Chapter 377 I Beg of You Please Return Tina
Once Alexander left the club, Courtney called Cameron, but nobody picked up.
While ordering the driver to drive faster, Elijah comforted her by saying, “Don’t worry, Courtney. We are going to Cameron’s house right now to take a look. I don’t think she’s that unreliable…”
“Alexander never says things that he isn’t sure of.” Courtney was really in a state of panic now.
Half an hour later, the taxi arrived at Cameron’s apartment. Then, after knocking on the door for half a day, Cameron finally opened it, with her face still looking sleepy.
“What are you guys doing here?” Seeing Courtney surprised Cameron. “Why are you here, Courtney? Are you not afraid of bumping into your aunt?”
Not wanting to waste words answering her, Courtney asked in a rush, “Where’s Tina?”
Yawning, Cameron replied, “In her own bedroom, napping. Didn’t I tell you that just this afternoon?”
After hearing her words, Courtney rushed inside. Opening the door, she saw that the blanket had a little hump, which made her breath a sigh of relief.
“What is up with you?”
Not making sense of anything, Cameron slowly walked over and looked at Elijah and Courtney. “Didn’t you say you were going to meet Alexander for the negotiation this afternoon? How did it go?”
The mention of the negotiation made Courtney frown. Then, she proceeded to recount what happened that afternoon.
Right then, Cameron’s facial expression changed before she slammed the table and said, “Is he insane? He even wants Tina’s custody? On what grounds? You should have sued him for the the sexual assault plus blackmail he did back then. What a shameless man.”
“I will not hand over Tina’s custody to him. I will be bringing Tina back to America tomorrow.”
Since Melrose City was the territory of the Duncan Family, Courtney was afraid of staying in it for even one more day. After all, it had always been difficult for even outside powerful organizations to deal with local strongholds, not to mention them, who were practically nobodies.
“The girl is very obedient. After lunch, she went to sleep on her own, and she didn’t even make a scene about wanting to see you like the last two days. It feels like she’s all grown up now.”
Cameron said this comfortingly while patting Courtney’s shoulder.
Hearing this, Courtney nodded. But suddenly, she thought of something, and the look in her eyes changed. “You said that Tina went to sleep after lunch?”
“Yeah.”
Startled by the look of panic in Courtney’s eyes, Cameron asked, “What is it??”
Not replying, Courtney instead rushed to Tina’s bedroom and directly lifted the blanket from the bed.
Following her, Cameron and Elijah only saw that beneath the blanket was a small pillow. Nobody was sure when this happened, but Tina was already long gone.
Going pale, Cameron said shockingly, “Where is she? I saw her go to sleep with my own eyes!”
Feeling her chest suddenly undulate rapidly, Courtney stumbled after clutching her heart. Fortunately, Elijah and Cameron’s quick reactions saved her from falling.
“What’s wrong, Courtney?”
“It’s nothing.” Courtney squeezed out a sentence from her clenched teeth.
“I’m afraid she ran out all on her own.”
Ever since she was young, Tina always had a lot of tricks up her sleeve. As this incident was kept secret from her, she must have devised her own plan. If she couldn’t see Courtney, she would simply go out and find her. The only destination she could go then would be obvious.
As the sun slowly set, the glow of the sunset made Melrose City look like it was covered in gold.
Standing outside the Duncan Residence’s door like a statue was Courtney.
Both Elijah and Cameron had been dismissed by her. One went to Gale for help while the other went to a lawyer for a solution. Now that the child was in the Duncan Family’s hands, everything just got more complicated.
“Master, Miss Hunter has been standing outside for an hour.”
The servant told Alexander this as she served him a cup of tea. Since Courtney came, he had been sitting in his study, reading.
“I don’t want to see her.”
The indifferent tone came from behind the book.
Because Alexander treated her well, the servant hesitated for a bit, then picked up her courage and reminded him, “The weather forecast said it would rain tonight. Are you going to let Miss Hunter just stand outside like this? What if she gets drenched?”
As Alexander raised his head from behind the book, his cold icy stare sent chills down the servant’s spine.
“That is of her own doing. Everyone is to ignore her.”
Since she can easily leave the city for the kids, then I could just as easily make her beg me for their sake. Did she really think I would make it easy for her to simply leave as she pleased?
As night slowly fell, the cold winter rain started to hit the window. The sound was more akin to hail hitting glass, as it sounded extra heavy.
Illuminated by the yellowish light inside the study, Alexander was still reading an old book with a steaming cup of tea in front of him. Whatever happened outside the window did not interest him at all.
The servant, who couldn’t bear to see this anymore, ran outside with an umbrella.
“Miss Hunter, please go back. The Young Master isn’t in a good mood right now and doesn’t want to see you. You shouldn’t torture your own body like this.”
Almost freezing, Courtney turned her head like a robot to look at the servant. Recognizing that she was May, one of the servants within the Duncan Family’s villa, she squeezed her fingers hard to let the pain overcome the freezing sensation. Then, she uttered chatteringly, “I’m fine. Go inside and tell Alexander that he can demand whatever he wants—I just want Tina back. So long as h-he returns her to me, I will leave Melrose City with Tina. I won’t wish to see Jordan anymore—even till my death, I will not appear in front of him.”
Clueless about what happened between them, the servant was struck dazed by her words. After regaining her composure, she said, “I-I’ll convey your words. Just hold onto this umbrella for now.”
As Courtney’s hands were frozen stiff, she couldn’t no longer hold anything. As the umbrella was pushed into her hands, it slipped right off.
May, who was using her hands to cover her head, ran out of ideas upon seeing this. Picking up the umbrella, she ran back inside. Ignoring her drenched body, she climbed upstairs in a hurry in the midst of other servants’ complaints.
“Young Master.”
May’s pressing voice rang inside the study.
“Miss Hunter still hasn’t left yet. It’s raining cats and dogs outside—she can’t even stand properly in that weather.”
As if he had foreseen everything, Alexander still sat there motionlessly. Calmly, he only asked, “What did she say?”
Slightly stunned, May glanced at Alexander dumbfoundedly.
“S-She wanted me to convey a message to you.”
Alexander remained silent.
“Miss Hunter said, as long as you return Tina to her, she would agree to any of your demands. She is willing to leave Melrose City for good and never appear in front of you again. Also, she is willing to give up on seeing Little Master Jordan.”
Although May felt that this didn’t sound pleasant, she wasn’t aware of the happenings, so she could only pass it on like how Courtney said it.
As expected, Alexander’s gaze suddenly turned icy, with him slowly enunciating, “She really said that?”
Feeling a bit intimidated, May replied carefully, “Yes.”
The book was slammed shut by Alexander. Standing up quickly, he turned his body around and pulled open the curtain that was behind the desk. One could easily see outside the courtyard that there was still a woman being pelted by the rain, looking like a mess.
“Just leave her be. Nobody is to care for her.”
Turning around, Alexander angrily left that order before closing the curtains with a forceful tug.
Frightened, May responded with a squeak while her body trembled. “Okay…”
