Filed to story: Finding the Secret Daddy for My Baby Novel >>
Elliot was not only repaying her but her father-for several years now, to boot.
“Please don’t blame President Presgrave anymore, Miss Tillman. He hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s been taking care of your father all these years.” Since Rey was the one to witness everything all these years, he only wanted to speak up on his boss’ behalf in the face of Anastasia’s questioning.
At this moment, Elliot stared silently as the color drained out of Anastasia’s face. He wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say.
“It’s what I should have done,” he finally uttered before leaving with Rey.
As Anastasia stood there with her mind blank, Francis emerged excitedly with the employees whom he had brought along. “What are you doing here, Anastasia? We can leave now. Let’s pick Jared up and head out for a celebration dinner this evening.” Naturally, he didn’t know who had helped him win the bid.
“Dad…”
“You see how strong my company is! This undertaking will solve many of my worries. Our operations have not been smooth-sailing lately and I’ve just been waiting to be rescued by this
project!”
Hearing her father say that, she swallowed everything that she had been about to tell him.
How could she possibly tell her father that Elliot had been the one helping him all these years? This was a kindness that her mother had had to sacrifice her life for!
Even though Francis wanted to celebrate, Anastasia used having to pick her son up as an excuse not to tag along since she couldn’t face her father’s appreciation.
To think that Elliot managed to win the project for her father with a single word, only for her father to think his luck was good.
Ah! Thinking about it made Anastasia’s head want to explode.
In the evening, she dined outside with Jared since she was too lazy to cook at home. As the little boy ate, he suddenly asked inquisitively, “When will you invite Mr. Presgrave to eat with us, Mommy? I miss him!”
Anastasia’s heart stopped and she hurried to explain, “He’s busy. Extremely busy. You won’t be able to see him soon.”
“Oh.” Jared pouted. As he continued to eat, he thought about Elliot.
While he didn’t know where this longing was coming from, he truly missed Elliot very much; it was perhaps because many of his friends had been picked up by their fathers today.
On the way home after dinner, Anastasia fretted over what she had learned. She couldn’t decide whether to tell her father about Elliot helping him or continue to let him be clueless.
Not long after she arrived home, she received a phone call from Francis and reached out to answer. “Hi, Dad. Are you all still celebrating?”
“Ah! I’m upset, Anastasia. Naomi just told me that she took over 2 million from the house for Erica to use as a down payment. That was all the cash we had at home!” Very rarely did he disclose his worries to her, but he had no one else to go to at that moment.
Instantly, Anastasia felt a pang of heartache. Her father had just spent 8 million on an apartment for her and here was Naomi, spending 2 million on her own daughter. Just like that, the burden on her father’s shoulders had become heavier.
“It’s a good thing that I won the bid today, or I wouldn’t know what else to do. I have to get back to work now, Anastasia. Take good care of Jared, okay? I’ll go and visit you both when I’m free.”
“Of course! Don’t work too hard, Dad. Remember to get some rest.” After hearing her dad hang up the phone, Anastasia suddenly thought about how useless she was. If she had only worked harder, she wouldn’t have needed her father to purchase a place for her to live.
Tillman Residence.
Erica was extremely happy. Now, she had her own place to stay as well-a deluxe apartment worth 8 million. As her mother had said, she needed to have whatever Anastasia had as well.
Although Erica was paying by installment, the apartment was still under her name at the end of the day and her mother would be the one repaying the loan in the future using funds from her father’s pocket. Erica herself didn’t need to pay for anything.
The only reason why she stayed out of Anastasia’s way during this period was that she and her mother had been looking for apartments.
Meanwhile, Anastasia tossed and turned for the whole night. When she slept, she dreamed of her mother, who gravely warned her not to accept any repayment from the Presgraves.
In her dreams, Anastasia gave her mother her word. By the time she opened her eyes again, it was already dawn.
As she went to the front of a mirror, she saw that her slightly swollen eyes had turned visibly more haggard.
After dropping her son off at school, she went to work. The moment she entered the elevator, two women in front of her intentionally spoke in loud voices. “Hey! Wasn’t there a trophy in the display case before? Why is it missing?”
“I heard that it was returned. It was awarded under pretenses so great that someone felt too ashamed to accept it!”
“My, if it were me, I wouldn’t even leave the house, let alone come to work!’
“Would you both like a loudspeaker so that you can make yourselves heard?” Anastasia asked them.
Both of them glanced at her. “Ah, Miss Tillman, we didn’t say who we were talking about! Are you admitting it was you?”
e talking about someone else. Don’t misunderstand us now. Miss Tillman.”
It was at that moment when the elevator stopped at the level of the Department of Design. As Anastasia moved to step out of the elevator, one of the women suddenly stuck a foot out and nearly tripped her. She then turned back to angrily glare at the woman.
“My apologies, Miss Tillman,” the woman apologized in a fake manner despite having clearly done it on purpose.
After huffing, Anastasia walked to her office. Grace had already tidied it up for her and even poured her a cup of coffee.
At ten in the morning, Felicia held a department meeting.
A somewhat listless Anastasia took her seat and played with her pen. The noisy conference room suddenly became so quiet that she could have heard a pin drop.
As she jerked her head up, she saw Elliot’s tall, handsome figure coming in through the conference room door. He hadn’t been to the meetings in several days and she had no idea why he was here now.
Nonetheless, she lowered her head down again in her reluctance to pay any attention to him.
As he pulled out a chair and sat down next to Anastasia, Felicia greeted respectfully, “Good morning, President Presgrave.”
“Let’s begin,” Elliot uttered in a low voice as he looked at the woman next to him. Anastasia looked like she had a lot on her mind.
Then, Felicia suddenly called her name. “Anastasia.”
Buried deep in her own thoughts, Anastasia failed to respond and everyone stared at her in astonishment. How bold she had to be to space out so completely even with Elliot sitting next to her!