Chapter 448: Chapter 448

When they returned home, Granny Chandler and the household servants were simply stunned.

Because Conrad Sterling was carrying Anna Thornton back home.

"President Sterling, is Miss Thornton injured? Should I call the family doctor?"

"No need, she’s fine."

Anna was lying comfortably on his back, her legs swaying leisurely; how could she be hurt?

She was just a bit weak-legged from being at the beach today.

Then she started acting spoiled, wanting Conrad to carry her.

Could Conrad refuse? He was more than happy to oblige!

Granny Chandler felt that something was off about President Sterling and Miss Thornton today.

Though she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was strange yet, it was more evident in Conrad. He seemed enveloped in a pleasant aura from head to toe.

Conrad’s expression never faltered, always keeping his emotions in check.

But Granny Chandler, having eaten more salt than most people have eaten rice, and having worked at Sterling Residence for several years, was savvy enough not to ask any more questions and discreetly exited.

Conrad settled Anna onto the sofa and sat beside her, naturally grasping her outstretched leg to gently massage: "Are your legs still sore?"

"They were pretty sore earlier, but they’re okay now."

Anna pulled her leg back: "Conrad, stop massaging. Go wash some fruit for me. I want strawberries and cherries, also kiwi slices with some unsweetened yogurt."

Conrad felt Anna might have misunderstood his intentions; was she treating him like a servant for compensation?

However, since Anna wasn’t giving him the cold shoulder today, President Sterling quickly convinced himself and dutifully went to wash the fruit.

"Kids, come over to Mommy! There’s fruit to eat!"

Once the washed fruit was placed in front of her, Anna called Lola and Pop down from upstairs.

The two little ones snuggled beside Mommy, one on each side, clearly affectionate, leaving no space between them.

The single-seater sofa at home had been discarded; technically, four people could fit on the sofa. Orıginal content can be found at NoveI~Fire.net

But by doing this, it was inconvenient for him to keep his gaze on Anna at all times.

So Conrad chose to sit on the sofa nearest to Anna, and watched them each grab a cream-covered strawberry from the plate.

The movements of the mother and children were actually synchronized; sometimes, genetics are just that wondrous.

Conrad originally didn’t like eating fruit, but he was influenced, and followed them to take a strawberry.

Lola sneakily glanced at him, giving a disdainful look: "Why are you copying us?"

Conrad returned his gaze: "What can you do to me, kid?"

"You can’t compete with us for Mommy!"

"Compete? It’s you who’s competing with your old man!"

Conrad had worked hard to win Anna; Lola was just fortunate to be born.

Such a young age, yet brazenly trying to compete with him for a woman – truly overestimating himself.

The two males, one big and one small, were communicating smoothly with Morse-code-like glances, while Anna and Pop, oblivious, were happily eating...

Having more people meant the fruit Conrad washed was quickly eaten up.

Pop’s eyes were fixated on the strawberry in Daddy’s hand, the one he hadn’t eaten, and she jumped off the sofa, ran over, and took a bite with a ’chomp’.

Then she pretended to push the strawberry without its tip back: "Daddy, eat~"

Conrad looked helplessly at the little one and fed it to her: "You eat it."

Pop ate the last strawberry with satisfaction, rubbing her round belly and yawning adorably.

"Conrad, take the kids back to their room."

"I’m going back to the room to read the script. Remember to bathe them and put them to bed."

Anna used to be the one responsible for these things.

But wasn’t he the one who promised to take on the responsibilities of being a father today?

Anna could finally take a break, spend time on a good face mask, and nurture her skin.

Conrad picked up Pop, and when he reached for Lola, the little guy directly shrugged off his hand and walked ahead.

Conrad followed suit, as he passed Anna, he whispered in her ear: "Come to my room!"

Bathing and putting the kids to sleep was something Conrad had seen Anna do many times.

But actually doing it himself proved not so easy.

Especially since Lola, the little troublemaker, was unwilling to cooperate with him.

After much effort in soothing the two little ones, when Conrad emerged from the children’s room, the front of his shirt was drenched.

He quickly returned to his room, and his first choice wasn’t to change clothes but to search for Anna Thornton’s figure.

To his relief, Anna Thornton was indeed behaving and staying here, currently lying on the bed reading a script.

Great, no need to climb through the window tonight.

