Chapter 389 Nothing to Discuss
Courtney didn’t expect Alexander’s attitude to remain unchanged after she had told him the whole truth about everything and talked to him calmly and patiently. “Alexander.” Her hands clenched into fists as her eyebrows furrowed in pique. “Can’t you put your prejudices aside? How many more prejudices are you gonna hold against me because I didn’t tell you the truth? Do you honestly think I’d hurt my own child? I don’t think I’m going too far in asking for this.”
Alexander’s eyes were stony. “Yeah, you’re not going too far. It’s totally reasonable for a mother to ask to see her own child. But didn’t Louis make everything clear to you back when you signed the contract? What I wanted was a mother who would never show up in Melrose City—a mother who is nothing but a tool for procreation.”
“That’s why I said I’m leaving!” Courtney’s voice went up a few pitches all at once. “I’m just trying to discuss it with you.”
“There’s nothing to discuss.”
“Okay, fine.” Seeing that there was no way the conversation could go on, Courtney had no choice but to meet Alexander halfway. “Just think of this as me being unfair to you by not telling you at once after learning about the truth. I’m not gonna fight for Jordan’s custody anymore. After all, I don’t want him to feel bad in case he learns about this when he grows up. I’ll drop the lawsuit for the sake of the two kids,” she said. Then, she picked up her handbag and got up. “I’m going back to the hospital first.”
Alexander stood up as well. Then, seeing that she was leaving for real without a backward glance, he ran out after her.
A cool wind whistled past the front of the cafe. Alexander yelled at Courtney from behind, “What makes you think you’re so wronged?”
His question stumped Courtney for a moment. Then, she heard the man ask, “You’ve never thought about anything other than the kids. What am I to you, then?”
Courtney frowned. As she turned around to look at Alexander, she found herself at a loss for a reply.
Alexander looked really exasperated. “You insist you didn’t mean to hurt anyone, making everyone think that I owed you for making your life a misery. But you came back at will, and you’re willing to do anything to look for your son and to seek medical treatment for your daughter. So what does that make of the six months you spent with me, huh? A springboard?”
Alexander was always taciturn, and he rarely defended himself when something happened. However, he could no longer restrain himself today after being driven up the wall by Courtney. If he kept on saying nothing, Courtney would seriously believe that he was keeping on at her about the kids, and it might be only a matter of time before she went back to America with Elijah.
Courtney looked dumbfounded. “That’s never what I meant!”
“It doesn’t matter whether you meant that or not. Think about what you’ve done.” Alexander’s face grew frosty little by little. His voice was cold, but it carried a note of compromise. “Just figure it out before you talk to me about the future.”
With that, he turned around and walked away, looking a little lonely in the bleak winter scenery.
Courtney was stunned for quite a while as she felt a bunch of mixed emotions all at once. Her mind had been preoccupied with Jordan and Tina these days, and it wasn’t until Alexander said so at this moment that she realized what kind of an insignificant but fatal mistake she had made. Alexander was a proud man, so the most unacceptable thing for him was perhaps to be shrugged off by those he valued the most.
At the thought of this, Courtney sniffled, her feelings complicated. It wasn’t anyone’s fault alone that their relationship had come to this point. Alexander was stubborn and arrogant, but it wasn’t like she was without blame for being indecisive.
She was walking to the hospital when a homeless vagrant with a crooked back approached her with an enamel bowl in his hand. “Please have pity on me and give me some money, young lady. I’ve not eaten for days.”
Having seen a lot of such frauds, Courtney replied right away, “If you haven’t eaten, let me buy you something to eat.”
Usually, other beggars would’ve made off on their own initiative when Courtney said so, but the old man today was unlike them. He nodded repeatedly, saying, “Thank you so much, young lady. You’re such a kind person.”
A real beggar, eh? Startled, Courtney looked around and said, “Well then, come with me. There’s a convenience store over there. Just wait for me while I buy you something to eat.”
The vagrant followed Courtney’s gaze and saw the convenience store. Then, he shifted his gaze to the alley next to the convenience store with a hint of malice in his eyes concealed by his ragged felt cap.
Courtney went to the convenience store and bought two large bags of bread, two bottles of milk, and a microwaved boxed meal. After carrying them out of the store, she saw the vagrant crouching in the alley around the corner of the store. “I thought you left already.” She hurriedly walked up to him while waving the bags in her hand. “I bought you some food. It shouldn’t be a problem for these to last you a few days.”
The vagrant took the bags from her. Then, he immediately opened the boxed meal and wolfed it down.
Taking pity on the vagrant, Courtney thought for a moment and lowered her head to take out her wallet from her handbag. Just as she was searching for cash, a dark silhouette slowly emerged from the alley and approached her from behind. Then, he suddenly covered her mouth and nose, dragging her into the dark alley almost at the same time.
Her eyes wide open, Courtney struggled while looking at the homeless vagrant to ask for help, but the vagrant merely responded with a look of indifference. After she was completely dragged into the depths of the alley, he finished the last mouthful of the food, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and threw the emptied boxed meal into the garbage bin. Then, he picked up what was left and followed her into the depths of the alley.
…
Meanwhile, Josh was saying to Alexander, “President Duncan, the Hunter Group’s showing signs of acceding to the acquisition, but we’re now forced to halt some of our projects, so we have trouble with the funding…”
Josh was already tactful enough in saying so. It wasn’t just a matter of several projects being forced to a halt: Elijah purposely made Sunhill Enterprise start construction on all of its projects, then dealt a heavy blow to the company by doing everything possible to force the projects to a halt when they were at their most critical stage. Every day wasted at each construction site would lead to tens of thousands in losses, and no one could afford such losses if this situation dragged on.
Over the past few days, many had proposed during meetings that some of these projects be sold at low prices, but such proposals were all vetoed by Alexander. Sunhill Enterprise’s share prices were unstable, and they would plummet even further if the projects in operation were sold at this point. Naturally, Alexander wouldn’t let such a situation continue to deteriorate, so he had to find a way to make all the projects run normally. “No matter what is put into the domestic market right now, it’d be subject to too many restrictions.” Alexander furrowed his brow. “I’ll be away on a business trip next month.”
“Where are you going?”
“France.”
Sunhill Enterprise had intended to expand its market abroad in recent years. However, its traditionalist board of directors thought that the current domestic market was huge enough. Everyone was greedy for a slice of the huge profits, so they had always been reluctant to expand the market, fearing that their market share would decrease. But now that things were looking bad for the company, Alexander had no choice but to make such a move.
Josh was inwardly on tenterhooks. To think that my boss’s love rival is so powerful that my boss is forced into playing his trump card! he thought. “In that case, who’s gonna run the company during this period of time?”
“I’ll leave it to Oliver.”
