Chapter 228: I’ll Come Pick Him Up Tomorrow
This slap carried all her years of hatred and resentment.
She used to only know to hate Charles Prescott, but she never imagined that the source of all her suffering was actually Nathan Fawcett.
Butler Walters, standing to the side, was startled to see Anne Sutton strike him and quickly glanced at Nathan Fawcett.
Nathan Fawcett stared at Anne Sutton, his dark eyes filled with an icy coldness. He looked at her and said with restraint, "Are you done venting? Can you bring Ian out now?"
Anne Sutton said, "I can give everything from the Fawcett Family back to you, but Ian... he’s my child. From now on, I’m going to be by his side."
Hearing her words, Nathan Fawcett said, "Keep him by your side? How ridiculous. Have you forgotten why you married me in the first place? Wasn’t it for everything the Fawcett Family has? Do you even believe the words you’re saying now? You’re just a gold digger, so stop pretending to be a doting mother. The reason I won’t let Ian stay with you is because I’m afraid you’ll corrupt him."
The term "gold digger" was dripping with mockery.
Anne Sutton never expected Nathan Fawcett to speak to her like that.
Although...
...he wasn’t exactly wrong.
When she first married him, it really was for his money and his inheritance.
Hearing his words now, Anne Sutton found she had no way to refute them.
She looked at Nathan Fawcett and said, "If I’m so despicable in your eyes, then why were you still good to me? Back in Westhaven, you bought me a car, you stood up for me... Why did you do all that?"
’Why did you make me think you were a good person?’
’Why did you make me develop feelings for you?’
She didn’t care what other people said about her.
But hearing those words from Nathan Fawcett’s lips was just too hurtful!
Nathan Fawcett said, "Those were just trivial things that required no effort. I just did them because it was convenient. What, you didn’t actually take them to heart, did you? Did you fall for me because of all that?"
As he said this, Nathan Fawcett was being dishonest with himself.
He admitted to himself that he was good to her back then simply because he wanted to be. There was no other reason.
He was simply afraid she wouldn’t fare well without him around, so he wanted to arrange everything for her.
Even though he had mentally slapped many negative labels on this woman—gold digger, fickle, and what have you.
Even if she had never liked him, he just couldn’t control himself.
Now, hearing her bring these things up, Nathan Fawcett certainly wasn’t going to admit...
...he wouldn’t admit that even when she had acted so atrociously, he had still been good to her!
Anne Sutton said, "I don’t like you. How could I ever like someone like you!"
All those kind things he did now seemed utterly laughable to her.
After all, he had been hiding the truth from her, fooling her like an idiot. It would be insane for her to still like him.
Nathan Fawcett wasn’t surprised to see her deny it. Getting back to the point, he said to Anne Sutton, "Let Ian come out. I’m taking him home."
Anne Sutton said, "I told you, he’s already asleep."
"..." Nathan Fawcett glanced at her and started to walk inside, but Anne Sutton blocked him. "Nathan Fawcett, what will it take for you to give me my child? I said I don’t want anything from the Fawcett Family! I don’t want to make a deal with you anymore, and I don’t want to give you our child! I’m not honoring our previous agreement."
"..." Nathan Fawcett looked at Anne Sutton and said, "Why don’t you listen to yourself? Do you think I’ve been too good to you, so now you can just do whatever you want? You want the child? In your dreams! Go have one yourself. Ian is mine!"
After speaking, he reached out, pushed her aside, and tried to enter.
The push was too forceful, and Anne Sutton was sent stumbling to the side, bumping into the wall.
Nathan Fawcett hadn’t meant to do that and instinctively reached out to steady her...
Seething with anger, she shoved his hand away, not letting him touch her.
Seeing how unappreciative she was, Nathan Fawcett withdrew his hand. He explained to Anne Sutton, "Ian’s surname is Linden right now. Everyone knows he’s Ethan Linden’s son. So you tell me, if I give him to you, how am I supposed to explain that to everyone else? You have money now. You can have a child with whomever you want, can’t you? You’ll have many more children in the future, but Ian... he grew up by my side. Anne Sutton, when you thought about taking him away, did you ever consider my position?"
Anne Sutton looked at Nathan Fawcett. Of course, she hadn’t considered how taking Ian away would affect his current life.
She was just filled with hatred and wanted him to give her an explanation.
Anne Sutton said, "Then what do you think I should do? Keep playing dumb? Pretend he doesn’t exist?"
Before, she didn’t know, so there was nothing she could do.
But now she knew the truth!
Nathan Fawcett looked at Anne Sutton and said, "If you want to see him in the future, you can come to the Linden Family estate. I won’t stop you. Is that acceptable?"
He had already compromised enough!
Nathan Fawcett hadn’t actually expected Anne Sutton to show up in Veridia.
After all, she had gotten everything from the Fawcett Family. She should have already achieved her goal; there was no need for her to come here.
Anne Sutton said, "Then why won’t you let him spend the night here? I’m telling you, he’s already asleep!"
"My mother has been looking for him all afternoon. She’s been angry this whole time, just waiting for me to bring him back."
Nathan Fawcett had just finished speaking when Ian ran out of the room. "I’m not going back."
Nathan Fawcett frowned when he saw him wearing one of Anne Sutton’s T-shirts.
Ian said, "Bad Daddy, I want to be with Mommy! I’m not going back! I don’t want to be separated from Anne."
He said it so pitifully, it was clear he would burst into tears if Nathan Fawcett didn’t agree.
Nathan Fawcett looked at the little guy and said, "Come here."
"I’m not coming." Ian stood in the bedroom doorway, looking at Nathan Fawcett defensively. "You only know how to bully Anne."
Seeing him act like this gave Nathan Fawcett a splitting headache.
He was already exhausted today.
And he still hadn’t eaten.
Seeing this little guy ready to abandon his dad now that he had his mom, Nathan Fawcett really wanted to drag him out and give him a spanking.
’He even felt that if Ian could choose for himself...’
’...he would definitely follow Anne Sutton without a second thought.’
’So, as his father, he had no status in his son’s eyes and could be tossed aside at any moment!’
Seeing that Ian was about to cry, Anne Sutton was overcome and started crying herself.
She reached up and silently wiped away her tears. ’There’s probably no mother in the world as much of a failure as I am. Even just wanting to be with my own son is this difficult.’
Butler Walters, standing to the side and watching this scene, said to Nathan Fawcett, "Sir, why not let the young master sleep here tonight? It’s already so late. If you take him back now, he won’t rest well. What do you think?"
Before Nathan Fawcett could answer, Ian nodded frantically, wholeheartedly agreeing with the butler’s suggestion.
Nathan Fawcett looked at how his arrival had made them both all teary-eyed and was left speechless. He said to Anne Sutton, "He can stay with you for one night. I’ll come pick him up tomorrow."
With that, he walked out.
Watching this, Anne Sutton let out a temporary sigh of relief. The butler also hurried out after him.
Ian saw this, ran over, shut the door, and bolted the lock.