Anna was engrossed in the script for that fantasy drama when she suddenly felt a tightness around her waist.

She slapped Conrad Sterling’s mischievous hand, but far from slapping it away, the man held her even tighter.

"Anna, it’s time to rest!"

That damned merman, using his seductive voice to lowly tempt him by the ear.

Anna pretended not to understand the hint in Conrad Sterling’s words, put the script aside on the bed, and yawned, "Alright, rest, I’m really sleepy! Sleep!"

After speaking, she lay down, pulled the quilt over her head, pretending not to know.

However, how could Conrad Sterling let her go so easily?

Perverts don’t go without a meal!

Especially when the ’meal’ is delivered to his bed.

Late at night, Anna felt she was almost out of breath.

She dug her nails deeply into the firm muscles of Conrad Sterling’s arm, and in the midst of her dazed thoughts and blurry vision, she suddenly caught sight of a ’hexagram’ swaying before her.

"Conrad Sterling, I just discovered you have a birthmark on your chest!"

The man’s fringe was wet with sweat, and his deep eyes were filled with dissatisfaction as he questioned the woman beneath him, "You’ve never seriously looked at me?"

"Then start looking properly from tonight!"

He’s actually displeased now!

Doesn’t he remember that if Anna Thornton hadn’t been forced to sell herself to him, most of what happened after marriage was under reluctant circumstances?

Who seriously looked at him?

Anna didn’t have a knife hidden under the pillow, ready to stab him in the chest at a critical moment, which counted as lucky.

Meanwhile, across the ocean—

The white man Julian fell to his knees, his blue eyes filled with fear, the smell of blood heavily emanating from him. One hand spasmed uncontrollably, while the other had been severed from the wrist, bleeding profusely...

Not far in front of him, Smith sat in traditional attire, flamboyant red hair, with a sinister expression, meticulously counting his wrongdoings: "I told you to catch her, but she ran away! I said not to hurt her, yet you let her get injured! I even told you to kill Conrad Sterling, and not only did he return home safe and sound, but he also effortlessly turned the tables. I orchestrated such an elaborate scheme, and it was entirely destroyed by a worthless person like you! Do you think you should die?"

Julian felt extremely wronged!

Honestly, he’d never heard so many requirements; he was just responsible for kidnapping Anna Thornton and sending her to the designated location.

Admittedly, he had botched this job, but was it necessary to place all the blame on him?

He was just a kidnapper, accepting orders on the dark web, responsible for human trafficking.

If he had known the person behind the order was Smith, he wouldn’t have taken this job for any amount of money.

Who hasn’t heard of Smith’s notorious name, who doesn’t know that the current head of the Smith family is a psychopath?

Trying to reason with him? Impossible, unless you want to die even more miserably.

Still, Julian wanted to argue in his heart that the reason so many carefully laid plans failed was honestly because the opponent was too smart, wasn’t it?

Forget it, the reason isn’t important!

In the end, Smith was furious and needed someone to take the blame and let him vent.

After dealing with Julian, Smith, unfazed by the overwhelming smell of blood, began leisurely cutting into a medium-rare steak.

Bobby reported on the internal situation in Cathay to him, "After Conrad Sterling returned home, he was investigated, but Miss Anna didn’t follow the plan to place the designated storage card in his safe, resulting in him easily escaping danger, and so far, no one has discovered Conrad Sterling’s true identity."

"Hmph, it seems that Rainie Hawthorne is truly useless!"

Bobby had clearly emphasized that the reason Conrad Sterling was unrestrained from the plan was due to Anna Thornton’s rebellion at the critical moment.

But in Smith’s mouth, all the blame still fell on Rainie Hawthorne.

The boss is the boss, truly capricious and double standard.

"I knew she couldn’t deceive Anna Thornton! That woman’s IQ is just that much, what’s she compared to a pet I personally trained."

Smith was quite proud, not at all bothered that his ’pet’ turned against him.

"Since that woman is too stupid, let’s give her a hand. Leak the grievances between Conrad Sterling and the Hawthorne Family, encourage Rainie Hawthorne to do her best against Conrad Sterling."

This time, however, Smith didn’t intend to involve Anna Thornton again.

Because his spies at home reported that after this kidnapping incident, Anna Thornton’s relationship with Conrad Sterling became more complicated.

His interference turned out to be a catalyst?