Just as quickly as he had let me go, Anthony grabbed me by my waist and had his other arm around my shoulders. My feet could touch the ground, but the way he held me kept me suspended. We were now in an even more intimate position than before.
The longer we stayed in that position, the more my mind raced. Should I compliment Anthony for being nimble, or should I admonish him for once again trying to take advantage of me?
Then again, I would never compliment him, but neither would I dare censure him.
After all, I wouldn’t want to provoke someone as vindictive as Anthony.
Even though I held my tongue, he wasn’t about to let me off that easily. “Ms. Stanhope, you were the one who wanted me to behave myself, yet you’re now hugging me so tightly.”
He leaned in even closer and looked into my eyes. “Aren’t you being a little hypocritical here?”
As if he wasn’t annoying enough, he even had to emphasize the word “hypocritical.”
The entire process had felt like an eternity to me, but it couldn’t have been more than a minute. I doubt Gregory had seen or heard everything that transpired.
Even if he had, at his age, the boy probably wouldn’t have understood any of it.
True enough, Gregory was still waiting by the side and waving his little hands. “Ms. Stanhope, I want a hug too.”
He looked and sounded so sweet and innocent that my heart immediately softened.
Anthony, on the other hand, had such a smirk on his face that I could only imagine the evil intentions that lurked behind that smile.
Compared to him, Gregory was an absolute angel.
The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Without any care for how I looked, I mustered up all my strength to wriggle out of Anthony’s embrace. Once I freed myself, I knelt and kissed Gregory on his face. “Greg is the best!”
I had even intentionally kissed him loudly, just to irritate Anthony. I then held my head up high and strutted toward my bedroom.
Gregory stayed behind and continued to pester his father. “Daddy, I want you to hug me the way you did with Ms. Stanhope!”
“Ms. Stanhope?” Anthony asked calmly.
“Yes! Ms. Stanhope! Hug!”
“Are you sure?” Anthony asked with a lilt in his voice. “No hugs.”
Gregory immediately knew what his father meant and exclaimed, “Not Ms. Stanhope! It’s Mommy!”
Anthony finally smiled at his son and picked him up. The hallway filled with Gregory’s laughter as they continued to play.
It warmed my heart to hear them having so much fun, and I couldn’t help but smile at the sight.
As I sat on my bed, I thought back on the documents I had read earlier. The more I thought about them, the more restless I felt.
The uneasiness became so bad that I decided to give Emery a call. Hopefully, she could be the voice of reason.
The woman couldn’t hide her surprise at me having taken the initiative to call her. “Letty!”
“Emery,” I replied, trying to sound as calm as possible. “I have something I need to discuss with you.”
“Go ahead. I’ll tell you everything I know.”
I decided to be tactful as I asked, “What’s Anthony really like?”
After spending time with the man, I realized how passive my behavior was whenever I was with him. I’d have to know who I was up against if I wanted to change that.
When Emery didn’t reply, I grew paranoid, thinking she might have figured out my intentions. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me anything,” I quickly added.
“It’s not that,” Emery replied sternly. “The thing is, I don’t know Anthony as well as you do. The two of you are the ones who know each other the best. If I were to comment more, it would just be a biased opinion.”
“That’s fine. You can put it as simply as you like.”
“Alright then, let’s see how I should say this.” After pondering for a while, she finally concluded, “He’s capable and has foresight. But whenever it comes to something to do with you, he lets his heart rule his head. And, I suppose he has terrible judgment when it comes to women… “
As the richest man in the country, I did not doubt that he was capable and possessed keen foresight.
But letting his heart rule his head sounded a lot like an exaggeration. Being as vindictive as he was, wouldn’t women be at his mercy?
And with his intelligence, how was he not able to tell the good from the bad?
I couldn’t hide the doubt in my voice as I replied, “Yeah, maybe you’re right. You don’t know Anthony well, or rather, you don’t know men well enough. How can anyone not tell when someone is intentionally getting close to them? They’re only playing along and enjoying the ride.”
Emery burst out laughing on the other end of the call.
“Why are you laughing? Did I say something wrong?”
“No, no.” Emery held herself back and stopped laughing. “You’ve changed so much in six years. Whenever I criticized Anthony in the past for lacking self-control, you’d always speak up for him and help him find excuses.”
“What? Was Sienna that blind?” I blurted out. When I realized the mistake I had made, I quickly corrected myself, “Was I that dumb?”
Emery sighed. “I wouldn’t say that. Things were just way too complicated in the past. But I can be sure of one thing. Anthony was an ordinary man with emotions and desires only when he was with you.”
I laughed upon hearing that. “Is that so rare?”
No matter how privileged or outstanding Anthony was, he would still be at the mercy of his emotions when he was with something he liked. Why did Emery make it sound like Sienna was blessed to have him express his emotions to her?
All I could think was how submissive this “Sienna” must have been when she was with Anthony.
“You’ll know if it’s rare or not once you’ve recovered your memories. But don’t be fooled by one’s appearance, especially with someone like Anthony, who doesn’t wear his heart on his sleeve. It’s going to take a lot of time and effort to see him for who he really is. But you know what? It’s been so many years, and yet, I still can’t see through this sugar daddy.”
“Why do you call him a sugar daddy?” I had only skimmed the documents in the study, so I wasn’t entirely sure of the relationship between Emery and Anthony.
“He invested in my office and The Jade. What else is he, if not my sugar daddy?” she joked with a chuckle.
I was so taken aback by her declaration that I didn’t know what else to say.
Just then, one of Emery’s staff reminded her of an urgent meeting, so she had to cut our conversation short.
She quickly arranged to meet me that afternoon and was about to hang up when she added, “Why are you asking these questions anyway? Has Anthony been hounding you again?”
Emery was so spot on with her deductions that it made me wonder if she should be a psychic instead.
“Yeah… “ I confessed. “Not only that, he even had me move in with him yesterday, and I promised to be his son’s mother.”
“Have you remembered something? Or rather, has Anthony remembered?” Emery was so excited she was almost shouting now.
Even though I couldn’t see her, I could imagine how thrilled she must be just by the way she sounded.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but the answer’s no. Neither of us has remembered anything.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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