Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 47: Deadline.

Why was he sending away all the workers, and what did that have to do with her?

Though the workers were surprised, they didn’t dare question.

They all dropped their working equipment and began to file out of the room.

Soon, the large space was emptied out, leaving only two people.

Andrew dug his hands into his pockets and strolled casually through the hall.

"There are two things I like about people," he suddenly began to speak.

Anne couldn’t help but internally sneer.

So there is at least something you like about people. I thought you hated people in general with your high and mighty loftiness.

"One, never disobey me."

She rolled her eyes.

Of course, she should have known.

"Two, value your work and do it with utmost dedication."

He swirled, turning to look at her.

A smirk hung on his devious lips.

"You spoke so highly of yourself, righteously telling me how you would do your job. Let’s put that to the test, shall we? Today you don’t work for PR, you work on my orders. Fail at your job and you’re out."

A mop bucket was kept next to his feet. He pushed it with a single kick, and it rolled towards her, stopping at her feet.

"Floor one to five, recently remodeled and currently vacant, averagely consists of seventy-five offices, fifteen hallways, and seventy-eight bathrooms. Clean them all.

And you only have the rest of the day. Once the clock strikes seven and you aren’t finished, you’ve failed."

Anne’s eyes couldn’t help but widen.

His orders were absolutely ridiculous.

Her lips were just parting to voice her protest when he cut her off.

"Refuse it, I dare you, and you’ll be walking out of this company a jobless waste."

A wave of anger washed over her. Why was he treating her this way?

What was she in his eyes?

He was obviously seeing her as an object he could toss and order around.

"Just because you’re powerful doesn’t mean you can treat people however you want. How do you expect me to clean all that alone...?"

"Just because I’m powerful..." he cut her off again, calmly closing the distance between them.

He looked straight into her brown eyes, which were glaring heatedly at him, and said, "...I can do precisely every single thing I want. I can have the world bow at my feet. That is the definition of power!"

If Anne could, she would send a punch to his unbelievably outstanding yet arrogant face right in front of her, but she could only keep her itching fist locked at her side.

"How can you be so... cruel?" The words left her mouth with bewilderment.

Was he even human?

He was punishing her with such a gruesome task for what? Because she didn’t leave his office when he ordered her to? Or because she’d spoken up to defend herself when he’d suddenly asked her to get out?

The man’s eyes narrowed upon hearing her question, and she continued.

"I know you think you can do whatever you want because you’re powerful, but don’t let power get into your head, Mr. Sterling. Someday it’ll all come crashing down, and you’ll have no one because you’ve treated everyone less than human. People have emotions that should be valued and appreciated, and if you think that you’ll always have it all, then you’re mistaken. Because when the time comes and you come crashing down, you’ll have no one to pull you back up again."

Everything she said was out of frustration.

To be honest, she had no idea what to say to him since he issued such an order to her.

But she had begun to understand what goes on in the man’s head to some extent.

Power... he was hung up on it like an addicting drug.

People like him would not be fazed at all about others and did not care one bit about someone else’s feelings.

His narrowed eyes seemed to shine with a hint of amusement. He tilted his head; a smirk found its way to his lips again.

"That’s where you are mistaken. Simple-minded people like you think that emotions rule the world. I’ll have no one beside me when I fall? If I ever fall, I’ll lift myself back up again. I know power, and it runs in my veins. The world needs people like me, but people like you will always remain in the same spot for the rest of their lives."

His retaliating words caused her to almost choke on her own saliva.

For a moment, Anne almost experienced a clouded judgment. One that tempted her so badly to raise her hand and smack him in the face.

Someone like him, who thought so highly of himself and looked down on others, deserved just that—but she couldn’t do it. She would undoubtedly lose her job.

His eyes glinted with a triumphant light, and he stepped away, turning his back to her.

"My downfall shouldn’t be what you should be worrying about right now. You’re wasting precious time. It seems you really are eager to lose your job after all."

Anne raised her chin defiantly and grabbed the mop bucket he’d tossed to her.

"I won’t lose my job."

