Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 65: That Song

The meeting room was packed with several of the investors, the head seat occupied by an attractive-looking Gabriel Sterling who had a flashy smile on his face.

He never thought he’d be here this morning. Whenever his grandfather couldn’t attend any of their meetings, he would usually call Andrew to replace him in the head seat. Who would have thought that instead of calling Andrew, the old man would call him instead?

Honestly, after the whole debacle of him being unable to purchase the lands the old man tasked him to, he never thought the old man could even give him a task again.

But Gabriel couldn’t help but feel like the old man had some hidden motives behind his actions. He’d had that cunning tone to his voice when he’d called Gabriel this morning.

Shrugging, the young man decided to put it at the back of his mind.

Whatever the old man’s motives could be, he was the one sitting in the head seat this morning and not his brother Andrew. That was a sure win for him.

As his thoughts reached here, the meeting door opened and in came Andrew with his assistant trailing behind.

Tsk tsk, speak of the devil.

His face was perfectly stern, his deep eyes taking a light trail over everyone in the room as he confidently settled in the seat to the right of the head seat in the conference room.

He didn’t seem fazed that someone else was sitting in the head seat where he usually sat; however, Gabriel couldn’t just let this pass without him gloating about it.

"How does it feel to be on the sidelines, dear brother?" Gabriel teased with a confident smirk, placing his arms behind his head as an indication of someone extremely comfortable in their seat.

"Ah, the comfort of the head seat. I’m getting used to it already. I guess that’s a sign that shows I’m undoubtedly the next CEO."

A slight smile tilted Andrew’s cold lips.

"It’s amusing that you actually believe the position of CEO will be yours with your amount of skills."

Gabriel felt a cold shiver as Andrew’s dark eyes settled on him.

"Have a taste of that head seat for as long as you can, brother, because when it becomes mine you’ll never get to sit your ass on it ever again."

Gabriel’s confident expression wavered, but he couldn’t let the arrogant jerk win over him once again. He concealed his expression and spoke with a smile.

"Aren’t you just bitter that grandfather chose me over you this time?"

"This isn’t bitterness, Gabriel, it’s confidence. You and I know that the CEO seat will be all mine."

There it was again, that unwavering confidence that always made Gabriel want to actually punch his younger brother.

"Not unless I give Grandpa his heir first." Gabriel recovered quickly, still unwilling to back down. He leaned forward, whispering even lower, "And I might have gotten a huge progress on that already."

When he got no reply from Andrew, who just turned his head away as if he were no longer interested in the conversation, only then did Gabriel feel satisfied.

He’d really rendered his high and mighty brother speechless.

Gabriel couldn’t help but feel elated and smiled to himself before announcing that the meeting could officially commence.

The whole interaction between them had been done in low voices that others hadn’t heard but rather assumed they were having an internal discussion about the upcoming meeting.

Andrew chose to ignore his brother. He was sure the latter would actually think he’d won... pathetic.

He wasn’t a man who ever backed down, and he was sure Gabriel knew that. He’d only fallen quiet because he couldn’t be bothered arguing with someone who’d already lost the game.

What did he say? He had already made huge progress in giving Grandpa his heir?

Who was Gabriel kidding?

A man who couldn’t pull his head out of a hundred women’s thighs would limit himself by getting one pregnant?

If he believed that, then he would have become the dumbest person in the century, much like his own elder brother.

Mentally shaking his head, Andrew focused on the meeting as discussions began.

But halfway through the meeting, one of the company managers was called in to introduce something to the board.

The lights in the conference room were dimmed, and the person began to make a presentation on the projector. In this moment... a memory suddenly appeared in Andrew’s head, shifting his focus from the meeting.

"Ladies and gentlemen, give a round of applause for tonight’s diva..."

A sharp yet sweet feminine voice had seeped into his mind when he’d been on the verge of falling asleep for the third time last night, instantly waking him up.

As Andrew’s eyes flashed open, he realized that the woman supposed to be next to him on the bed wasn’t there at all.

Where had she gone?

"Annelise!!!"

He heard her again, clearer this time without the haze of sleep. Her voice was coming from the balcony.

What was she doing this late into the night?

Looking to the door of the balcony for a while, he shook his head.

"Crazy," he muttered without any interest in whatever she was up to, yelling her own name out in the open. He was damn sure the few glasses of whiskey she’d had were still playing with her head.

Whenever she was tired of whatever she was doing out there, she would sleep it off.

With that thought, he sighed, closed his eyes, and settled back in bed expecting the sweet sleep he’d been enjoying to whisk his consciousness away once again.

~In the space of our love, the hurt would fade.

You’d find your home in me, and I’d be yours in every way....

The girl’s soft singing voice began to drift over to him, seeping into his subconsciousness. His eyes instantly flashed open.

Those lyrics...

Those exact words...

Another voice began to play in his mind—a more professional singing voice—but the words and the melody were the exact same as the one coming from the girl.

Forgetting the fact that he planned to fall asleep, he got off the bed and made his way to the balcony. With the girl’s singing came the memories of that woman singing this exact song.

He could remember watching her in the distance, hoping she would someday hold him in her arms and sing her songs to him. But she only ever sang them to his father. He knew now that she only sang to him so she could keep an immovable space in his heart, so she could keep him in her grasp. But when her plans failed, she abandoned her son and took off with another man.

~Without you, I refuse to breathe...

Without you, I refuse to laugh...

Without you, I refuse to survive.

I’d hate you when you leave, I’d give you my whole heart if you stay.~

The song continued, making him feel waves of tumultuous emotions he couldn’t control.

All he could see was that woman, Andrea Walters—the woman who was supposed to be his mother.

He could hear her voice in his head, and he hated it.

With long strides, he rushed to the balcony, instantly walking up to the girl who’d dragged a stool to the edge of the balcony railings and stood on it, singing into a hairbrush as if it were a microphone.

He instantly grabbed her by the arm, tugging her back with an aim to get her to stop singing, but unexpectedly, she lost her balance and fell onto him.

He caught her by the waist, watching as her hair bounced behind her and her eyes widened.

"Where the hell did you hear that song?" he demanded harshly, turning her to a position where his face was hidden by dark shadows.

Andrea Walters had been a singer. In his memory, he could remember her songs as incomparably beautiful when he’d been desperate for her attention, but afterwards they became like poison to his ears. The woman never became famous despite her impressive voice back then, hence he wondered how Anne had even heard any of her songs to be singing them now.

Seeing that it was him, the surprise in Anne’s gaze vanished when someone had suddenly pulled her from behind. She steadied herself and moved away from him, looking at him with a frown.

"You ruined my performance," she said reproachfully. "A mere mortal like you is disrespectful to my remarkable audience."

Ignoring whatever rubbish she was spouting, he demanded again, "I asked a damn question. Where did you hear that song?"

She clicked her tongue. "Not until you apologize to my audience first. I won’t answer a single thing you ask me," she said, folding her arms.

He was suddenly ticked off and grabbed her arms roughly. "Don’t make me ask again, dammit!"

However, instead of answering, she struggled against his harsh hold. When she couldn’t escape from his angry grasp, she turned her head and clamped her teeth down on the back of his hand.