Chapter 272

Chapter 272:

Not long after a regular day had passed, Stella received a court notification, along with a letter of authorization and a list of evidence.

Did this mean that the lawsuit was about to begin? Was it possible that the right to Adrian’s custody might not belong to her? She dared not imagine such a scenario.

Tristan visited her, informing her that he had assisted in hiring a lawyer for her. He assured her that she had an advantage in many aspects.

There was a law stating that a drastic shift in a child’s living environment, after being with one parent for some time, was not beneficial to the child’s development. Additionally, the parent without other children often held an upper hand compared to the parent who already had other children. Stella knew this worked in her favor.

She had no other children and had been raising Adrian by herself. RK, on the other hand, had never lived under the same roof as Adrian and already had Alia, his beloved daughter. Logically, the court would not award custody to RK.

Although the odds seemed in her favor, Stella still felt uneasy. She loved Adrian dearly, with every fiber of her being. The idea of losing him was unbearable. She couldn’t survive without him. She had spent years raising him, so why should he be taken from her just because of a court summons?

Why had she returned to X City? Why had she encountered RK again? Why did he have to find out about Adrian’s existence?

She should have stayed in France, quietly raising Adrian, without ever returning. She could have lived out the rest of her life there, growing old, until the secret was buried with her.

The lawyer Tristan found was professional and highly reputed. He was a former college classmate of Tristan’s, known as an outstanding talent in the field of law. After analyzing Stella’s case, he found that her chances of winning were high, which finally eased her worries a little.

Perhaps it was the bond between mother and son that allowed Adrian to sense something was wrong.

During dinner, Adrian hesitated before asking, “Darling, are you going to start a lawsuit with the bad uncle?”

Stella, who had been cleaning Adrian’s room, froze for a moment before resuming her task. She tried her best to remain calm.

“Why would you ask such a question, Adrian?” Stella asked, keeping her tone light, hoping he wouldn’t sense her anxiety.

gα ℓη σ ν풆 ℓs.com holds great reads “I can feel it here. I can feel that you’re upset,” Adrian said, rubbing his chest dramatically.

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Stella teased with a smile. “You’re so eloquent. You’ll have girls swooning over you with your sweet talk.”

“How could that be?” Adrian’s face flushed as he shyly replied, “I, Adrian, only love you, Darling!”

Stella chuckled and sat beside him.

“Adrian, if you lived with the bad uncle, you would have Alia to play with every day, lots of delicious snacks, plenty of cartoons, games, and you’d be driven to school in a nice car. But I wouldn’t be there. Would you want that?”

Stella felt it was better to prepare Adrian for the possibility, just in case she lost the lawsuit. She was afraid he wouldn’t be able to handle such a sudden change.

“No! I don’t want any of that!” Adrian threw a tantrum, kicking his legs and refusing to accept the idea.

Stella held him close, trying to calm him down.

“No, no, don’t worry. I won’t give you to the bad uncle. You’ll stay with me forever,” she reassured him.

“Darling, I don’t want snacks anymore. I won’t play games, and I won’t go to school in a car. I don’t want to play with Alia either.

Please don’t leave me, will you?” Adrian cried, his face streaked with tears and snot.

Stella hugged him tightly, letting him cling to her until he eventually fell asleep. His tiny nose twitched as he sobbed in his sleep, as though he had been wronged. Stella sighed, wiped his tears, and tucked him in before sitting on the sofa to keep him company.

She thought back to the day she had married into the Kingston family, a day that had changed her life forever. It had been the hottest summer, and she had felt dizzy and disoriented. When she returned home from her tutoring job, she found her entire family sitting in silence. The atmosphere was tense, almost suffocating.

Sophia had been in a fragile state, experiencing extreme mood swings. Normally, her parents, David and Isabella, should have been at the hospital with her, but instead, they were sitting quietly at home. Something was off.

Sensing the tension, Stella had turned to leave when David called her back.

“Stella, wait a moment,” he said.

She sat down obediently, though alarm bells were ringing in her mind. She had a terrible feeling about what was coming.

Back then, her intuition had been right. What happened next had changed everything.

.

.

.