Chapter 354: Chapter 354

When Anna Thornton woke up, she found herself back in bed at the Sterling Residence.

Groggily opening her eyes, she saw Conrad Sterling keeping watch at her bedside.

Anna jumped up and sat up in bed.

Looking down at the clothes she was wearing, she noticed they had been changed into pajamas.

"I changed your clothes!" Conrad admitted, "Don’t worry, Mason Hawthorne didn’t do anything to you!"

Anna remembered eating the food prepared by the crew and feeling unwell.

She was drowsily leaning on her car, intending to wait for Mary to take her home.

But instead of Mary, she was taken to a hotel.

So it was Mason Hawthorne’s doing?

But just because Mason didn’t touch her, would that set Anna’s mind at ease?

Because Anna remembered that even when she was still conscious, the uncomfortable symptoms were reminding her that what she was under wasn’t just a normal drug, but rather...

"I didn’t do anything to you either." Conrad seemed to read what Anna was worrying about in her heart.

"So how did I wake up? You have an antidote?"

"No! I called doctors at Crestlight Hospital, and they said using medication to suppress forcibly induced desires isn’t healthy for the body."

And Conrad couldn’t bear to subject Anna to a cold shower like Anna had done to Wyatt Jagger before.

So, he chose to satisfy Anna.

At least making her comfortable, reducing her suffering a bit.

"What exactly did you do?"

Faced with the woman’s persistent questioning and skeptical look about his character, Conrad didn’t explain much.

He simply moved his pair of hands, known as a hand fetishist’s dream, right in front of Anna.

"Cough, cough, cough!" Anna was shocked by this revelation.

In truth, she wasn’t entirely clueless.

She just hadn’t expected him to be able to hold back this time, refraining from taking advantage of the situation.

"Is your throat uncomfortable?" Conrad patted Anna’s back.

Conveniently handing her the warm water prepared by the bedside in advance.

"Two hours of shouting, surely your throat must be dry."

Anna had just taken a sip of honey water and hadn’t swallowed it when she heard this: "Pfft..."

Damn, Conrad did that on purpose!

Luckily, at this moment, Pop and Lola came knocking, alleviating Anna’s embarrassment.

Originally, Anna had been staying in the children’s room.

But because she had been returning late from filming recently,

she was worried about disturbing the two little ones’ sleep with her movements, so she temporarily moved out. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novelꜰire.net

This gave Conrad an opportunity to keep little Lola, the third wheel, out, allowing Anna to sleep peacefully.

Now that Anna was awake, he let them in. The two little ones didn’t know what had happened to mommy, they were just very worried when they saw her being brought back.

Lola took the lead, kicking off her shoes and climbing onto the bed, with Pop following suit, climbing up, both of them cuddling closer to see if mommy was hurt.

They were so adorable, Anna gave each of them a smooch on the cheek.

But Lola had a very serious expression, stood up, and with both his little hands, adjusted mommy’s head, touching her left cheek with his tiny hand.

As if checking if there was an injury there.

There originally was one, when Zoe Bowen had slapped Anna.

Afraid that the two little ones would notice, she applied ice overnight to reduce the swelling, so Lola and Pop were still unaware.

"Lola, mommy is fine. I’ve just been a little tired from work, so I took a nap when I got back."

This explanation worked for Pop, but Lola clearly wasn’t buying it.

However, after staring at her for a moment, the little guy didn’t say anything.

Zoe Bowen stormed onto the set with her manager and assistant, demanding an explanation from Anna Thornton.

Anna was on set rehearsing her lines for the upcoming scene she was about to film.

"Anna Thornton, what do you mean by this?"

Hearing her aggressive tone, Anna was a bit confused.

She looked up and saw Zoe’s face, swollen like a pig’s head—clearly visible even with a mask on—nearly giving her a fright.

Last time she just heard that Zoe was beaten up, but she hadn’t expected her to still be this swollen after so long.

Did the person Conrad got do the job too heavily?

Anna put down her script and asked her, "Sis Zoe, what happened?"

"Playing dumb! Are you gonna say it has nothing to do with you that I got beaten ?"

"What could it have to do with me?" Anna shrugged, looking puzzled.

Although the ’puzzled’ look was an act, it really had nothing to do with her.

It wasn’t like Anna asked Conrad to help her teach Zoe a lesson; she genuinely hadn’t expected Zoe to get beaten.

"Stop pretending. Just because during filming you didn’t hold back and actually hit me, the very same night I was blocked and beaten, you’re saying that person wasn’t sent by you for revenge?"

It’d be understandable if it ended there!

But what annoyed Zoe the most was having to rest up to reduce the swelling quickly.

As a celebrity, her face was her meal ticket, and her injury not only stopped her from shooting scenes but prevented her from taking any jobs.

Finally, she had mostly recovered, put on makeup, and came back to the set to shoot.

Otherwise, she was always anxious, worrying some little vixen would snatch her role while she was away. After all, in palace dramas with multiple women, there’s no shortage of intrigue and competition.

However, Zoe didn’t expect to be beaten again the moment she stepped out.

The reason why her face was red and swollen again was because someone had punched her directly in the face today, and the wounds were fresh and new.

"Anna Thornton, I only slapped you once and apologized too. You had someone hit me once, and it wasn’t enough; then I got hit a second time. Do you think I’m easy to bully?"

"Huh? You got hit again?" This time, Anna genuinely didn’t know!

She had originally thought it was because Zoe was too much, leading to one person after another wanting to hit her.

But then Zoe’s manager’s loud description of today’s incident—their path blocked, and attacked by a towering man over six feet tall, built like a bear—had Anna feeling a bit guilty.

Listening to Zoe and her manager’s description, the assailant resembled Lola’s bodyguard—Big Bear!

Anna thought she had hidden it from him, not knowing how the child noticed the slap mark on her face and tracked it back to Zoe to avenge her.

Lola, such a thoughtful child...

Anna now felt her heart warming up like it was holding a hot water bottle, soothing as can be.

Of course, feeling so touched while looking at Zoe’s pig-headed face seemed a bit inappropriate.

Anna adjusted her attitude, raising her head, still with an innocent look of ’sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about’.

"I didn’t have anyone beat you up. During filming, you already explained it to me. Why would I hold a grudge? But if you don’t believe me, I have nothing more to say, maybe you should sue me?"