Chapter 172 At All Costs, Fight for Amber's Custody
Donald naturally picked up on the implication in Kenna's words.
His eyes turned cold as he looked at Terry with displeasure.
"Mr. Thompson, the gifts you've brought, the Stone family doesn't have the good fortune to accept them. Please take them all back with you."
"Cordelia and Thomas are just ordinary friends, so please don't mention marriage again."
Seeing Donald's firm attitude, Terry's expression darkened slightly. However, compared to Kenna's urgency, Terry appeared much calmer.
"If Cordelia refuses to marry Thomas, that's fine."
"But we will fight for Amber's custody. If this goes to court, I'm afraid neither family will look good."
Donald's face was cold, finding the Thompson family utterly unreasonable.
Cordelia's expression was also grave.
"Does Thomas know you came to my house?"
As she spoke, she took out her phone to call Thomas.
Kenna quickly grabbed Cordelia's hand.
"Cordelia, don't do that. Thomas doesn't know."
"Terry's words were just a bit harsh, but we mean well. Besides Thomas, do you have a better option?"
Outside the door, Alaric paused mid-step as he was about to enter.
He wanted to know the answer too.
But Cordelia didn't directly answer Kenna's question. Instead, she looked at Kenna and said calmly.
"Kenna, do you think that besides me, Thomas has no better options, which is why you're so desperate?"
Kenna's face stiffened slightly.
They had assumed Cordelia didn't know about Thomas's preferences, but it turned out she knew everything.
Terry's expression also shifted from calm to angry.
Donald coldly ordered them to leave.
Terry stood up with a cold face.
Seeing the conversation end badly, Kenna looked somewhat embarrassed.
"Cordelia."
Cordelia smiled faintly and said calmly, "Kenna, don't forget to take your gifts with you."
She picked up the gift box from the table and stuffed it into Kenna's hands.
Kenna took a deep breath and immediately said.
"Cordelia, this is a gift I bought for you, I—"
Before Kenna could finish, Terry snatched the gift box away and left with it.
Kenna had no choice but to follow him out.
As they reached the door, they ran right into Alaric.
Seeing Alaric, Terry's expression changed slightly.
"Alaric, what are you doing here?"
Alaric's deep eyes swept over Terry once. Though his face showed little emotion, Terry felt Alaric's gaze was filled with disdain.
"Why does Uncle Terry look so upset?"
Terry's expression froze. He noticed Alaric was holding a small toy gift box, clearly something bought for Amber.
His face immediately paled as he said awkwardly.
"We came to the Stone family to discuss the child's custody."
Seeing Alaric here, alarm bells went off in Kenna's mind.
If Alaric intended to remarry Cordelia, it would be even harder for them to fight for Amber's custody.
"Yes, Amber is Cordelia and Thomas's child. As the child's grandparents, we naturally can't break the rules. We had to come discuss this."
Alaric's eyes darkened.
"Why are you here to discuss this instead of Thomas?"
"With the parents alive and well, how can the grandparents fight for custody?"
Kenna was left speechless by Alaric's words.
Terry's face also looked unpleasant, but he couldn't afford to offend Alaric.
Hearing Alaric's voice, Cordelia walked to the door. "You haven't gone to the office yet?"
Alaric shook his head and bounced the small gift box in his hand. "I forgot to give Amber the little gift I prepared for her."
Cordelia reached out to take it.
But Alaric pulled his hand back. "I think she'd be happier if I gave it to her myself."
Hearing this, Cordelia raised an eyebrow, withdrew her hand, and stepped aside to let Alaric in.
Alaric glanced coolly at Kenna and Terry before walking into the house.
Seeing this, Kenna couldn't help but grit her teeth. She pounded Terry's arm in frustration.
"This is all your fault!"
Cordelia was the daughter the Stone family had cherished since childhood—how could she possibly be intimidated by their threats?
Terry was already annoyed. He glared at Kenna and strode away from The Stone Manor.
That afternoon, Evelyn called Cordelia.
"A lawyer friend just called me saying the Thompson family is preparing materials to sue you."
"What's going on?"
Cordelia rubbed her temples, her expression helpless.
She hadn't expected Terry and Kenna to actually go through with it.
"They think Amber is Thomas's child, and knowing Thomas's sexual orientation, they're worried he'll never have another child. That's why they're fixated on me, wanting me to marry Thomas. If I don't marry him, they'll fight for Amber's custody."
Hearing this, Evelyn scoffed coldly.
"I didn't expect Thomas's parents to be so disgusting."
Cordelia sighed softly and said helplessly.
"I'll talk to Thomas about it."
Evelyn agreed, then said, "Thomas may have helped you before, but with his parents making such a fuss, it's bad for your reputation too."
"If you can't handle it, leave it to me."
Cordelia replied gently, "It's just a misunderstanding. Not hard to deal with."
After hanging up with Cordelia, Evelyn wasn't entirely reassured, so she mentioned it to Bruce.
Hearing that Thomas's parents wanted to take Amber away, Bruce was furious.
"What right do they have to fight for Amber's custody?"
"I need to talk to Alaric."
Evelyn nodded slightly.
Soon, Alaric's phone was bombarded with text messages from Bruce.
Looking at Bruce's constant stream of messages, Alaric felt quite the headache.
"I'll handle it."
He sent Bruce a simple reply.
Only then did Bruce stop bombarding him with messages.
Over the years, Terry had focused all his attention on the food business. For Alaric to crush him required no effort at all.
After negative news about the Thompson family's food enterprise was released, many videos appeared online showing foreign objects in Thompson Group food products.
Many stores, to avoid being affected, removed Thompson Group food brands from their shelves.
The online buzz grew rapidly, and naturally, the food safety department had to investigate Thompson Group's food brands.
Terry was overwhelmed during this period.
Thomas had also been working on Kenna, trying to convince her to give up fighting for Amber's custody.
After investigating and understanding the situation during this time, Kenna realized they had no chance of winning custody of Amber.
If they offended Cordelia over this, they might not even be able to see Amber in the future.
When Marigold heard that Thomas had withdrawn the lawsuit, she made another scene, declaring she would stop at nothing to get Amber back.