Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 53: Lights Off

She could only imagine the look of pure rage that would be on his face right now. If he would yell at her till the entire office crumbled, he was free to do so, as long as she could keep her job.

"...I give you my word." He added a bit softer, but Anne had heard him.

With a look of satisfaction, she saved the recording on her phone and opened the door, but she didn’t expect that immediately she pulled the door open, a sudden weight would come crashing onto her.

She couldn’t hold up the large person’s weight, so she went falling backwards, but before she hit the floor something seemed to cup the back of her head that she landed, she didn’t feel the pain of her head making an impact with the tiled floor.

Anne gasped and took in an unsteady breath.

A man’s weight was currently on top of her, but his hand was cupping the back of her head which was why she’d felt no pain there, but that didn’t mean her back wasn’t aching like hell.

She groaned and opened her mouth to call, "Mr. Sterling?"

Silence... 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Mr. Sterling, are you all right?"

This time, a low groan sounded before the man suddenly moved.

His ragged breath fell on her face as he braced himself up with both arms near her head.

"Call someone to open the door, now." His voice wasn’t as harsh as normal, his breathing not steady.

This close, she could see the exhaustion that haunted those black eyes. His handsome face pulled taut in grimness, shadowed by a trace of pain hidden behind those strict features like a huge wall to cover the vulnerability of his agony.

Though the man was insufferably mean, he wasn’t looking too healthy at the moment, causing her to feel a slight trace of pity for him.

"I’ll call, but can you... get off me first?"

Only after hearing her words did he seem to realize the compromising look of their current position. He shifted his gaze from her hastily. Anne could have sworn she saw a dash of red rise up his ears, but the man had swiftly pushed himself off her before she could confirm it.

He sat on the cold floor, cupping his face in his palms. It seemed he really wasn’t feeling too well.

It felt extremely surprising. This arrogant and lofty person looking unwell like this—it was truly strange.

However, guilt gripped her chest. Unlike him, she wasn’t a heartless person, and she couldn’t just watch him suffer. Anne quickly fumbled for her phone, unlocking it and dialled a number, only to suddenly see a big X show on the screen. That was when she noticed the fact that the signal which had just been there a mere second ago had now completely disappeared.

What just happened?

Why did the signal just disappear?

Anne tried everything she could—restarting her phone, troubleshooting—nothing worked.

"What’s taking you so long?" She heard his voice and raised her head to see him shooting her an impatient look.

"It’s... not working."

The phone was suddenly snatched out of her hands.

She saw him tapping the screen of her phone rapidly before stopping short, his eyes seeming to show realization.

With a frustrating look in his eyes, he tossed the phone aside and stood up.

"Hey!" Anne quickly grabbed her phone, checking if it was broken.

Andrew left the bathroom, closing his eyes in regret. Of all days, he’d actually ordered the electrical team to carry out their inspections tonight.

This routine inspection was done in the company for safety purposes monthly, but it was always carried out after work hours so as not to disrupt others’ jobs. The reason he’d ordered them to move the inspection to this particular night was because he wasn’t planning to work overtime tonight. He didn’t expect that he’d be trapped in a fucking office with the last person he wanted to be anywhere around.

Pacing slightly in the office, he began to contemplate the next step of action. Though the chronic headache was still messing with his head, he knew the sooner he could get out of here and get his drugs, the sooner he would relieve himself of it.

Now that the connection in the whole Sterling Enterprises company building was down, in the next few minutes, the electricity would be down too.

He cursed under his breath.

And the damn electrical team wouldn’t come anywhere near this floor.

As Anne saw the man pacing, she also came out of the bathroom, hesitating a bit before she said,

"I didn’t know that the signal would suddenly disappear."

"Of course you didn’t know. Your pint-sized brain couldn’t have thought this far!" He suddenly whirled on her, eyes glaring daggers in her direction.

Anne was outraged at his insulting words. Before she could open her mouth to retort, however, he sharply beat her to it.

"Save it. I don’t need to hear a damn word from you."

Though she was mad, she noticed him squint in a look of fleeting pain before he hardened his expression again to hide that single moment.

She scoffed to herself.

If he was in pain, he could just be open about it or at least not scold her, yet he couldn’t seem to pass up the chance to toss words in her direction.

He’d called her pint-sized brain?

Tsk, it seemed along with her character, this man also looked down on her intelligence as well.

Anyway, she had achieved her goal already. She had the proof, so this man wouldn’t dare fire her since she had his word. She should have no more reason to stay in this room.

But... the signal suddenly vanished and it wasn’t coming back.

After thinking for a while, her eyes suddenly shone with an idea. She went to the window where she’d tossed the key and screamed at the top of her voice,

"HELP!!! IS ANYONE OUT THERE??!!!"

At the sudden sound, a sharp pain shot into Andrew’s head. It felt like a bomb was kept within his skull and it would explode at any moment. The sudden loudness of the girl’s voice made the pain intensify that he growled at her,

"Shut up!"

Anne, who was screaming for help, suddenly went silent.

"The phone isn’t working. That’s why I’m calling for..."

"I don’t want to hear your voice... it pisses me off, so shut it!"

Anne could only grit her teeth.

"If my voice is so annoying, why don’t you do the screaming? We have to get out of this office one way or another."

Ignoring her, he went over to the couch and sat down, shutting his eyes as he said,

"If you didn’t stupidly toss the key, we wouldn’t be here."

Anne wanted to retort, but she honestly couldn’t argue with him since he was right—except for the stupid part.

She was just panicked at the time and didn’t want to lose this job, so she’d done the first thing that came to mind.

"Then... I’ll keep trying till I get a signal." She held onto her phone, turning it here and there in search of a signal, when he burst her hopeful bubble.

"It’s no use. The signal isn’t the only thing. Soon even the..." His words had barely ended when the office was suddenly plunged into darkness.

All the lights went off.