Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 238: The Test

Anne felt a strange terror suddenly seize her. That liquid Clara put in that drink, whatever it was frightened her immensely.

Without even thinking, Anne lifted her dress and sprinted in Andrew’s direction, she was afraid she wouldn’t reach him on time and he would have sipped the drink Clara just sneakily handed to him.

She couldn’t let him drink that...

Anne was unaware of her surroundings in this moment, she didn’t care that she’d just bumped aside important high ranking investors, nor did she care if she offended any of them, she rushed towards Andrew at the very moment someone clinked glasses with him in a toast and he was about to take the drink towards his lips.

The fastest way she could stop him from drinking out of the glass was by knocking the drink away from him, and Anne did just that, swiftly slapping the glass out of his hold. It caused the liquid to splatter over the suit of the man closest to Andrew while the glass fell to the door shattering loudly.

The sharp sound of glass breaking caused many to stop what they were doing and turn to the direction the noise came from. Those who had been dancing halted their waltz, those socializing went quiet, all eyes trained on the beautiful young woman who had just knocked a drink out of the CEO’s hands.

Anne was panting heavily from having sped over so fast, but seeing the glass broken on the floor, she couldn’t help but feel relieved.

He didn’t drink it!

Thankfully he didn’t drink it.

Clara’s body froze as her eyes fell on the shattered glass on the floor, her face etched with shock.

Slowly, she glanced up in Anne’s direction and her eyes blazed over, glaring at Anne. It was as if she couldn’t believe it was Anne butting into her plans once again.

The relief Anne felt slowly wore off as she realized there were currently countless eyes on her, many staring at her in shock, many in anger, especially the middle aged investor who now had wine stains on his shirt. He shot her a look of intense hostility.

"I’m so sorry." Anne quickly apologized to the angry looking man. She hadn’t meant to spill the wine on him, she had just wanted to stop Andrew from drinking it.

After she apologized, she raised her gaze to Andrew, he was staring down at her with a frown on his face. She couldn’t tell if he was angry or if he was just confused by her actions.

"That wine just now..." Anne had only started to explain to him, intending to tell him why she had knocked the glass of wine away when someone else suddenly interrupted her.

"Oh God, Mr Daniels, your shirt is so badly stained." Clara exclaimed with a highly exaggerated tone that made many even more interested in the situation. "Anne, what were you thinking? Mr Daniels is one of our very important investors, you ruined his outfit. It’s a certified Armani suit and this stain might not come off. Don’t tell me you just want Mr Sterling’s attention so you rushed over here to knock off his drink, you’re probably going to say things like his drink was poisoned or drugged just to pretend to be the hero in his eyes. That’s such a low way to get the CEO’s attention."

Many suddenly felt enlightened after hearing what Clara just said. So that’s why. They all felt an instant dislike for Anne before even knowing who she was. It wasn’t a case of mistake or clumsiness, Anne had deliberately thrown away that glass causing a stain on Mr Daniels’ shirt, they all felt like Anne was trying to get the CEO’s attention and that was why she did something so dramatic.

"No one asked for your insights Miss Hastings, if you’re such a skilled detective figuring out people’s intentions, why not lend that skill at the police department, they’ll be sure to appreciate your efforts." Andrew’s level words immediately shut down Clara right in front of everyone.

She opened and closed her mouth but no words came out. Andrew dismissing her words in front of so many people felt so embarrassing, he had shamed her right in front of even the lowest employees in their company.

"Why did you do that?" He shifted his attention to ask Anne this time. Anyone could hear the contrast in his voice. What sounded so cold speaking to Clara had now turned gentle and it caused many to give Anne a second glance.

She was breathtakingly beautiful and see seemed to have a gentle aura, the employees of SE among the guests recognized her and this raised the suspicion from the rumors that had slowly started to die down. To the guests, she didn’t seem like the kind of girl to covet attention, so many listened on to hear her reason for knocking off the glass.

When Anne looked up into Andrew’s eyes, she could tell that there was still some anger towards her, however there was still that familiar gentleness. Both emotions contrasted each other making his expression somewhat unreadable.

