Chapter 332 What Did She Instruct You to Do?
Then, Fiona frowned.
Even though Fiona was a senior citizen, Courney suddenly realized that a beauty like Fiona was still exceptionally elegant with a frown.
Fiona gradually raised her head. “I wouldn’t have allowed him to come if I knew about it.”
After hearing Fiona’s words, Courtney was caught by surprise. “That means he did it behind your back?”
“Not exactly.” Fiona heaved a sigh and explained, “Initially, he kept it a secret from me, but when he applied to enroll in the Public Security University, I suspected that he was still fixated on this matter. The thing is, he has been behaving well all these years and never made any irrational move, which is why I never asked him for sure. However, not long ago, he told me that he had met Alexander.”
“Oh, okay.” Then, Courtney sighed in relief.
Everything would be fine as long as it wasn’t Fiona’s suggestion for Oliver to approach Alexander. In the future, no matter what happens, I can still explain this to Alexander. In fact, Courtney’s impression of Fiona was that Fiona was a kind woman who wasn’t as bad as Alexander had described. Perhaps the rift in their relationship could be mended as well.
“Oliver doesn’t have any ill intentions.” Fiona seemed to be able to gauge Courtney’s concern and she explained, “Actually, I have always kept the fact that he has a brother hidden from him. However, he has always been a sensitive kid since young and somehow he found out about this. I’m not too sure how he did so. When he was in junior high, he suddenly asked for a reason why I abandoned his brother and grandpa to move to Oreus for a new life. It was then when I realized he had peeked at my diary and discovered some old photos.”
Although Fiona had never mentioned a thing about the past and the reasons for her departure from the Duncans to Oliver, he had never given up and merely continued to investigate the incident from the past.
“I don’t know how much he has found out, but despite everything he knows, he would never ever lay a hand on Alexander.”
Her assurance sounded convincing, so Courtney couldn’t help but to trust her words.
“Then, will you visit Alexander since you’re already here?”
Upon hearing Courtney’s words, Fiona was taken aback. She then withdrew her hand that held the coffee cup before replying sadly, “No, I won’t.”
At that point, Courtney felt a burst of emotions rising within her. “Madam, I hope you won’t take offense, but can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“Oliver and Alexander’s fathers are not the same person, right?”
Ultimately, this was the main reason for the conflict between Alexander and his mother. His father had passed away from a car accident whereas she subsequently fell pregnant with a child. If that unborn child came from his father, it was evident that Alexander wouldn’t have kicked his mother out of the house.
She doesn’t look like a person who would have an extramarital affair, though. Courtney arrived at that judgment after observing Fiona’s speech and behavior. Besides, she had raised her child by herself and never remarried all these years. Was there a misunderstanding back then?
Fiona remained silent for a few seconds before finally nodding her head. Her response eventually caused Courtney’s heart to sink.
“Okay, I’m sorry for being rude then.”
“That’s fine.” Fiona smiled. “It’s all in the past. Since Alexander has been living well all these years without me, I wouldn’t want to disrupt his life then. Oliver will be moving abroad next year, so I’ll explain everything to him and get him to stop intentionally reaching out to Alexander.”
Meanwhile, Courtney didn’t have anything to say.
When they came out of the cafe, she offered to send Fiona back to the hospital out of courtesy.
They arrived at the entrance of the hospital and saw Oliver glancing around his surroundings.
As soon as he saw Courtney and Fiona walking together toward him, his expression was rather awkward. “Courtney…”
Meanwhile, Fiona was stoic. “I’ll be upstairs in Miss Reid’s ward. You guys can continue with your conversation.”
It was bitterly cold at the hospital entrance with mounds of snow gathered at the side of the doors, which caused the ground to be muddy as well.
Now that she had been standing in the cold for the longest time, Courtney could no longer suppress her impatience. “Are you going to say something? If not, I’m heading home now.”
“Hang on!” Oliver grabbed hold of her sleeve before hesitantly asking, “Courtney, are you aware of everything?”
“Do you mean the fact that you feigned your illness and lied to me? Or, the fact that your mom owns Hostel D’Amour? Or, the truth that you and Alexander are half-brothers?” She was beyond furious.
She had treated him like her own brother over the course of time to the point where she even provided him with a spare key to her house. She even regarded him as her own family member, but he kept so many secrets from her. If she hadn’t discovered the truth for herself, there was no knowing how much longer he would have maintained the facade.
“I’m sorry, Courtney.” Oliver’s brows were furrowed while his face was scrunched up. “I didn’t mean to keep this a secret from you.”
“Oh? Then, why don’t you start explaining yourself?” Courtney sniffled. “You have five minutes to talk. I need to pick Tina up from school.”
He was nervous and after some hesitation, he tightly formed a fist with his hands and spoke up, “If I had any ill intentions, then I would’ve informed Alexander from the beginning that Jordan’s your biological child. I wouldn’t have kept this a secret for such a long time and pretended not to know anything.”
When she heard Oliver’s words, her expression changed as she looked at him in shock. “How did you know this?”
“It’s a long story.” He had an awkward expression. “I brainstormed a lot of ways to approach the Duncan Family previously. I’m sure that you’re aware of what I specialize in and I’m skilled at helping people uncover inconvenient matters that might not be suitable to be made public. As for your matter, it was Britney who requested me to investigate it.”
“Britney?” Courtney’s expression darkened.
She connected his revelation to the incident involving Belle not long ago and the truth dawned upon her soon enough. It’s her.
“What did she instruct you to do? Did you orchestrate the incident involving Belle?” Courtney coldly interrogated and the distant look in her eyes made him anxious.
“No.” Oliver hurriedly explained, “It has nothing to do with me. After investigating the matter, Britney was worried about Alexander discovering your association with him, so she tried to kill me off. I was also dragged into this and I haven’t even settled the scores with her on this yet, so how could I possibly help her to orchestrate the incident with Belle? Besides, I was busy on campus preparing for training during that period of time. You’ll have to trust me!”
At the moment, Oliver’s nervousness resembled a kid who had just committed a mistake.
The vibe around them suddenly became tense.
The numerous cars on the road drove past them and Melrose City maintained its bustling, busy atmosphere while the city was brightly illuminated. However, no one spoke a single word as they stood by the hospital entrance.
Courtney suddenly clenched her fist after some time. “If you want me to trust you, you’ll have to tell me everything in detail about what you’ve done for the past two years to approach Alexander. Otherwise, I won’t be able to trust that you had no other intentions for approaching the two of us. By then, I might consider whether to temporarily keep your identity a secret from Alexander or not.”
After all, it would be quite bothersome if Alexander discovered Oliver and Fiona’s relationship.
As Alexander was generally suspicious of others and already displeased with Fiona, if he learned of Oliver’s true identity and realized that Oliver had kept their association a secret from them, he would most likely react in the strongest manner.
