Chapter 236: Chapter 236

After Conrad Sterling finished Ethan’s call, he remained silent for a full five minutes.

He walked towards Anna Thornton, the little woman still squatting there. She seemed to have just calmed down, her face still somewhat pale. One hand was pressing on her abdomen, and she looked distressed and aggrieved as she bit her lip.

Conrad Sterling, who had been pretending to maintain a cold-blooded appearance, couldn’t help but feel a pang of emotion after hearing Ethan’s report and seeing the scene before him.

Conrad Sterling felt a sudden, inexplicable, but bone-aching softness in his heart.

He walked behind Anna Thornton, silent for half a minute, unable to speak, and handed her a bottle of water.

Anna Thornton took the water from him without any politeness and gave him a defiant glare.

Conrad Sterling watched her rinse her mouth, his voice unknowingly lowered eight degrees, almost gentle, "Are you still feeling unwell?"

"If I say I’m not unwell anymore, will President Sterling start another round of punishment for me? Why don’t you try all the top ten tortures of the Qing Dynasty on me?"

Just racing a car, and she describes it as the top ten tortures of the Qing Dynasty?

Conrad Sterling found it hard to imagine how such a delicate girl endured those events three years ago.

As Anna Thornton got up, Conrad Sterling suddenly grabbed her hand and directly asked, "Besides Pop, do we have another child?"

At the moment of asking this question, Conrad Sterling saw many emotions flash in Anna Thornton’s eyes, but not surprise.

"You sent someone to Veridia to investigate me?" Anna Thornton had anticipated this day and wasn’t surprised.

All along, Anna Thornton kept a casual demeanor in front of Conrad Sterling. She was fearless towards authority, sometimes troublesome to the point of giving people headaches. She was like a slippery fish, adept at slipping away, hard to grasp.

Only when disguise was torn away would Anna Thornton reveal her true self.

In fact, from the moment she married Conrad Sterling, she had been slowly unveiling her facade.

Until Conrad Sterling himself asked about the past and the other child, Anna Thornton actually breathed a sigh of relief.

She thought, finally, she didn’t have to keep feigning affection for this man!

"Your timing in asking me this question is later than I expected. Unfortunately, President Sterling, if you had found time to investigate earlier, perhaps you wouldn’t have married me."

"Why do you think I wouldn’t?" Conrad Sterling asked her.

"Well, knowing what happened three years ago, why do you think I married you?"

Conrad Sterling met Anna Thornton’s gaze. Her eyes were always lively and beautiful. If she added a hint of charm or innocence, they had the power to captivate men deeply with just one look.

But suddenly, Conrad Sterling found it hard to meet her eyes.

Because in this moment, there was hatred in the woman’s eyes that he didn’t dare to face!

Anna Thornton shook off his hand, and Conrad Sterling suddenly panicked, stepping forward to grab her again.

This time he held on even tighter, as if letting go would mean losing something: "Come home with me!"

"I know how to go back myself, let me go!"

"I have a lot more to ask you!"

"I have nothing more to say to you." Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn novel⸺fire.net

Even Conrad Sterling himself didn’t know what he meant by having lots to ask?

Ethan had already informed him by phone, and Anna Thornton wouldn’t say a thing, otherwise she wouldn’t have kept the fact there were two children hidden until now.

Besides, now, no matter what he asks, it’s already too late.

Ethan had even gone to Dad Thornton’s tombstone to check because Conrad Sterling remembered that day Anna Thornton’s emotions turned after coming out from the cemetery.

He specifically sent Ethan to look and discovered a small, unnamed tombstone next to Dad and Mother Thornton’s.

It must be for the child who passed away that Anna Thornton erected.

It’s no wonder she was very tender towards the pair of twins at the kindergarten.

And previously, when Pop was hospitalized, Anna Thornton had a peculiar emotion every time she saw twin brothers.

Conrad Sterling had long noticed her inexplicable hatred towards him.

Anna Thornton was blaming him!

"Why didn’t you tell me earlier?" Conrad Sterling asked.

"Ha, how early? I wrote you a letter right after I found out I was pregnant, but later, Holly Sutton controlled me for so long, did you do anything, President Sterling? In these three years, did you ever think about my existence and the child’s?"

Anna Thornton was long disappointed in him, but only today did Conrad Sterling ask why she didn’t tell him.

His question was both absurd and illogical, and Anna Thornton didn’t want to waste time discussing it with him.

She also didn’t intend to get into Conrad Sterling’s car again, avoiding deeper emotional wounds.

Anna Thornton wanted to leave by herself, shaking him off and turning to walk a few steps away.

Suddenly, a man’s voice came from behind, "If I say I didn’t receive your letter, that before you showed up with Pop, I had no idea you were ever pregnant, do you believe it?"

"I believe it! President Sterling, you’re so busy, it’s very possible you saw the letter but forgot."

Anna Thornton turned back, her lips twisted in a mocking smile, clearly speaking sarcastically.

"Conrad Sterling, do you know why I chose you over Finn Grant?"

Conrad Sterling watched the insincere smile on the woman’s face, his expression stern, "I don’t want to know!"

"Anna Thornton, it doesn’t matter why you married me with whatever intention, the fact is you’re now my wife, living or dead, you’re mine!"

"That’s what I think, too, so don’t worry, I won’t divorce."

Only being closest to this man allows her to personally witness him getting his comeuppance!

Anna Thornton had it all planned!

From intentionally taking pills to let Conrad Sterling find out, to escalating arguments and silent treatments, everything was to guide Conrad Sterling to investigate the past, making him personally uncover the fact that they had lost a child...

Yet Conrad Sterling couldn’t muster any anger at all.

Because since Anna Thornton returned to the country, he knew this woman was approaching him with a purpose.

The more aggressive Anna Thornton’s tactics were, the stronger her motives.

Anna Thornton made no attempt to hide her intentions—pursuing Conrad Sterling, claiming she wanted to be Mrs. Sterling for the sake of the child, for herself, for revenge, for her future... yet she never mentioned if she loved him or even liked him.

Putting aside everything else, regarding revenge alone, her target probably wasn’t Holly Sutton.

Conrad Sterling already witnessed that the current Anna Thornton could fully manage Holly Sutton herself, and she didn’t insist on Conrad Sterling to settle their family’s feud after marriage.

If revenge was the reason she had to marry Conrad Sterling, that revenge was probably directed at Conrad Sterling himself.

Facing a woman he knew had malicious intents, Conrad Sterling had prepared himself, rejected, and coldly treated her... yet still failed to guard against.

Even knowing she was cunning and deeply calculating, no longer the bratty girl who jumped off the Ferris wheel four years ago.

But, Conrad Sterling still willingly walked into the trap she had laid for him.