Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 161: A Son Or A Pawn

The woman who entered with Michael Sterling greeted everyone in a sweet yet domineering voice, indicating she was already taking up her role having just arrived.

Anne witnessed the scene with confusion swirling in her eyes.

She had also heard rumors about Michael Sterling, but she had never once thought it would be like this. Nor did she ever think his relationship with his sons would feel so strained judging by Andrew’s reaction immediately he saw the man, she knew it wasn’t a normal father-son relationship.

The room was charged with tension stronger than an over pulled string. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

And a sharp coldness was seeping into her from Andrew who was sitting next to her.

Anne slowly tilted her head to look at Andrew, they were currently surrounded by his family but there wasn’t a trace of warmth on his face.

At this very moment, Gabriel also arrived at the dining hall, he glanced at his father carelessly and then found his seat without saying a word to the man.

"My son..." Michael Sterling began to speak to Andrew again and the latter stood up from his seat abruptly as if deliberately avoiding any interaction with his father.

"We had a deal grandfather, I’ll be counting on that." His voice was unusually hoarse as he said this, it was very evident there was something riveting within which he was trying to suppress. Without any further delay he decisively strode out of the dining hall.

The breakfast continued in a strangely awkward silence after that.

In order to follow courtesy, Anne remained at the dining hall throughout breakfast even though Andrew had just walked out.

At some point, Donald arrived too, the latter showing the exact amount of disconnect to his father as his brothers had.

When Anne finally got a chance when no one would notice her, she slipped out of the dining hall. She walked through the magnificent hallways of the estate, her eyes searchingly moving around when someone suddenly called her name from behind.

Donald jogged up to her, his youthful face showing a small smile.

"There you are, I was looking for you after breakfast. Haven’t seen you since you and my brother got married." As he spoke, there seemed to be a trace of disappointment in his eyes.

"Don, it has been a while. How have you been lately?"

Donald shrugged, "I was doing fine until my father showed up."

Hearing him mention his father, Anne didn’t want to probe too much into the family matters, but then she was also a bit curious.

"You don’t get along with your father?"

Donald chuckled before replying, "How could that happen when he’s never been here, I barely even know him, and it’s the same for my brothers too."

Hearing that, Anne finally understood what seemed to be the reason for Andrew’s expression. They indeed didn’t get along well with their father, and perhaps the fact that he’d just brought home a new wife might add to the strain in their relationship.

"But... maybe he wants to fix that now. He said so himself, that he wants to make it up to his children." Anne spoke in the man’s defense because she truly believed when someone who’d been on a bad path had changed, they deserved to be given a chance.

Donald chuckled shaking his head, "It’s easy to believe what he says, even if he wanted to fix things, I don’t think I’d want to. You don’t know how badly I wanted him to do that for years and he never did, I’ve stopped hoping for that so I have no expectations from him."

"Do you know why humans are not perfect?" Anne suddenly asked and Donald listened on curiously.

"No matter what life gives us, no matter what we chase in life, happiness is not always reachable. One moment we could think a certain thing will make us happy, but once we have it, we realize there’s so much more to life than we thought, and while chasing that happiness we end up making so many mistakes that we only realize later on, then we begin to wonder why we never cherished the good things we had when we truly had them. Your father... maybe he realized his past mistakes, we’re human and we can never be perfect, but to fix mistakes you have to learn to forgive him first."

Donald seemed to ponder about her words for a while before he said,

"Can you forgive a man you expected to care for you as a father but someday used you as a wilful pawn in a betting game with someone?"

Hearing that, Anne couldn’t help but feel a well of sympathy in her heart.

"You...he did that to you?"

Donald smiled bitterly, "Not to me, but to my brother. You’re a kind person for thinking about forgiveness like that. Maybe someday I could learn to forgive him, after all I merely wanted his love and attention but he denied me of it, but for my brother...so many times he ended up being taken for granted by our father."

"Which one of your brothers?" Anne asked.

"He didn’t tell you?" Donald asked her with a look of shock. "I thought now that he got married, he would be ready to fully open up to you."

