Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 36: Run From The Beast

Though Anne stopped upon hearing the man’s voice, she didn’t turn to face him.

She nervously closed her eyes.

Can’t this man just let her leave quietly without any trouble?

What does he want to say to her now?

She was 99.9% certain that whatever he had to say to her would be nothing positive.

"Come here," he added calmly.

Anne hesitated for just a beat before turning around. When she faced him, she felt the sudden urge to cower, turn, and flee as fast as she could.

If she ran away now, he wouldn’t follow her, would he?

His brows were set in a deep frown; he looked every bit dangerous, every bit angry.

Why should she stay and quietly accept his anger? 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

She wasn’t an idiot.

’...girls like you disgust me.’

’Your strategy to trap the great Andrew Sterling failed, so you went for his brother...’

’Why take a penny when you can have the full chest of gold? I believe the reward Miss Thompson wants is to be married to one of the Sterling sons...’

’I don’t want to see your face again.’

Those were only some of the terrible things he’d said to her face before. The man’s tongue was despicable, that every word he would spout came like venom, piercing the person they were directed to.

And she was sure as hell he would say more of that to her today, so she was definitely not going to stay and take it.

"I said... come here." The man was sitting behind his desk with the view of the whole city skyline behind him. He looked like a magnificent entity of beauty and power sitting there like a monarch.

Without warning, Anne, who looked like someone standing on broken shards of glass, suddenly raised her chin at the man.

"Why should I?"

The man’s eyes narrowed, but before another word could come out of his lips, she turned and fled.

She didn’t walk—her legs were a little too eager to leave this office that looked as lofty as the arrogant man who owned it. She ran out of the office like someone being chased.

Who could blame her? She saved herself an earful from this man who thought he owned the world in the palm of his hands.

If she ran, he certainly wouldn’t follow her.

That was absolutely certain!

However, this thought had barely finished registering in Anne’s mind when she decided to turn to have a look at the office she just escaped from.

What she saw made her heart thud in panic.

The man she just ran away from wasn’t sitting quietly inside his office like she thought he would be.

He had come out, and he sure as hell was currently following her with long, confident strides.

What the hell?

Anne panicked, stopping for a moment to glance left and right at the two hallways she’d stumbled to.

What the hell was this?

That man was certainly acting out of script. He was supposed to remain in his office, seething that she defied him or whatever arrogant, lofty men like him would do when an employee ran from them.

Why the hell was he chasing after her?

"Is he some kind of psychopath?" Anne muttered to herself, panting as she dashed to the left.

She kept running despite being unsure where she was going.

She was supposed to get into the elevator, but she certainly couldn’t stop and wait for the elevator to arrive while that... giant ball of narcissism was trailing after her.

She reached the end of the hallway and found a door in front of her and another hallway to the right, but down that said hallway was endless darkness—she couldn’t see whatever it led to.

Going into this door would lead her into an equipment room, and it most certainly would be obvious that she’d gone in there.

An idea instantly popped into her head, and she pushed the equipment room door open but didn’t enter. Instead, she dashed towards the dark hallway.

Once he saw the door open, he would think she was there and would enter the equipment room. She would lock the room from outside and flee as fast as she could. Before he would be able to find a way to get out, she would have been long gone.

Would that possibly get her fired?

Would he be petty enough to fire her for that?

It wasn’t her fault though—he started coming after her first. And what was wrong with trying to protect herself from his unreasonable criticism of her character?

She wasn’t wrong.

If he would blame someone, it should be himself.

As she stayed hidden in the darkness, waiting for the man to appear so she could trap him in the equipment room, an eerie sound suddenly began to come from behind her in the darkness.

Anne stiffened.

What was that?

She didn’t dare turn around. The sound was exactly like the type one would hear in horror movies where doors would smash open on their own with a strange force.

What if... something scary suddenly emerged behind her?

Wait, what was she—a three-year-old?

Why would there be anything scary in a company building? And she hadn’t watched horror movies in a long time.

Fear was just a response in someone’s mind—it was absolutely nothing.

"It’s probably just a rat."

Anne had begun tilting her head slowly to look when a strong grip grabbed her from behind.

The air around her whooshed as she was suddenly pushed against the wall.

"Ugh!"

Both her hands were trapped above her head by a strong grip she couldn’t free herself from no matter how hard she struggled.

Someone’s figure towered over her in the darkness like an immovable wall of powerful muscles blocking her.

This person smelled expensive, a cologne that smelled of deep musk and early monsoon.

Her heart began to beat really fast.

When she raised her gaze, she was met with the sight of the hard shadows that formed the contours of this man’s face.

"How dare you..." a familiar voice gritted out. His heated breath was falling upon her, and every nerve within her suddenly went stiff.

A sense of déjà vu washed over her. This intense, unshakeable familiarity. From the man’s smell to the shadows of his face, it felt so familiar... so intensely familiar.

She didn’t try to fight the memories as they came this time.

That night replayed in her mind.

’Can you please take off your mask?’

’Alright.’

Though the room had been so dark that night, seven days ago, it had been so dark she hadn’t even been able to see a tiny glimpse of him. The feeling she’d had then... that feeling was the exact same as this one.

The way his breath felt, the way his hands felt—it felt... exactly like this one.

"How dare you? Who gave you the idea that you could leave while I’m still talking to you?" His dark, low voice gritted out, chilling her to the bones.