Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 29: Delusional
"Morning, Grandpa." Andrew strode into the chairman’s office. The two people present in the room were immediately plunged into the coldness the man who entered brought with him.
"What’s wrong, bro? You look like you just saw your nemesis on your way," Donald said with a cheeky smile, but Andrew merely sent him a nonchalant glance before looking away.
"DSL has decided to sell their lands to us, Grandpa. Severin wouldn’t dare refuse me," Andrew announced in a business fashion.
Cilton Severin was the CEO of DSL, an arrogant businessman who did everything to compete with Sterling Enterprises. It just so happened that some acres of land needed by Sterling Enterprises were currently under the ownership of Cilton Severin. Getting those lands out of his hands had been an impossible mission, but surprisingly Andrew managed to thaw the lands out of Severin’s stiff possession.
Even Donald, who wasn’t usually interested in all the business stuff, looked at his brother in awe.
Elder Sterling smiled proudly. "I knew you were the only one who can acquire this land for us, Andrew. Wonderful job," the older man said with a bout of proud laughter.
To think they’d been chasing those lands for over a year now and Gabriel had been responsible for their acquisition, but he failed to do in a year what Andrew had done in a week.
The difference in their skills was astronomical.
Andrew’s nonchalant expression didn’t change despite his grandfather’s praise. That was because achievements, if not big enough to change his life, wouldn’t be considered an achievement to him at all.
His ultimate goal was being the CEO of Sterling Enterprises. He wanted to succeed his grandfather, and any other achievement less than that was absolutely nothing in his eyes.
"I’ll get going now, just came to inform you of the successful acquisition." Andrew was quick on his feet once again, but the older man stopped him.
"Stay a while, I have something else to discuss with you. Just let me finish up with this little brat first." Elder Sterling said, waving a hand to his youngest grandson who was busy on his phone, tapping away rapidly.
"What did I do, Grandpa?" Donald stopped abruptly when his grandfather’s displeasure turned to him. He immediately knew he was in for an earful of scolding on how he should be more like his elder brothers.
Here we go again. Donald sighed internally.
Andrew, on the other hand, found that his grandfather’s scoldings faded into the background as something else took over his mind.
A memory that happened not too long ago.
"Master, she’s here. The woman who called in and accepted the contract terms."
That night, Andrew was in his study when Butler Jones came in, informing him about the arrival of his third contracted surrogate. He lightly skimmed through her basic information, which Butler Jones had kept on his desk.
Name: Annelise Thompson.
Attached next to that was a small photograph of her.
Age: 23 years old.
Occupation: Waitress.
Studied Marketing at Verizon University for three years.
When he read everything about her, the information reminded him of his first contracted surrogate.
He smiled coldly. It seemed only the same type of people would be able to accept the job as his contracted.
It wasn’t a surprise; he was used to them.
There was a vast difference between ordinary people and the elites. Every woman who came to him always had the goal of bridging that difference, and they would do whatever it takes to achieve their goals.
He picked up his mask to conceal his face before ordering,
"Let her in."
The butler left for a few minutes and returned with a woman behind him.
She had smooth fair skin, her eyes looked large and cute. Something about her made Andrew keep his eyes on her for longer than he usually would any other woman.
Their eyes had met, and she looked frightened, like a deer caught in headlights. Was it his mask, or was she just realizing that she had signed her body over to a complete stranger? Either way, Andrew hadn’t figured out the purpose of her frightened expression the first day they met.
Another memory took over his thoughts, the very moment he’d entered her, encountering that barrier.
She had been a virgin, but she sold herself to a strange man.
Why had she done that to herself?
His other contracted women had certainly not been untouched. One even claimed to have fallen in love with him. How ridiculous!
Another image took over his mind once more—of Anne sitting in his bed the morning after and how an urge so strong had overcome him, an urge to repeat the actions of the night before immediately he’d seen her the next morning.
Having strong desire for a woman was nothing but trouble. He would never give in to it. That would be the perfect recipe for weakness, and weakness had no room in the life of Andrew Sterling.
And that woman... he shoved down the flutters again, feather-like tickles in his heart at the thought of her. He mentally stomped on the feeling.
She was good... she was really good. The best in the game. He’d encountered many like her, but she was the first to ever come close to penetrating his unbreakable shield.
Throughout every moment his mind had refused to stop thinking about her, he’d also put two and two together to figure out her thoughts and cause for her actions.
Of all gold diggers... she had kept her virginity as a weapon to trap the man who would fall into her target.
If only she were as innocent as her sunset brown eyes looked. But he’d encountered women who looked far more innocent than her, and they failed in their mission to trap him.
What gave her the confidence to think she could conquer the great Andrew Sterling?
She was absolutely delusional!
==========
"What’s going on here?"
Clara sauntered towards the gathering, looking from one person’s face to another.
Rebecca’s eyes suddenly filled with moisture, like someone on the verge of crying. She fell quiet, lowering her head as if she couldn’t open her mouth to tell Clara what happened.
Jessica, however, was quick to speak up.
"Becky unknowingly bumped into Anne. It was clearly an accident. She apologized to Anne about it over and over, but Anne refused to accept the apology. She even threw bubble tea over Becky as revenge. What kind of a person refuses a genuine apology? Aren’t people allowed to make mistakes?"
Clara’s gaze calmly shifted over to Rebecca, who still looked teary, and slowly to Anne.
"Is that true, Anne? Becky apologized and you refused to accept her apology?"
Clara had a strong dislike for unreasonable people. The description of this scenario sounded completely unreasonable to her. But she knew Anne couldn’t be someone to act that way, hence she asked to hear Anne’s side of the story.
Anne was unpanicked as she replied without a second thought. "Yes."
