Chapter 256: Chapter 256
When Anna Thornton woke up, there was no soft, cute little Anna in sight, only a beast in human clothing tying his tie.
"Conrad Sterling, what are you doing here?"
"This is my room, what do you think?" the man retorted.
Anna could only recall drinking too much at the KTV celebrating with the crew yesterday. As for what happened afterward, she couldn’t quite remember.
However, since her clothes had been changed, she could deduce that this man must have taken advantage of the situation.
Anna immediately flew into a rage: "President Sterling, you are despicable beyond my imagination. Knowing full well how much resentment and hatred I have for you, you still pinched your nose and went ahead anyway. Are you that desperate for a woman? Then I advise you to keep a few outside, lest you suffocate yourself."
Conrad knew Anna said that on purpose to rile him up, so he remained calm: "I have a wife, do you think I would be suffocated? As for you... Anna, maybe you don’t even know it yourself, but you’re not that averse to me when you’re drunk."
"So what? After you abandoned me once and I lost a child, what do you think I feel about you?" Anna’s attempt to provoke him failed, and she directly threw a pillow at him, "Conrad Sterling, let me tell you, never expect me to serve you willingly in this life. I will never give you another chance to take advantage of me unless we divorce. Otherwise, you might as well castrate yourself for the rest of your life, as it’s useless to keep it."
After delivering her harsh words, Anna flipped the quilt and suddenly heard her phone ring.
Her stomach was still churning with anger from being taken advantage of; if it was Conrad’s phone, she would have smashed it immediately.
Instead, it was her own phone ringing.
Who could be calling at such a bad time?
Anna had so many harsh words left unsaid, she couldn’t let Conrad think he could take liberties with her whenever she was drunk. Otherwise, wouldn’t this man become even more unscrupulous in the future?
However, as she was about to hang up the phone, her hand stopped abruptly upon seeing the caller ID.
Anna, who had already flipped the quilt and was about to get out of bed, quickly put on the nearest pair of men’s slippers and ran to the bathroom to answer.
Conrad watched the hurriedly retreating figure of the woman, and couldn’t help but furrow his brows in suspicion.
Anna leaned against the bathroom door to answer the call, bringing the phone to her ear, her voice softening instantly by several degrees: "Hello?"
"..." There was no voice responding to her from the other end of the call.
Anna wasn’t impatient; her tone remained gentle and patient: "Is that you, Lola? I just gave you the phone watch yesterday, why are you calling this early?"
"We’ll see each other again at the ad shoot in a little while, okay?"
Anna could have an enjoyable conversation even while speaking on the phone alone.
She had experience interacting with children. When Pop was still unable to talk, Anna could banter with her for an entire day solo, never feeling bored because she would ask and answer herself.
Although initially there was no response from the other end of the phone, Anna could sense the tension easing with the chat, as she could hear small breathing sounds on the line.
"Lola, you woke up so early, have you had breakfast? Are mom and dad taking good care of you? How about you hand the phone to them, so I can send my regards?"
Just after Anna said this, the commotion on the other end of the line suddenly intensified.
Someone was speaking, but it wasn’t Lola.
Based on the voice, Anna had a vague idea of who it was; a woman’s loud yelling—that middle-aged woman who stormed onto the nanny van and took Lola away yesterday.
The signal was poor, and she could only hear intermittent words from the other side, barely making sense, mixed with sounds of porcelain cups and plates smashing.
Anna became worried and asked Lola, "What happened?"
But no one answered her; there was only more intense noise and yelling. This time Anna heard a sentence clearly — "You little bastard, watch me beat you to death!"
Anna’s phone received a location from Lola, and then the call was abruptly disconnected.
Anna had bought Pop a phone watch out of concern for potential bullying, allowing her to promptly communicate with adults when needed.
Unexpectedly, the first request for help came from Lola.
Although not her child, Anna’s heart ached at that moment.
Lola was the same age as Pop, and to think a child that young might be abused left Anna unable to sit still.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she changed clothes and left the house as quickly as possible, calling Mary on the way to ask for leave, as she might be late for today’s shoot.
Anna arrived at the location Lola sent, a five-star hotel in Aethelgard.
She had heard Mary mention they were not from Aethelgard; for the ad shoot, the brand had specifically arranged for Lola’s family to stay at a hotel near the shooting base.
Anna was inquiring with the partner about the exact room number when she bumped into someone in the lobby, dropping her phone, and the other person instead started cursing: "Do you have eyes or not?"
"Sir, aren’t you the one without eyes?"
As she approached, Anna smelled the strong scent of alcohol on the man, clearly still not sober from a hangover.
She originally wasn’t planning to argue, picking up her phone to leave.
But the man suddenly and stubbornly blocked her way: "Beauty, you look kinda familiar! .... Are you by any chance Anna Thornton?"
Anna starred in a movie that was currently a hit, with her popularity soaring. Getting recognized on the street was no longer unusual."
However, taking a closer look at the middle-aged man in front of her made Anna’s breath catch.
"Anna, you remember me, right? I heard from Holly that you returned to the country recently, and sure enough, you’ve become even more beautiful after becoming a little star."
As he spoke, his gaze continuously roamed over Anna from head to toe.
His eyes were sharp and offensive, revealing a mind full of perverse wickedness.
Of course, Anna remembered him, the short, fat man with a vicious scar on his forehead standing in front of her, left there by her own hand four years ago.
Four years ago, Anna was trapped in a mental hospital by Holly, where she not only endured deprivation and torment but also faced the threat of assault.
Holly had an idle and unruly brother named William Sutton, standing right before Anna. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novel⁂fire.net
By seniority, Anna had once called him uncle, but William’s inappropriate intentions toward Anna had been clear for a long time.
After Dad Thornton died, the siblings’ ugly faces were revealed.
If Anna hadn’t fiercely resisted that time, making a hole in his head, she would have been tormented by the siblings and sold to Southeast Asia as a prostitute by now.