"I'm sorry, Ian," Anne apologized to Ian. She looked at him with remorse in her eyes. She was still
feeling guilty.
Ian smiled at her and replied, "Why are you apologizing? I would do what you want because I don't
want to see you unhappy. That way, whenever you feel low in life, you will have someone by your side
to cheer you. Anyway, it's late and you need to rest. There may be a new press conference waiting for
you tomorrow, so go to bed early. After all, my marriage is kind of a big deal too."
"Okay." Anne nodded with a small smile. She said goodnight to Ian and closed the door. Now that she
was alone, her feelings were clearly etched on her face. If anyone could see her now, they would know
she was fighting an inner turmoil.
Meanwhile in the East Mountain Villa, the atmosphere was equally low.
If anyone would enter the room, they would be hit immediately with the strong smell of whiskey.
The floor was littered with several bottles of different brands of whiskey, in various shapes and sizes.
Kevin kept drinking from one bottle after the other. His expression was cold as ice. He didn't even know
how many glasses were broken on the ground.
No one came to stop him at the sound of another glass crashing on the ground, because no one was
there. Kevin had sent all the people away before he came. He wanted to be absolutely alone and drink
the night away.
It was destined to be a long sleepless night.
Hanging on the wall of the East Mountain Villa, was a very small photo. It was very cleverly hidden.
Only if one would directly walk to the huge window, would the corner be revealed, where the photo
hung. He felt love and peace when he looked at it. His thoughts were full of Anne.
But today, when he saw the photo, he felt ironic.
He cherished that woman, but she always turned a blind eye to his love. He once thought that fate
would always keep Anne by his side. But now, he suddenly felt that everything that happened in the
past was a huge farce. He insisted that they be together, but she only wanted to escape.
He looked at the photo with contempt and asked, "Are you happy now?" When Kevin was drunk, his
face was unreadable. And right now his eyes were filled with mockery. He looked at the photo. Anne
was wearing a beautiful dress. She looked so gentle and serene.
However, there was no reply and the question echoed in the empty room.
Back at the hotel, everything was calm. Since Ian had booked the entire hotel for the day and all the
guests had left by early evening, the night at the hotel was particularly quiet.
In the still night all the outside sounds were clearly enhanced.
Anne was unable to sleep well. She was tossing and turning. However as soon as she fell into a light
doze, she was startled awake by a sound. The sound was coming from outside her room. On hearing
the sound, she sat upright in bed and her heart started to beat faster with fright.
She breathed a sigh of relief, when she realized the sounds stopped a bit farther from her door.
However, her relief was short lived when it struck her that someone had stopped right outside her door.
Her heart was beating loudly in her ears. She was so nervous that she didn't know how to deal with it.
After sometime she finally found the courage to get out of bed and slowly tiptoed towards the door. She
was so scared that she could practically taste the metallic taste of fear in her mouth. She peeped
through the peephole but couldn't see anyone. She was filled with a sense of foreboding.
Considering that she was all alone, since Ian was not there, she had no choice but to wait for him. She
tried to take deep calming breaths to quieten her racing heart. After about an hour, the sounds outside
the door receded and everything returned to normal.
Anne strained to hear whether there were anymore sounds coming from the other side of the door.
Finally she breathed a sigh of relief. However it was after quite sometime that she was able to fall
asleep.
When she finally woke up the next day, the room was still dark. She thought that it was too early and
was about to go back to sleep, even though she felt quite rested. Then all of a sudden she realized that
the previous night she had drawn the hotel's blackout curtains. She hurriedly got out of bed and ran to
open the curtains. She blinked as the room was flooded with sunlight.
Keeping in mind the full day that she had ahead of her, Anne quickly dressed and mentally starting
sorting out her day. When she left her room, the hotel was still very quiet. Probably because there was
still time for guests to check-in.
As Anne made her way downstairs, she wasn't particularly paying attention and ran directly into Kevin.
"Kevin, why are you here?" she calmly questioned him. She was surprised at how calm she sounded,
while inwardly she felt anything but calm. Her feet had faltered when she realized who was blocking her
path.
"What? Are you surprised to see me? Do you want to see the baby, Anne?" Kevin sneered.
However, Anne only saw the color of ashes in his eyes.
"How is Eddy? Kevin please let me see him." Thinking that Eddy was still with Kevin, Anne was very
anxious, but Kevin's eyes remained cold as ice.
"If you want to see him, then you must adhere to my condition. You must promise me one thing."
Kevin's words were like cold steel.
Whenever Kevin thought of Anne being gentle with Ian, he would go crazy with jealousy.
This was the one woman who he couldn't control, but he lost his pride and became an unprincipled
person because of her.
"What condition?" Anne said after a brief struggle.
"Leave Ian," Kevin answered seriously. He stared at Anne's face. When he noticed her hesitation, his
eyes turned into cold ice.
"Kevin, you've gone too far!" Anne exclaimed.
She knew very well what her situation would become if she left Ian. She would be left with nothing and
Kevin knew that. But she was determined not to give in so easily, no matter what was at stake, be it her
child or she herself.
"Suit yourself. But if you choose to be with him, you will never see your child again," Kevin said in such
a cold tone that Anne was stunned.
