Chapter 228 I Did It for the Green Card
Courtney’s heart flinched at Gale’s words. “Why are you asking this suddenly?” She turned and looked at him with wary eyes.
Gale looked relaxed. “Actually, I really don’t know much about what happened recently. Even the break-up between you and Alex was something I found out just a few days ago. If Alex was right, you really haven’t gotten a divorce, right?”
Upon hearing his words, Courtney breathed a sigh of relief, yet she frowned at the same time. “Yeah.”
“Awesome.” His reaction was unexpected. He was actually giving her a thumbs up. “You’re the only one that Alex has been willing to let be the mistress of someone else. I really admire you.”
Is he really praising me? Courtney could no longer listen to what he was about to say. Irritated, she said, “Mistress? There’s no such thing. I only married Elijah because I needed the green card in order to stay in America with Tina legally. Elijah needed money, and I needed an identity. It was only a deal struck between us.”
“So… Tina’s father isn’t Elijah?” Stroking his chin, Gale suddenly came back to his senses. “A deal? You said the marriage between Elijah and you was just a deal? Why didn’t you tell Alex?”
“He said I didn’t tell him that?” This time, Courtney got even more fed up. “Some people only have nasty things in their mind and they think that everyone else is the same. What more can I say?”
The marriage between Elijah and her was mainly because she needed the green card. She was pretty sure that she had told Alexander about it. Yet, he had his own way of thinking and insisted that she was a cunning egoist. So, what else could she say?
In secret, Gale was stunned. As a bystander, he knew none of them had made a big mistake. However, they were still holding a grudge against each other. Because they couldn’t let it go, they ended up in a conflict, which spiraled out of control.
“Wait, I didn’t get it. Can you please explain in detail?” He stared at Courtney curiously. “Why is the marriage between Elijah and you a deal? I’m curious about that.”
“It’s a long story.”
Courtney fell deep into her memories. Everything started five years ago. When she had just given birth to Tina, she escaped to America with her. Because Tina wasn’t born there, her visa expired after a short stay. Therefore, there were only two paths in front of Courtney: one, she had to come back to renew her visa; two, she had to come back and tell the Hunter Family the truth.
No matter which path she took, she had to go home.
Back then, Courtney was afraid. She was afraid that as soon as she set foot in that heartrending place, the man—who threatened her to have a child—would target her. For that reason, she would rather remain in America illegally instead of going back home.
“I was a cleaner in Elijah’s company.”
“A cleaner?” Gale was shocked.
Who would have thought that a young lady would become a cleaner?
Nevertheless, Courtney did not bother to explain why she chose the job.
“Elijah encountered a bottleneck in his business. He needed ten million and I had it. So, I went to his office to talk. At first, he didn’t believe me when I said I could lend him the money. He thought I was mad because no one would have lent out their money without asking for interest.”
Until today, Courtney could still remember herself rushing into Elijah’s office in her brown cleaner’s uniform. At that time, Elijah wasn’t as calm and imposing as he was now. Random items were scattered across his desk. He was the general manager of the company, yet his office was so messy that there was nowhere to get a foothold.
“After I proposed a fake marriage with him so that I could stay in America legally with Tina, he believed me.” Without any questions, Elijah acceded to her request. Regardless of what brought him to make that decision, looking back now, he had done what he promised her back then.
“Then, what happened after the marriage?” Gale continued to ask. “You guys didn’t live together?”
“Of course, we didn’t.” Courtney shook her head. “Later, he took my money and moved his office to a new address. He was in the north and I was in the south. The two places were separated by a strait. It was only during holidays that he would fly over to spend time with Tina so that Tina would see him as her father.”
Now that every doubt had been cleared up, Gale breathed a sigh of relief.
It was a breath of relief he took on behalf of Alexander. However, he still couldn’t stop worrying about him.
It was such a big mistake and Courtney, who was clearly innocent, was wronged. Perhaps, Alexander had hurt her with the words he said. It might not be easy for him to get her back.
He still had to take measures according to the situation.
“Then, I think this is a situation where the player sees less clearly than the bystander.” Gale studied Courtney’s expression. “I’m a bystander. But, even I can’t judge what happened from an objective perspective. There will be more or less some subjective elements, especially for Alex who is the party involved. He is closely connected to you.”
“Just say what you want to say.” Courtney rolled her eyes at him. “Stop beating around the bush. I don’t have the time.”
Nodding, Gale tried his best to explain, “Look; the fake marriage between you and Elijah is something you didn’t give Alex a heads up about previously. After all, marriage is a huge life event. Even if it was just a formality, you can’t just pretend like nothing ever happened, right? So, I apologize to you on behalf of Alex and we should just let bygones be bygones. You two should make up.”
Gale’s advice was reasonable. Courtney had tried to reflect on whether her ignorance was what led to the subsequent suspicions and conflicts.
However, when she found that those negligible suspicions and conflicts were enough for Alexander to insult her with so many unkind words, she was extremely annoyed.
“If he wanted to make up with me, why didn’t he come personally?” Courtney threw him a vicious glare. “How can he ask you to apologize for him? Did he feed his sincerity to the dogs?”
“Alex is innocent.” Gale looked helpless. “He was admitted to the hospital with two broken ribs. He can’t go out at all temporarily. So, please don’t make things hard for him.”
“Admitted?” Courtney’s expression changed in an instant. “Why is he hospitalized?”
“Huh? You didn’t know?” Gale pretended to be surprised. “Alex was injured when he got into a fight with someone at a restaurant. He was admitted on that same day and hasn’t recovered yet. According to the doctor, he might need to stay there a little longer. After all, it takes a hundred days for the bone to knit and the tendons to heal.”
Courtney’s expression sank immediately and she became pale.
The moment Gale mentioned the fight, she knew what happened. Honestly, she didn’t know Alexander was hurt so badly that day. Elijah always had a good temperament and he never fought.
“For the past two weeks, he has been calling and disturbing me almost every day. I was so annoyed, so I had to come and find out what exactly is wrong between the both of you. And look; apparently, there’s no problem at all.” Gale thought he could persuade Courtney with soft soup. He could even persuade her that black was white. “Don’t you think that Elijah is the problem? Both of you are just a fake couple. What problems can there be? If two people are in love and there’s nothing that can stop them from being together, then why can’t they?”
Upon hearing that, Courtney frowned. “Which hospital is he at?”
