Chapter 313 Did You Invite Her?
Late at night, at Duncan Residence…
Scott had just finished dinner when a servant told him Josh had arrived.
The living room was filled with the aroma of tea. Scott gazed at Josh with his piercing eyes and asked straightforwardly, “You were constantly away from the company previously. Are you running some errands for Alexander?”
Josh was slightly startled. “You’ve found out about it?”
Since Scott had asked as such, it showed that he had already investigated the matter thoroughly and was merely seeking verification from Josh. It had always been like this throughout the years whenever Scott summoned him.
“Tell me. What’s the matter with the woman named Belle Smith?”
Scott had a sip of tea with his brows slightly furrowed, which gave off an intimidating aura. Josh gulped and also took a sip of tea before speaking up as he felt his throat was a little dry.
“Six years ago, President Duncan asked the ex-butler, Louis, to find him a surrogate mother. The original plan was to send the surrogate mother abroad after the child is born. However, the initial surrogate disappeared on the arranged night and Belle was sent to the hotel instead. At first, we wanted to pretend like this situation never happened at all, but Louis had some people to keep an eye on Belle for some time and found out later on that she got pregnant. Since what’s done is done, they decided to allow her to deliver the child.”
Josh explained the strange incident in a few simple sentences. When Scott heard that, his expression became complicated and was even tinged with anger.
“Absurd! This is totally absurd!”
In Scott’s opinion, it was already absurd enough that Alexander did such a thing to please him back then, but the worst of it was––he mistook a person to be the surrogate!
“He’s simply ruining the innocent girl’s life.”
Carefully, Josh put in a word for Alexander. “I believe Louis has compensated Belle too at that time.”
“Compensate?” Scott’s face became even more sullen. “He really thinks he can do as he pleases because he’s rich?”
The atmosphere in the house gradually became tense. At that moment, Josh quickly lowered his head and kept sipping his tea until he was almost full.
The butler standing at the side felt sorry for Josh, so he mumbled, “Master, Mr. Reynolds has not finished speaking yet. Please don’t be angry first and continue listening to the reason why this lady has reappeared.”
It was only then did Scott nod.
Josh secretly heaved a sigh of relief. “Actually, President Duncan realized something was wrong with the incident at that time, so he asked me to investigate it. After gathering a lot of information, I found a woman named Belle Smith. She is already married now but has no children all this while. Besides that, her husband was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer and can only live for half a year more.”
Hearing that, Scott sighed. “Since we know that now, we should help her out.”
However, Josh shook his head. “Before this, President Duncan asked me to transfer some money to Belle, but she refused to accept it no matter what. She said that her husband can’t be cured anymore, so it is meaningless to have the money anyway. She plans to study in England half a year later after she settles her husband’s funeral. She has no children all this while after marrying her husband, so her only wish is to see the Little Master before she leaves.”
Scott croaked, “Definitely.”
“Master, please think over this matter again,” the butler reminded Scott. “If we really allowed the Little Master to meet his biological mother, how would Miss Hunter feel?”
Scott furrowed his brows deeply upon hearing that. This matter was indeed tricky.
…
The next few days after meeting Belle at the Japanese restaurant, Courtney spent most of her time attending business meetings and all kinds of dinner events. She even stayed overnight in a hotel most of the days.
Truth was, business in Citron Apparel was not that busy, but she just did not want to see Alexander. Meanwhile, Scott’s birthday banquet was set to be held before Christmas. The invitation letter was sent directly to the company, which was also a gesture from the Duncan Family toward Citron Apparel so as to facilitate the business partnership in the future.
“President Hunter, please don’t be angry at President Duncan anymore. You should attend Old Master Duncan’s birthday banquet.” Natasha passed the invitation letter to Courtney and carefully observed her expression.
Courtney stared at the golden design on the red invitation card, which appeared extraordinarily eye-catching as the rays of dawn shone through the window and reflected on the card. In fact, she was sulking at herself rather than at Alexander for the past few days. Nevertheless, avoiding Alexander would not solve the problem.
“Did he come again this afternoon?”
“Yeah,” Natasha quickly answered. “Same goes for the past few days. President Duncan would send us afternoon tea, but since you said you don’t want it, he did not send yours.”
“Okay. I see.” Courtney waved her hands.
For the past two days. Courtney had not gone home and Alexander had been coming to Citron Apparel every day with his assistant to send food and drinks to the staff. After these few days, Courtney actually felt helpless as if all her staff had betrayed her and that she was the one who was being unreasonable.
She couldn’t be absent at the birthday banquet, so she rather took this opportunity to lay things out with Alexander. Since things had already developed to this point, she couldn’t allow the imposter to take Jordan away from her.
The next night, the top floor of Purple Peak Hotel––the grandest hotel in Melrose City––had been entirely booked by the Duncan Family.
Because Scott was a man of tradition, the banquet this time adopted a more traditional style. The entire banquet hall was arranged with big, round tables and the main table was closer to the stage. Today, Scott was dressed in a black tuxedo and looked extremely spirited.
The moment Courtney arrived at the hall, Harry invited her to be seated at the main table right next to Alexander. By right, she was not married into the family yet, so she should not be seated at the main table. However, such an arrangement showed that her position in the Duncan Family was already ascertained. The other guests had figured it out too upon seeing the scene which made them look up to this future granddaughter-in-law of the Duncan Family even more.
“Hey Courtney, you’re here.” Scott, who looked stern usually, wore an amiable expression.
Courtney nodded and looked past Alexander, who was sitting beside her, to gaze at Scott. “Where’s Jordan and Tina?”
Alexander’s voice came forth from beside her before Scott could answer. “The nanny brought them to the washroom.”
Frowning subtly, Courtney did not answer but turned to look toward the direction of the washroom.
Initially, Courtney averted her gaze to avoid meeting Alexander’s eyes in awkwardness, but she ended up catching sight of an unexpected guest.
There was a table situated at the southeast corner of the hall, which was also the most remote corner. The guests at that table were people who seldom interacted with the Duncan Family but somehow managed to get an invitation to attend the banquet. At that table, some of those people were reporters.
Among that table of guests, Courtney spotted Belle. Dressed in a beige dress, Belle looked gentle and quiet, and she was also staring in the direction of the washroom.
Courtney felt her heart jolt all of a sudden as if a hand seized her heart out of the blue and squeezed it. Then, she instantly turned to look at Alexander and questioned him, “Did you invite her?”
Startled, Alexander followed Courtney’s gaze to see Belle.
Just then, voices of children could be heard from the washroom as Tina and Jordan skipped out of the washroom one after another, followed by two nannies at the back.
“Mommy!”
The two kids ran toward Courtney immediately when they saw her. While passing by Belle, Jordan accidentally dropped something he was holding.
At that moment, Belle bent down to pick it up and passed it to Jordan. Seeing that, Courtney clenched her fists as her face darkened completely.
