Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 108: Love...?

Andrew had driven his car out of the event out into the open road. His sharp eyes glued to the road, occasionally, his fists clenched over the steering wheel and then unclenched them.

It had been a little over a month now since he’d met her, a woman just like every other woman in the world but she was different.

Different in the way she made him feel when he’d never felt before her.

He kept a picture of her in his room not for any other reason but because he wanted to see her.

Wanting to see her was an urge in itself he’d found bothersome, in times she couldn’t be anywhere around him one glace at the photograph brought him ease.

He’d let a terrible habit into his life, him a man who used to be strictly disciplined had allowed her to become a habit.

It was okay when he told himself she was just a fascination, she wasn’t greedy or ambitious so he was allowed to be fascinated with her, but did mere fascination come with the intense hunger to touch?

The hunger to touch could just be lust, but did mere lust come with a sudden uncontrollable jump in one’s chest, a tickle in the heart. Blasted feelings he had no damn room for in his life.

He’d allowed himself the change to amuse himself. When he realized she wasn’t another image of Andrea Walters he’d allowed himself look at her when his eyes wanted to look, stand up for her when her being in distress bothered him, but could he truly allow himself to fall...

Hi fist tightened against the steering wheel with so much force his knuckles turned white, every hard feature of his face clenched.

Love...?

That fleeting feeling that left people in ruins, broke them and left them shattered had no room in his life.

Emotions are weaknesses, this was a mantra he’d continuously chanted to himself for the longest time. He was allowed to have fun with anyone, was allowed to let himself be around people who didn’t irritate him, he was allowed to enjoy people’s company if they amused him, but what he absolutely wasn’t allowed to do was let emotions settle into him.

And he wouldn’t deny it, this girl...was the very first who’d ever come close to plant a seed of this forbidden emotion inside of him.

A sound suddenly pierced through his thoughts. He looked down to see Donald’s name flashing on the screen.

He’d left Donald at the hotel just a while ago, why was he suddenly calling him now?

There weren’t many things Andrew cared about in this world, the fewer things or people he was attached to the better, and this little brother of his was one of those people.

Without lingering much, he automatically answered his call with the press of a button. Donald’s voice suddenly filled the car space.

"Bro did you see Anne before you left? I’ve been looking all over for her but I couldn’t find her anywhere, even her phone isn’t going through, I gave the guards a description but they didn’t see her leave the hotel and some staff said they saw a man taking her somewhere in the hotel. She looked a bit sick earlier, I’m afraid she might have..."

The rest of what Donald said echoed away as a sharp look suddenly appeared in Andrew’s eyes and he instantly swerved the car at a turn, driving back the way he came.

That strange foreboding feeling he was having earlier came back at him with full force and without thinking he went back to the hotel.

When he met Donald it was confirmed that Anne truly hadn’t left the hotel at all.

He suddenly remembered what her eyes looked like the last time he saw her earlier.

Confused and pained for a reason he couldn’t understand.

When the hotel manager found out someone among the Sterling’s guests was missing, he instantly called for the entire hotel security to search.

Without waiting for them to complete their search, Andrew took off to find her on his own. Guilt and something else he couldn’t name engulfed him.

He’d made her come here tonight even when she didn’t want to, yet he had left her all alone.

What strange man had taken her?

What if it was one of the spoilt young masters who would obviously have bad intentions for her?

Andrew made sure to instruct they check every private room to make sure she wasn’t there before he took off towards the last place the staff had said they saw her.

It was a lower floor towards the storage rooms of the hotel where only staff were allowed to come.

Andrew knew he’d felt panic before, but that was only far off in his past he hardly kept in his memory anymore. But the panic he felt right now was an intensely overwhelming anxiety and fear.

He hadn’t allowed himself to think earlier to avoid thinking back to the feeling of having her in his arms, if he had he would have remembered that there was someone in the shadows who aimed to make her their target.

The other day when a maid had accused her at the Sterling estate, he’d made Gavin look into it.

The maid Sasha turned out to have been more than just a maid, she was a spy planted in the estate by someone, and no matter how she was grilled by Gavin she had refused to say who.

He had instructed Gavin to let her go afterwards so she would lead them to whoever had ordered her to spy in the Sterling estate, but the person whoever it might be was quick witted, they cut off all ties with Sasha to clear their tracks.

Andrew had kept in mind that there was someone who meant Anne harm for reasons he hadn’t figured out yet.

Could it be someone knew that Anne was his contracted surrogate?

Was the person spying on him to sabotage his progress and they meant to hurt Anne for that purpose?

At first he’d suspected Gabriel, but there hadn’t been a strong base to suspect Gabriel for it.

He hadn’t thought that the person would come to this event to further cause Anne harm.

Whoever they could be, they had a lot of guts going against him.

Just when the search almost proved futile he’d found her...he found her at a place he didn’t expect she would be.

Even from the distance she looked extremely weak. He suddenly felt all his blood run cold, a knot tightening fiercely in his stomach making even the sensation of breathing become difficult.

His mind went blank, his thoughts spiralling out of control immediately he sighted her.

She was walking with difficulty, then stopped to lean weakly against the wall and an ache rose in the depths of his chest.

When she’d collapsed in his arms, he’d felt a fire fuelled by rage engulf him from within.

The feeling of her cold skin against his touch awakened something monstrous inside him and the sudden urge to destroy overcame him.

It was a strange feeling of something he wanted to shield, wanted to protect had been harmed and it destroyed him from the inside, so much so he wanted to inflict pain on whoever had caused her to be in this state, inflict such a pain on them that they would rather beg for death.

This woman in his arms wasn’t someone anyone could just hurt. Because her being hurt had caused him to feel such a gnawing pain. This woman in his arms was a delicate creature who shouldn’t be harmed, that much was certain to him now. And regardless of whatever emotions he wanted to escape he would never stand to see her hurt by anyone.

After that theft situation, he hadn’t taken that person too seriously because they hadn’t done anything that caused damage, but now... whoever they might be, it would be in their best interests to pray, because the moment he found them, he wouldn’t give them a chance to regret.

Donald had been talking to some of the guards when he sighted his brother came out of an elevator carrying someone in his arms.

He instantly ran over, confirming it was Anne.

Earlier he’d glimpsed a sight of her as she ran to the ladies room with her hands covering her mouth, she had looked quite sick then but he gave her space, after which he waited and waited for her to return but he didn’t find her. When he’d waited too long and she didn’t show up, that was when he’d realized something was wrong. He went to the ladies room but she wasn’t there, searched everywhere in the ballroom but she wasn’t there. He later confirmed she was missing and called Andrew.

"You found her, what happened?" Donald asked worriedly but if Andrew had heard him, he made no indication of that.

Instead, he left a firm instruction as he hurried out of the building.

"Check the cameras, find the person who took her to the storage room and did this to her."

Donald glanced at the unconscious Anne sympathetically before nodding firmly.

When Andrew placed Anne into the car, he rushed to the driver’s seat and made a call to Gavin giving the latter a few tasks to do in regards to that maid and finding the person who sent her when Anne suddenly began to shiver profusely.

Cupping her face he passed heat onto her cold skin.

"Hey, try to stay awake. You’ll be alright."

In her delirious state she didn’t seem to hear his words, her face had turned deathly pale and her lips so dry.

She opened her eyes for just a single moment, breathing very heavily before she suddenly went weak and lost consciousness again, but this time...she wasn’t breathing.