The sudden call startled the young nanny, who swiftly collected herself and hurriedly responded. She came forward to lift William Campbell from his high chair and headed upstairs.
Once the nanny and William Campbell had left, Elly Campbell turned her gaze towards the stern-looking Adam Jones, asking, "What exactly do you want? Haven’t I made myself clear enough?"
Adam Jones’s expression hardened, and his eyes filled with a complex and indescribable emotion. But in the next second, his gaze turned cold and deep once more. The dominance and assertiveness that overflowed from those deep eyes made Elly Campbell suddenly see the Adam Jones of many years ago.
"What do I want? Knowing that I have a son out there, what do you think I want?"
Adam Jones’s voice was low, and his tone began to carry a hint of chill, "Elly Campbell, I have never resorted to force to make you give up the idea of divorce, because I wanted you to think things over calmly, to consider what’s between us, but..."
At this point, Adam paused, his eyes narrowing dangerously before continuing, "As time goes by, have you forgotten what kind of man I am?"
Elly Campbell’s complexion paled a touch. She had guessed what Adam Jones would do when he learned of William Campbell’s existence, yet now, as she watched his domineering mannerisms, her heart filled with both anger and hatred.
"Why? Adam Jones, by what right do you claim any of this!"
Elly Campbell’s voice carried a hint of hoarseness, as the hatred and coldness in her eyes grew deeper.
Adam Jones deliberately ignored the hatred in Elly Campbell’s eyes, his voice turned resolute and firm, "Because I am William Campbell’s biological father."
Elly Campbell gazed at him coldly, her smile tinged with irony, "Adam Jones, apart from providing a seed, what kind of father are you? Where were you when he was almost miscarried? Where were you during the month he spent in the incubator after his birth, nearly not making it? Where were you when William Campbell needed his father to attend kindergarten events? And now, by what right do you come to recognize him, by what right do you try to take him from me!"
Anger and the memories of the despair and helplessness she felt when she nearly lost William Campbell years ago intensified Elly Campbell’s hatred for Adam Jones.
Facing such fierce accusations, a vague sense of pain surfaced in Adam Jones’s heart, his throat suddenly feeling choked, as if obstructed by a stone, the discomfort was intense.
But he couldn’t let Elly Campbell see just how ragged he was internally; he had to steel his heart and pressed on, "You have two choices: either drop the idea of divorce and come back to the Jones family with William Campbell, or... wait until I send my lawyers to fight for William’s custody rights."
Having said that, he didn’t give Elly Campbell a chance to reply. He turned towards the door and walked out without looking back. As he closed the door behind him, his silhouette seemed to carry a hint of a hasty retreat.
Once outside the Campbell house, Adam Jones’s eyes grew fierce, and the assertiveness he had displayed on his face moments earlier faded somewhat, replaced by an indescribable conflict and complexity, also carrying a trace of smothered pain.
When Elly Campbell questioned him earlier, he had wished to defend himself, to say that he had searched for him for four years, to say that if she hadn’t left without a word back then, leading to no contact at all, none of this would have happened.
But he couldn’t utter those words. Why did Elly Campbell leave back then, if not because of what he had done?
Wasn’t it he who had told Elly Campbell to get out of the Jones family, to make room for Sophie Baker? Now, what right did he have to defend himself?