Anne frowned a little confused.

"It’s Andrew. When he was fourteen, our Dad took him to a party. It was an adults only party but ever since he was young, brother Andrew had always been smart and strategic, so Dad thought he could use Andrew’s wits to win some of the games they played at the party. Dad was playing this game with a woman back then, there used to be rumors about her being a predator to younger boys. At the time she made a bet with our Dad and gave him the condition of placing brother Andrew as her prize if she won. Dad ended up losing the game, and he didn’t care what would happen to my brother, he left him there with her as a prize. He told her that he had two other sons, she could keep one if she liked him that much."

Disbelief clouded Anne’s expression.

She couldn’t believe that something like that had actually happened to Andrew. Now she understood what she’d seen beneath the anger in his eyes, it wasn’t just rage, it was a pain that had been with him for a long time.

Being given away by his own father...it must have left a permanent wound in his heart, but Andrew never showed his wounds, so no one could see it.

She suddenly felt her heart tighten in pain, she couldn’t say a single word to Donald who was quietly studying her face.

"Don’t worry, brother Andrew is strong. And nothing bad happened to him that night, grandfather got him back. You don’t have to look so worried."

Donald had been awfully shocked to hear about his brother’s sudden marriage when it had been announced.

He never actually thought that he would see a day his brother would get married, but the fact that it was to Anne made it more surprising.

So it turned out his brother had something going on with Anne all along.

She was carrying his child.

Thinking back to it now, the clues had been there, it had just been a bit hard to believe.

If that night at the company when his brother and Anne had been locked in together in an office hadn’t been indication enough that there was something between them more than just an employer and employee relationship, then the evening of the anniversary ball was even more of a bigger clue.

Everything then made sense to Donald, and he’d quietly attended the wedding even though there was a small trace of disappointment in his heart.

The little crush he was harboring deep inside slowly cracked and shattered when he realized she wasn’t his but his brother’s.

Though seeing her today he’d been very excited to talk to her which was why he’d followed her, he still tried to make it clear to himself that he couldn’t continue to see her the way he used to. He couldn’t continue to harbor that small admiration in his heart.

Donald had found himself questioning if truly there were feelings between his brother and Anne. There were times people got married and love wouldn’t be involved, that depended on circumstances and he wondered if his brother, tough and emotionless as he always was, could actually grow feelings.

But in this moment, something in Anne’s eyes seemed to give away her emotions.

Donald didn’t know about his brother, but as for Anne...the emotions in her eyes couldn’t be mistaken.

"If someone told me before that you’d have feelings for my brother, I wouldn’t have believed them, but you’re his wife now." Donald broke the sudden silence in the air, "You came this way because you were looking for him right?"

She nodded quietly.

If someone had told her that she would someday have feelings for him too, she also wouldn’t have believed it. But she knew that life often pushed us towards the paths that we least expect. Otherwise everyone would have been able to predict their destiny.

"My brother has a habit of going to the rooftop whenever something happens. I’m pretty sure he should be there right now, come, I’ll take you to him?"

"Thank you." She smiled gratefully at him, not noticing how his gaze lingered regretfully on her face before he begun to lead her away.

An exquisite looking elevator took them to the highest floor of the estate. After leading her there, Donald informed her that he had something to do, so he went back into the elevator which took him back down.

When Anne opened the steel door of the rooftop, a gushing wind blew her hair back.

The open space was decorated like a relaxation area, a few comfortable spots could be seen here and there

Only after looking around for a while did Anne spot the tall figure standing very close to the railings.

From his profile, she could see how deeply his brows were drawn together and how tightly his jaw was clenched. He gazed unblinkingly into the horizon but one could tell his thoughts were rioting at the moment.

With slow steps she approached him, the sound of the wind rushing through her ears. After a few seconds of hesitation she asked softly,

"Are you okay?"

He seemed to realize then that she was there, the eyes that turned to fix on her looked extremely frightening, like a man who could tear someone apart.