He tilted his head slightly and sneered derisively, "We’ll see about that."

With that, he confidently strode out of the room.

...

"Guys, guys, I just saw some news!" Lukas jumped from his desk, addressing the whole office.

"There’s something on the company forum. It says someone offended Director Sterling. He suddenly gave the cleaners a day off and made that person clean all the floors alone. There’s even pictures. That girl is currently scrubbing all the floors right now."

Everyone gasped collectively.

"Who could have dared to offend Director Sterling? Everyone knows how crazy he can get."

"You all know this person, but I’ll let you all guess first," Lukas said.

The employees exchanged glances contemplatively.

"Who could it be?" they muttered.

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Who else but that newbie? Serves her right since she doesn’t know how to shut her mouth."

"Is it Anne? She actually dared to offend Director Sterling?" Jessica exclaimed incredulously. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"It’s really her. All of you check the company forum and see for yourselves."

Everyone went on their computers, and it was currently the trending news in the whole of Sterling Enterprises’ building.

"That girl is so audacious. How did she even offend Director Sterling?" They all looked to Rebecca.

"Don’t ask me. It’s all because of her big mouth. She spoke back to him, that’s why he punished her. I’m just really grateful that he didn’t include me in her punishment. He probably thinks I’m too pretty to be cleaning."

Clara, who was in her office, heard this conversation. A trace of surprise showed in her eyes.

She went back to sit in front of her computer and checked the forum.

The news was indeed going around.

A frown drew her delicate brows together.

...

Cynthia hesitantly stood outside the office door. She paced here and there for a while and then finally decided to knock.

When she heard her boss’s indifferent hum, she entered and walked up to him.

"Sir, I wanted to say..."

"What is it?" he asked, without a ripple in his voice.

"About that girl... I think she didn’t mean any harm by what she said. She really did come here because she was sent to, she came here to talk to me about the event. I think... she didn’t mean any disrespect. Sir, how about you... forgive her this once?"

He suddenly stopped his actions of opening a file and said calmly,

"There are five extra vacant floors that need to be cleaned. Would you like to join her?"

Cynthia immediately jolted back to her senses. She had only decided to plead on the girl’s behalf because she felt extremely sorry for her. She didn’t expect to also be dragged into it.

"No sir, I’ll go back to work right away." She used that chance to scurry out of the office.

Immediately the doors closed, Andrew’s face turned dark.

He slammed the file onto his desk and massaged his aching temple. But the minute he closed his eyes for that single second, an image flashed into his mind.

Brown eyes staring at him sharply, and confusion on the innocent face that asked him,

How could you be so... cruel?

Something boiled and rippled through his veins.

It was rage, but he’d never felt rage like this before. Certainly not directed at himself.

But this time, the anger he was feeling was towards no one else but himself.

He hated it!

He’d only ever felt anger for others, not for himself. But it was hard to control.

Why was he feeling this gnashing fury towards himself?

He’d tortured that girl because he was annoyed.

Annoyed at that tugging feeling in his chest when he’d set his eyes on her in his office today. It felt like the effort of not seeing her the other night had been wasted, because here she was in front of him and his veins were thumping.

He was annoyed at the fact that her scent felt especially nice to him, that the urge to be close to her—close enough to fill his senses with her lovely smell—had overcome him. Annoyed at the fact that he noticed she was wearing a pink shirt that hugged her torso in a flattering manner, that he noticed the fact that the color looked really good on her. Annoyed at the fact that he wanted to look at her for longer than was necessary.

Annoyed at the fact that he noticed how plump and supple her lips looked, and how he wanted to taste them.

What had he been thinking when he’d gone and made her a part of the anniversary event? The event would certainly be the reason she’d come to his office.

Seeing her was dangerous for him—no, fatally dangerous.

He needed her to stay far away from him. Far away so he would stop feeling all these things.

And if he had to torture her into realizing that being anywhere near him was danger, then he would absolutely do it.

Even if something inside him was currently screaming at him.

He would break every trace of these feelings she was awakening in him.