However, she immediately said, "I have to see Eddy before I take any decision."
"Sure," Kevin said in an indifferent tone and turned his back on Anne and started to walk out of the
hotel. He did not bother to see whether she was following him.
In the East Mountain Villa.
The bottles were put away. All the broken glass was gathered and discarded. The place looked spic
and span with fragrance on incense running through the air. The room did not resemble the shambles it
was in yesterday.
Anne stood quietly in the middle of the room, taking in everything. Nothing had changed. She had
warmth on her face. She just felt ironic.
"Where is Eddy?" questioned Anne.
If it wasn't for the child, perhaps she would have never bothered to talk to Kevin.
She thought to herself that some people should be quickly placed in the past so as not to create chaos
in the present or future. Right now what Anne didn't know was that, having a child between them was
just an excuse. If there was no child, then there would be another excuse. Therefore, some decisions
also represented her will, but she didn't know that and couldn't figure it out.
Kevin smiled sarcastically and said, "Don't worry. Since you've just gotten engaged to Ian, he should be
patient, shouldn't he? He cannot help it if you want to come here, right?"
There was arrogance in Kevin's voice. He towered over Anne and looked at her with his cold eyes that
matched his voice.
"I initially wanted you to go back, but now I have changed my mind." As Kevin spoke his voice changed
from cold to frigid, like the winter ice.
"What are you going to do?" Anne questioned Kevin incredulously.
She was aware that Kevin was a ruthless man, but right now he was just being cold to her. Now she felt
that she was seeing a side of Kevin which she had never witnessed before. A cruel, vicious side of
Kevin.
"You will stay here. You will not leave this house. No car will come here. I will see to it that all the routes
leading to the house are blocked. No one will contact you here. And do not try to escape, because you
won't stand a chance." Kevin's voice was cruel and hoarse, which shocked Anne. She couldn't believe
what she was hearing.
"How can you do this to me? I'm going out. Are you locking me here?" asked Anne.
She hadn't expected Kevin to take such a crazy decision.
"Anne, I will let you see Eddy. All you have to do is stay here for three days and see if Ian will worry
about you as I do." After saying that, Kevin sneered and left the living room. Anne stared at his
retreating back without really seeing anything. She was unable to fathom what had just transpired.
Back at the hotel, the atmosphere was quite tense.
The entire hotel's staff were gathered in the lobby. They were terrified. Just yesterday Ian had gotten
engaged and today Anne is missing. Ian looked anxious. His hair looked as if he had been constantly
running his fingers through it.
"If you can't find Anne before dark, then there is no reason for you to continue working here."
The authority in Ian's tone scared everyone. Yesterday's engagement ceremony was much more
magnificent than Kevin's, so everyone was very afraid of this mysterious boss.
"Someone saw Mr. Kevin come here," one of the staff said.
After hearing this, Ian frowned. This was not good news.
"Okay." Ian just turned around and left the hotel and headed to the place where he knew he would find
Kevin.
In the AN Group, Kevin sat with his legs crossed at the ankle and his eyes closed. He had a cup of
coffee in his hand. The coffee had turned cold sometime back, but the strong aroma did not dissipate.
"Mr. Kevin, Ian is outside."
"Okay." Kevin rubbed his eyes. He knew Ian would come here, but he didn't expect him so soon.
In the office, the two handsome men sat facing each other. Whenever their eyes met, they seemed to
be experiencing a fierce battle.
"Where have you taken Anne?" Ian asked seriously.
"It depends on your ability. Aren't you worried that Anne will change her mind?"
When he was with Anne, Kevin found that it was very difficult to make place in her heart.
A sudden smile bloomed on Ian's face. "Kevin, do you want to scare me? I know very well what kind of
a person Anne is. If you trap her with something unusual, then she will soon figure it out"
Although Ian knew Anne well, he did not know Kevin.
However, what Ian said irritated Kevin. "But, Anne did promise me to stay there and take care of my
son by the way."
"That's your business." Ian pretended to casually lean against the sofa, as if it did not bother him that
Anne would be staying with Kevin.
Kevin smiled evilly and said, "Well then, let's wait and watch, shall we?
The moment Kevin left, Ian's face became more serious. There was a bit of sadness there too. The
reason for the sadness was that he knew that Anne never liked him. He never had her affection, then
what was he afraid of losing?
Therefore, Kevin was very lucky.
Ian clenched his fists.
As the sun made its descent, the clouds in the distance were free and spread all over the sky, giving
people a sense of wantonness. However, when seeing the beauty in the sky, Anne was only filled with
bitterness. Her smile was bitter too.
Kevin always did what he said. She would do anything to see her child and Kevin knew that and he
played that emotion to his use.
"Miss Anne, please eat something," the servant said considerately.
But Anne didn't seem to hear it. She looked at the distance, lost in thought, and wondered when Kevin
would allow her to see the child.
The door was opened with a bang. Kevin stared at Anne with an indifferent expression. No one knew
what emotion was hidden in his eyes.
"Eddy will come tomorrow. Drink with me," said Kevin.
"No, I won't. Kevin, we have nothing to talk about."
But Kevin grabbed her arm and said, "Don't waste your time. If you want to see the child, just do as I
say."
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