Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 43: Fate?

Butler Jones stood humbly within the bedroom.

"Miss Thompson?"

Anne emerged from the bathroom upon hearing the man’s voice.

"Ah, I thought you’d be awake by now. The master just left a while ago."

"He left?" Anne asked, confusion on her face.

"You see, master hasn’t been feeling too well for some time, so he won’t be able to join you for a while."

Hearing that, Anne was stunned.

"He’s sick?" she asked, unable to associate that tall man who had a fiercely powerful build with any signs of illness.

The butler nodded solemnly.

"Oh." Anne’s gaze lowered sympathetically. "Is he... getting better?" she asked with a hint of genuine concern in her tone.

Butler Jones saw it in her eyes and smiled softly.

"He is, Miss Thompson, there is no need to worry for him."

Butler Jones inwardly said some prayers for himself on behalf of the blatant lie he’d just told.

His master, and falling sick? Nearly impossible!

That man, despite suffering from constant insomnia over the years, not once had he shown a sign of weakness.

Butler Jones had watched him slave himself away behind his desk, working on bigger and bigger projects that swallowed all his time. The man who never took care of his own health when it came to his work—he was a chronic overachiever who had to achieve perfection in every single thing he did.

This person who would fight a common cold like a warrior king, stubbornly making himself continue to work but would never admit defeat and retire to rest.

It could be said that no illness had ever successfully brought this man down before. Even if it threatened to, the man just wouldn’t allow it.

This lie Butler Jones had told was just to protect the young lady’s heart. If he’d told her his master’s exact words, wouldn’t she be appalled by the man’s coldness?

His master’s exact words had been,

"Send her away." Andrew had suddenly said to him at around midnight last night without even coming into the room to see the woman waiting for him.

The butler had glanced at the time before replying, "But master, she has been waiting for you for..."

Andrew sent the butler a stern look that made the man seal his mouth. Usually, this was the part Butler Jones would back out and do as he was told, however, this time he remained standing in front of his master’s desk inside the study without budging.

When Andrew continued to feel the man’s presence, he raised his head, giving him a look that seemed to ask: What are you still doing here?

"Master, the young lady must be asleep now. And it’s very late at night, it’s not suitable for a young woman to be seen outside in the cold all alone. There are so many predators outside these days, those types of men who are waiting for a vulnerable young lady to be out late at night so they can take advantage of her. Haven’t you been seeing the news lately? The number of rape and serial killings happening on women these days is too much, not to mention they all happen with a similar pattern. I fear telling Miss Anne to leave now..."

Butler Jones trailed off, biting his lips to conceal a smile. His words had obviously yielded the desired reaction.

Though his master’s expression still remained stone cold, holding a constant frown, there was a flicker of something in his emotionless eyes.

He fell quiet for a long time, and Butler Jones stayed there with him in silence.

This is so unlike you, master. Normally, you would say something like: I don’t give a damn if the woman is robbed and killed, just get her off my damn property!

These words were indeed the accurate things Andrew would say for any other woman, however, Butler Jones had been almost a hundred percent certain his master wouldn’t say them this time. Not to this woman at least, and he was right.

It took everything in Butler Jones not to burst out in delightful laughter.

My assignment seems to be getting some success.

No, actually, this is a huge success.

Old master would be overjoyed at this news! I better quickly share this news with him, the butler inwardly decided to himself.

You see, he’d been by the master’s side for quite a long time. And when the old master had given the three young masters this task of making an heir, it had been with a certain mission in mind.

Butler Jones had also received a personal mission of his own.

It was to report back to the old master once someone had succeeded in planting a seed of emotion in the master’s cold heart.

This... mild trace of expression he was seeing on the master’s face, this mild flicker could be considered as good progress, right?

"I don’t care if she gets mauled or killed out there, but certainly not when she might be carrying a seed of mine." Andrew finally spoke, his voice not lacking that usual controlled coldness.

Butler Jones sneered internally.

Of course, master, whatever you tell yourself.

You’ve only slept with the young woman once, you certainly won’t be convinced that she’s already carrying your seed, right? You’re obviously looking for some excuse just so you won’t admit that...

"Tell her when she wakes up in the morning that I don’t want her here anymore. I’m putting a hold on the contract for the time being, so she doesn’t need to keep coming on Fridays. And have the driver send her home after."

Butler Jones would have broken his cover as he could barely control the expression on his face.

Tell her to stop coming? You obviously want to escape what you’re beginning to feel.

And have the driver send her home? Master, did you get scared because I explained quite graphically how dangerous it is for young women to be out alone?

Nobody will touch a hair on your woman in broad daylight, don’t worry.

Oh! That wasn’t right. He couldn’t call her the master’s woman just yet when things haven’t been confirmed yet. He had to check with the old master first.

The young master was really clueless. He had no idea what kind of trap the old master had carefully crafted and set up for him.

"Yes, master, I’ll do that."

Butler Jones couldn’t bear to tell Anne his master’s cold words and instructions for her to no longer come here.

How could he allow his master to use his cold, unfeeling words to push the woman away before anything even began?

This game the old master started, he was surely in full support of, and he’d already jumped on board. Nobody could push him off, hence he’d taken the matter into his own hands and twisted what his master said.

"Miss Thompson, if you like, you could come here whenever you want. You’re free to consider this your second home. Master said so."

Distance would do nothing to help the situation improve as quickly as the old master wanted it to, so he had to do something to speed it up.

Anne’s surprise, filled eyes swung up to look at the butler upon hearing his words. "He... he said that?"

Butler Jones stiffened a bit before nodding with certainty.

Anne could hardly believe that person would actually tell her to consider this place as her second home.

When she thought about Andrew Sterling, it felt even more unbelievable. There was no way that arrogant man would actually tell her to come to his place freely when he seemed to dislike her as if she’d killed him in his past life.

If the masked person could say this... then he definitely couldn’t be Andrew Sterling.

Had she been overthinking just because of a single moment of her mind guessing things?

Andrew Sterling surely couldn’t be the masked person. She had really been overthinking.

At that realization, she somehow let out a breath in relief.

If she’d found out that Andrew Sterling really was the masked person, she didn’t know how she would feel about it, so it was best that he wasn’t.

After sorting her thoughts, she thanked Butler Jones before leaving.

She was tempted to ask what exactly was wrong with his master since he had mentioned the man not feeling too well, but Anne stopped herself from doing so and left anyway.

Elder Sterling, who was currently among a group of old friends chatting and playing old board games together, suddenly received an extensive report from someone he’d carefully planted next to his grandson.

Within the report, he saw a familiar name that made him narrow his eyes since he wasn’t wearing his glasses to read the name again.

Anne Thompson!

Was it really that girl?

This was really such a great coincidence. That girl, he’d actually liked her a lot right from the start.

Could this be fate?

The old man chuckled gleefully to himself.

"Ol’ Stan, what is making you so happy?" one of Elder Sterling’s friends asked.

"Nothing yet, but you all wait for my good news. It’s coming really soon."

The man laughed some more to himself.

Without him even doing anything, fate had made its first move. The second move would certainly be his own.