"Clara put something in the drink, I didn’t know what it was but I couldn’t just let you drink it."

His eyes seemed to soften some more as he heard her explanation. He stared at her for a while longer until Clara suddenly spoke up.

"What? How could you accuse me? I knew you would claim the drink was poisoned or something but I had no idea you would..."

Andrew suddenly raised his hand as a sign of silence, Clara had no choice but to cut her words short.

She glanced down at the drink on the floor and up at the door where the person she had tasked to do something pivotal to her plan had yet to come in and she let out a sigh of relief. She had told him not to come yet unless she called him, his task was simply to lure Andrew out of the hall one way or another and the next step of her plan would commence from there. Looking at the broken glass on the floor, her plan was evidently ruined but there was no way it would implicate her.

"You’ve grown some guts Miss Hastings." Andrew’s cold eyes suddenly shifted to her, Clara’s heart couldn’t help but sink to the depths.

His eyes looked immensely scary and if she hadn’t forced herself to remain standing, her knees would have given below her.

"An-Andrew... she’s mistaken. I just took that drink off this waiter and gave it to you because I noticed your glass was empty and investor Daniels proposed a toast to you. I really didn’t do anything to your drink." Clara hastily defended herself despite feeling extremely intimidated by Andrew’s harsh gaze.

"CEO Sterling, don’t be quick to believe what this low life woman just said. She spilled your drink all over me just to get your attention, what else can low life social climbing women do to gain the attention of a man as remarkable as you?" Investor Daniels who was really pleased with how Clara had spoken to him earlier chimed in looking at Anne as a lower employee in the company who wanted to climb the ladder to gain the gaze of a superior man.

Instead of getting Andrew’s favorable gaze, investor Daniels got a harsh look that silenced him.

"It’ll be in your best interest to shut that hole in your face Daniels, I’ll pay for your damn shirt, now stay out of this." Andrew’s voice was calm as he spoke to the investor who couldn’t open his mouth anymore.

Andrew wasn’t afraid of offending the man despite him holding a high position among other investors in the company, one would expect him to treat the man reverently, however despite the fact that Andrew had talked down to him, investor Daniels couldn’t reply or look offended, in fact he looked intimidated and didn’t dare say another word.

Andrew calmly got his phone out and called someone, in a few minutes some men in bodyguard uniforms rushed into the hall and upon his instructions, they padded some of the spilled drink on the floor with pieces of cotton and then kept it in a sealed container.

"Miss Hastings, pray that the tests find nothing in the wine you so kindly gave me." There was no kindness in Andrew’s words as he said this to Clara.

Her eyes flickered under Andrew’s sharp gaze but she tried to hide any trace of nervousness from her eyes.

"Take this to Shawn, I want it tested for anything other than just wine. Tell him I want the result immediately." Andrew instructed the bodyguards he had just called to take the tiniest drops of the wine remaining on he floor.

Slowly, the crowd dispersed, everyone waiting anxiously with thoughts of wanting to hear what would happen once the wine was indeed tested. Many continued to socialize, however the party wasn’t as lively as it had been earlier.

Anne was standing close to Andrew in the hall when she heard him say to her in a low voice, "Sit over here, your legs will hurt if you stand too long."

Anne glanced up at him with shock in her eyes but he wasn’t looking at her, he had merely spoken to her casually. Nodding, Anne walked to take her seat at the nearest table feeling countless gazes on herself as she moved, perhaps many were thinking she might try to escape at this point if she was in the wrong.

After sitting down, she could feel the gazes settle as they looked away.

Anne glanced in Clara’s direction and noticed her talking to the investor from a while ago, looking outwardly relaxed but perhaps no one noticed that she was tightly wringing her fingers below the table. It was a clear sign of nervousness.

Anne didn’t feel sorry for Clara at all in this moment, and it wasn’t born out of ruthlessness but out of anger that Clara had dared to even think about putting something into Andrew’s drink. One should be ready to face the consequences of their own actions, and Anne wanted to see Clara face the consequences of hers.

It was about thirty minutes later that the guards suddenly returned, rushing towards Andrew and one of them whispered something into his ear.

Everyone waited with bated breath to hear the outcome of the test.