Chapter 226 - A Battle For Lucille

"Call my lawyers!" 

Antonio clicked his heels like a cadet marching to an order. He saw the glint of anger in Noah's eyes when he saw the logo of the Law firm that represents his ex-wife in regards to the custody of Lucille. 

"Yes, sir." He replied before turning on his heels to do what Noah ordered. 

"Contact Soraya to give me a call, ASAP," he added. He could call her but glancing at the time, they were probably still asleep. Timezone sucks. 

Antonio would contact the other security personnel that was working on the clock and would pass the message to Soraya or either contact Jin to make sure to let Soraya know that she has to call him first thing in the morning. 

When Antonio was on the phone calling his lawyers, he looked at the letter again from Nicole's lawyers. She was requesting a new discussion in regards to Lucille's custody. He crumpled the paper into his fist, thinking Nicole was looking for war if she would take back the new changes in their agreement. 

He would fight tooth and nail to have Lucille with him during her school breaks. 

He heaved a deep sigh, trying to suppress his anger and failed. When it comes to his daughter, his anger was something that he couldn't easily contain. 

He's in a better place now when it comes to his alcohol problem. He has been sober for more than three years. His alcohol addiction was the only reason Nicole got a good deal with the custody of Lucille and also the fact that despite being in a dark place during the divorce, he had the best intention for his daughter. 

He wanted her to have her mother as she grows up. He wanted her to be guided by her own mother and not some strangers, which would happen if he fought to get full custody of hers. His grandfather and father would probably step in to take care of Lucille since at that time his brain couldn't survive without swimming in alcohol. 

Having her grandfather and great-grandfather and with the help of strangers, away from her own mother, was something Noah didn't want for Lucille. He would never put his own daughter in the same situation he had in the past. 

The fucked up situation of him as a child where his father took him away from his own mother at such a young age and made sure that his mother won't see him. 

He grew up under the tutelage of his grandfather because his father, after snatching him from his mother, went to marry another woman and forgot that he had a son. He ended up under his grandfather's care—the Old Tiefenbacher with the help of so many governess and nannies until he reached the age of fourteen when he told his grandfather, he's old enough to take care of himself and doesn't need a nanny. 

He had no memory of his mother's love. Growing up, he didn't know what his mother looked like. His father in his anger at his mother burned every photo of hers. He had to beg his grandfather to help him search for his mother when he was fifteen. 

But it was too late. His mother died of leukemia when he was eight, and he didn't know. When he found out about it, he wanted to fly to Japan to meet the family of his biological mother but his father strongly refused. 

He was only able to set foot in Japan when he turned eighteen. In his own accord, he flew to Fukuoka to meet his mother's family and found none. 

He found out from some family friends of his mother's family, his grandfather was a strong believer of the strong potency of race and was hellbent on not wanting to have his only daughter marry a man of a different race. 

His parents were crazily in love and he was conceived outside of marriage. His father offered marriage but her mother refused because her father threatened to remove her from the family registry if she ever marries a man that wasn't Japanese. 

When he confronted his father, he claimed that his mother chose to honor her filial duty to her parents than to honor her duty of being a mother. 

With his mother being long dead, and his father telling him the version of the story in his point of view, Noah grew up not knowing anything about his mother. 

And when he was in a terrible place, his counselor told him that most of the root causes of his problem that resulted in alcohol addiction were due to that part of his life. 

That's why he let Nicole have full custody of their daughter. He doesn't want his own daughter to suffer the same fate he had. He wanted his own child to grow up with the love and guidance of her own mother. 

Added to the fact was when the divorce happened, he doesn't know how to be a good father. Not surprisingly, since not only he had no idea of a mother's love, his father was absent throughout his life too. He had no idea how to father a child!

He chuckled to himself with the memory of Jess telling him that he was the best father. Probably, when he sobered up and found the courage to man up, he tried to become a good father to Lucille, but most of the time he still had no idea what the hell he was doing with his own child. 

However, if there is one thing he was sure of, it was the fact that he would never abandon his own child. He would fight for his right to be part of her life. And Nicole can go to hell if she thinks even for one second that he won't raise hell to make sure of that. 

Yes, his daughter deserves a mother. But, she also deserves a father. She deserves the best father, and he intends to be that for her. He will try his best to be that kind of father for her!