Filed to story: Finding the Secret Daddy for My Baby Novel >>
“I just want to focus on designing. I don’t have any management skills, so I don’t want to hold the company back.”
“Why aren’t you confident with your skills? Don’t you want to get the salary increment?”
“There is a limit to my ability and I only deserve my current salary. Thank you for your concern, Mr. Presgrave. You may ask your family and friends to stop coming by the shop!”
Anastasia hung up the call after saying the last sentence. She breathed a sigh of relief before calling Felicia to tell her about her decision, and the latter respected her wish to do so.
After spending the past few months with Anastasia, Felicia came to realize that she was a straightforward and honest girl. Hence, Felicia liked the girl a lot.
Meanwhile, someone started to spread rumors about this exact topic at the front desk and it instantly became the talk of the entire company.
“I heard that Anastasia will become the associate director of the Department of Design this time,” said a lady at the front desk who had just heard the gossip.
“Why is it her?” Erica immediately leaned over and joined the conversation.
“I heard that the three designers in the Department of Design are competing for the position this time. They have each selected a store and will be competing based on this month’s sales turnover. I also heard that all of them have received support from their family and friends, but Anastasia went to a whole new level.”
Someone else inquired, “Where did her connections come from?”
“Who else could there be? It’s President Presgrave, of course. He has personally asked his upper management to visit Anastasia’s shop!”
“Wow!”
The other ladies at the front desk were so amazed that they let out surprised gasps, but Erica’s face was pale. If she hadn’t come to the company today, she wouldn’t even have known that Anastasia had been hooking up with Elliot Presgrave. Now that Elliot wanted to help Anastasia get promoted and receive a salary increment, he was willing to suppress his pride and ask his upper management to support her.
How close were they that he was willing to do that for her? Erica wasn’t going to believe that Anastasia never slept with Elliot.
“What a shameless person Anastasia is. How could she seduce the president?” Erica scoffed.
The other ladies at the front desk admired her courage. After all, no one in the company dared to scold Anastasia, let alone offend her.
“Hmph! She’s such a filthy woman. Does she even deserve President Presgrave? What a nasty woman,” Erica spat through gritted teeth in desperation to curse the hell out of Anastasia.
“Erica, why do you say so? Tell us about it! How do you know that Anastasia is a filthy woman?”
“She has an illegitimate child, and that child was born five years ago as a result of sleeping with another man. She has worked at a club, served customers, and slept with them just to study abroad. She was kicked out of her house eventually, though.”
“How do you know all these?”
“She’s the daughter of my father’s ex-wife!” Erica decided not to hide her identity anymore.
“What?!” Everyone at the front desk exclaimed in shock. That was a juicy scoop from Erica! No wonder Anastasia was capable of getting support from President Presgrave—this all came from the practice of seducing men five years ago!
When she saw that the front desk ladies were intrigued by her words, Erica vividly recounted Anastasia’s past to them with exaggeration. She mentioned Anastasia being called ‘Princess of Abyss’, ‘Most Popular Hostess’, and whatever terms she could think of at that time.
The ladies at the front desk were serial gossipers and they quietly whispered to every person they encountered about Anastasia’s past. By that evening, Anastasia’s reputation was ruined once again.
While everyone was curious about how Anastasia managed to pull Elliot’s connections, most of them assumed that she had slept with him. Now that they heard about her scandal five years ago, everything seemed to make sense. Just like that, Anastasia was known as the woman of easy virtue in the company.
However, Anastasia, who was in her office, didn’t know what was going on at all.
When Alice heard that Anastasia had withdrawn from the competition, she was even more motivated to secure the position of associate director.
Meanwhile, a luxurious car was parked in the garage. Rey followed Elliot as they took the elevator, but when it stopped at the sixth floor of the Department of Design, he turned to Rey and said, “Head up first.”
Rey nodded in response. Just as Elliot strode out of the elevator and was about to look for Anastasia, he passed by the pantry and overheard a conversation behind the glass window.
The two female staff chatted animatedly, not realizing that the president was right behind the glass window.
“Is it true that Miss Tillman worked as a hostess five years ago?”
That question made Elliot halt in his steps. He furrowed his brows while listening to their conversation.
“Of course it’s true! Erica from the front desk is Anastasia’s step-sister, and she said so herself! I heard that Anastasia couldn’t afford to study design overseas, so she went to a club and worked as a hostess! She was eventually hauled out of the house by her father, though.”
“In that case, where did her son come from?”
“How could you not get pregnant from selling your body? If you’re unlucky and meet any customer who has a weird kink, it’s easy to get pregnant.”
When he heard those words, Elliot felt as if something had pierced his chest. His eyes darkened, and the aura around him immediately turned icy cold.
Was that part of Anastasia’s past that she wasn’t willing to talk about? Was that Jared’s birth story? Every time they talked about her past, she would speak cautiously. It seemed that she wanted to hide most of her past.
“Which department are you two from? Leave the company on your own after lunch.” Elliot hated people who gossiped during working hours. Moreover, these ladies happened to cross him while he was in a bad mood.
“Ah… President Presgrave!” The two staff quickly covered their mouths, and it seemed like their souls had flown out of their bodies.
However, before they could regain their senses, Elliot walked away. The two exchanged glances with each other, and they felt like they were going to faint due to the sudden escalation of events. Were they fired just like that?
Meanwhile, the glass door to Anastasia’s office successfully blocked all the chaos outside. Immune to all distractions, Anastasia held her iPad in one hand while holding a pen in the other, and she sketched several designs according to her inspiration. Just as she was immersed in her drawings, someone pushed the door open and disturbed her.
Anastasia hated being interrupted. As she raised her head, she shot daggers at the uninvited man who was walking in with a long face.
After putting the iPad aside, she then questioned, “Is something up?”
Elliot walked over to her desk and propped both his hands on the table while staring into her eyes. He demanded, “Tell me the truth about your past, Anastasia. It doesn’t matter what it was like, and I promise I won’t judge.”