My mute bride novel (Rachel and Justin)
My Mute Bride Chapter 341

My Mute Bride Chapter 341

Chapter 341 She Has Lost a Baby Before

Charlotte’s arrival marked a turning point in the court hearing. After all, civil cases like child custodybattles were the hardest to adjudicate on. There were no black-and-white rules on this, but it wasalmost common practice that the child’s wishes would have a huge impact on the court’s verdict.

Justin frowned at once. “Miss Carter, who let you bring my daughter here? Frankie, take Charlotte outof here now!”

Hernandez stood up at once. “Your Honor.”

The judge banged the gavel in his hand. “Silence!”

The scene went silent at once.

Hernandez accused sharply, “How could a kid grow up under the control of such a domineeringfather?”

Justin looked as black as thunder as he struggled to suppress his displeasure. “Rachel, why do youhave to have Charlotte brought here?”

Instead of answering him, Rachel continued to make her case. “Your Honor, there’s one other thing thatI need to make clear. I gave birth to Charlotte while I was divorced and technically single. The time ofher birth and the time of my divorce could be verified, so her custody should’ve been mine in the firstplace.”

All at once, a discussion broke out among the jury.

Justin wanted to say something, but his attorney stopped him, saying, “Your Honor, I’d like to ask for arecess.” After all, Charlotte’s sudden presence had made the situation somewhat complicated.

The judge nodded slightly. “The court will recess for 15 minutes.”

Justin stopped Rachel as soon as they left the courtroom. “Come with me. I’d like to have a word withyou!”

“Justin.” Hernandez tried to stop him.

Rachel was imperturbable, though. “It’s okay. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Only then did Hernandez relent.

After following Justin into the lounge, Rachel asked straightforwardly, “What do you want to say?Shoot.”

Justin took a deep breath and let it out slowly. After barely calming himself, he said, “Rachel, whatevermeans you use for this lawsuit, I can understand it, but why do you have to be so cruel? Why letCharlotte see us at each other’s throats? She’s just a kid!”

Rachel argued, “She’s already six years old. Do you think she doesn’t know anything? Rather thancoaxing her into living a fairytale, it’s better to let her choose her own future life. At least she won’tblame me in the future for not giving her the opportunity!”

“That’s too cruel! You’re her mother!”

“It’s precisely because I’m her mother that I want her to know I’ve never given up on her! I’ll do my bestto win this lawsuit.”

Justin was on the verge of breaking down. “Do you have to do this? I told you that you can visit heranytime you want. You—”

“I don’t want that!” Rachel interrupted him snappily. “It made me feel very uncomfortable the first time Iheard this from you. You sounded like you’d made a huge concession or something. Do you honestlythink I should be eternally grateful for that?”

Justin was at a loss for a reply. Rachel’s words punctured the man’s eardrum and pierced through hisnerves one after another like needles.

“If there’s nothing else, I gotta go. The hearing will continue in a minute.”

“Wait a minute.” Justin grabbed Rachel’s arm. His deep voice dripped with humbleness as he said, “I’mnot making concessions; I’m begging you. I can’t lose Charlotte.”

In a small movement, Rachel broke free of Justin’s grasp and flicked the nonexistent dust off the cuff ofher shirt.

When Justin saw this, his heart clenched all of a sudden. To think that she loathes me to such adegree!

Just then, Rachel said, “I don’t believe you. Since you could marry me and then divorce me for thesake of your own interests in the past, you could also abandon Charlotte for the sake of your owninterests in the future.” Her heart was desolate as their past was brought up again. As she stared atJustin, everything that had happened five years ago flashed vividly before her eyes. “You probablyhave forgotten about it, but I lost a baby back then.” The baby she had lost before conceiving Charlottewas always a pain in her heart, and she had never gotten over it over the past five years.

Upon hearing her words, Justin turned pale and staggered. “I… I didn’t forget it. I still remember that,Rachel. I still remember that.”

Rachel turned her face away, not wanting to look at him.

As they both silently refused to budge, Justin’s voice sounded more and more muffled up. “I know it’suseless for me to say anything, but I’ll spend my whole life making it up to you and Charlotte. I’ll havethe Burton Group’s shares that I have added to the will.” At the mention of his will, he felt like he hadclutched his lifeline, and his eyes lit up somewhat. “Rachel, didn’t we agree that I’ll make a will toprotect Charlotte’s rights in the Burton Family so that you don’t have to worry about her sufferingwrongs in the Burton Family? Please let Charlotte stay with me. Take it as my plea to you.”

However, Rachel replied coldly, “Your will will only be valid when you’re dead.” With that, she pulled thedoor open and left the lounge right away without looking back, leaving the man standing at the doorwith his face as white as a sheet.

“Mr. Burton!” His attorney hurried over with an anxious expression. “Why are you here? We need torediscuss our strategy.”

“What else can I do?”

“Your child’s wishes are crucial to the case. If you can convince your child to live with you, then there’llbasically be no problem.”

Justin barely pulled himself together. “Where’s Charlotte?”

“The public rest area.”

At this moment, Charlotte was holding a bottle of fruit juice given by Jolly in the public rest area outsidethe courtroom, but she didn’t drink it.

“Why not drink it, Charlotte? You don’t like it?”

Charlotte’s little face was clouded with unhappiness. She asked with a frown, “Godmother, why areDaddy and Mommy fighting for my custody? Can’t they be together?”

“You probably still don’t understand the matters between adults. In that case, let me ask you this: if youhave to make a choice, who do you wish to live with?”

Charlotte’s eyes reddened somewhat. “Daddy and Mommy have asked me this question before.” In thepast, she would cry at the question, and Rachel and Justin would feel sorry for her and stopquestioning her. But now, it seemed that it’d be useless no matter how she cried.

“You see, don’t you always want to be with your mom? Now your mom has come back for you. If youlive with her in the future, you’ll get to play with Samuel, who will go to school with you every day andgo to the playground with you on weekends. We’ll travel together during the winter and summerbreaks… How happy we’ll be!”

“But I’m also very happy to be with Daddy. He’s very nice to me, too.”

“What’s good about him? He—”

Before Jolly could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by Justin’s voice from behind. “Charlotte.”

At the sight of Justin, Charlotte immediately jumped down from her chair, ran to the man, and flungherself into his arms. She sobbed in an extremely aggrieved voice, “Daddy!”

Justin was very saddened to see how aggrieved Charlotte looked.

Just then, Charlotte said, “Daddy, Godmother said I have to choose between you and Mommy, and Ican’t choose both of you.”

“Who would you like to choose, then?”

Charlotte lay in Justin’s arms without speaking.

They had lived together for such a long time as father and daughter, so if anything happened, Justinwould be Charlotte’s biggest support. Regardless of what Jolly might have said, Justin was stillconfident of this. Rachel has made a mistake in trying to use our child to win the case.

At the sight of the scene, Jolly secretly clenched her fists and made up her mind. I still can’t let Rachelgo easy on him this time. If she still doesn’t harden her heart, it’ll be too late.