalking Clement. He made sure to keep a safe distance as he was afraid to get too close to the man. Which troop did he belong to in the past? Why haven’t I heard of his name? I can’t even find any information about him. He doesn’t exist on the records at all. Claude had been immersed in his thoughts when he felt someone kicking his leg. He was taken by surprise, and his body fell forward in Clement’s direction as he tripped on his own feet.
As Claude was about to fall into Clement’s arms, he saw the vicious look in Clement’s eyes, and he had an immediate vision of himself being dismembered. With all the flexibility he could summon in his body, he forced himself to twist his body sideways. In the end, he managed to dodge Clement’s body to land on his bottom instead. “Ouch!” Claude rubbed his bruised bottom before he looked up to find Elise staring at him. He immediately started fake-crying. “You could’ve warned me before you kicked me! I would’ve just moved aside! You nearly gave me a heart attack with your ambush!”
Elise merely gave him an uninterested stare. “Get up. I need you to do some translations.”
“Translations?” Claude got to his feet grumpily, and he brushed the dirt off his bottom as he spoke. “I can only speak my national language and I don’t know any other languages. What am I supposed to translate?”
“That’s enough.” Elise no longer had the desire to speak as she had used up all her words with Madeline. “All I need is your unfiltered blabbermouth.”
Claude immediately understood what was going on when he heard what she said. He hurried over like an excited puppy. “Don’t worry! I promise to capture and convey the essence of your intentions!”
Clement, who hadn’t been involved in the conversation thus far, couldn’t help but glance at the two people. For some reason, Claude reminds me of a follower who’s unconditionally supportive of his leader. He might not realize this, but his eyes are filled with admiration and joy whenever he looks at Elise.
…
Meanwhile, at the Dahlen Residence, Maya was curled up into a ball in bed. Her loud screams filled the entire villa as she cried out in agony. “It hurts, Dad! I’m in so much pain. Save me! Am I dying, Dad? I don’t want to die! Ahhh!”
Maxwell stood up and grabbed Daniel by his collar when he heard his daughter’s agonizing screams. “If anything happens to my daughter, you will not step out of here alive!” he growled while looking Daniel in the eye.
Behind Daniel were a few famous doctors whom Daniel had brought to treat Maya. Right then, they felt their legs turning to jelly as they crouched down and trembled in fear. They were too afraid to make a single noise. “Please calm down, Mr. Dahlen! Miss Dahlen is going to be fine!” Daniel held his arms in front of his chest to protect himself.
He no longer had his usual, cheery look on his face. Initially, Daniel thought he had it all planned out. He had brought a few of the most prestigious doctors to treat Maya’s illness, so Daniel was certain that whatever the doctors did would do more good than harm. I can’t believe Maya’s condition deteriorated after the first doctor just started performing acupuncture on her! Her condition now looks ten times worse than before—she looks like she’s about to have a seizure.
Maxwell lost his temper, and he immediately assumed that Daniel and Elise were on the same side. Once Maya’s condition worsened, Maxwell ordered his servants to give Daniel a fierce beating. Daniel could still feel his bones aching. Fortunately, his assistant had been smart enough to rush home to deliver the message, and all Daniel could do then was to stall them.
“She’s going to be fine, huh?! Listen to that! Does she sound fine to you?!” Maxwell didn’t allow Daniel to explain himself. Instead, Maxwell shoved Daniel onto the ground and gave the servants his orders. “Drag him out to the back and break one of his legs. He’ll suffer for as long as my daughter suffers.”
