CHAPTER 2: CHAPTER 2: I WON’T BEG YOU ANYMORE!

"Con... Conrad Sterling, please be gentle, I’m afraid of pain!"

Anna Thornton was so nervous that she clenched her fists. She couldn’t tell if it was because it was hot or because she was scared. A drop of sweat trickled down her temple, sliding along her hair and landing below her delicate collarbone, then winding its way down her graceful, fair skin...

But being scared was useless; they’ve come this far.

Anna Thornton had just said she wanted to make a deal with him, but now, apart from herself, she had nothing else to offer.

Lying in his arms, Anna Thornton carefully observed this man.

Conrad Sterling truly lived up to his reputation as someone who caused a sensation among women all over Veridia upon his arrival. His face up close was undeniably attractive. The contours and angles were perfectly precise, his nose straight, and his dark pupils like a deep, unfathomable pool... However, Anna Thornton was a bit startled by the coldness in his eyes.

The man had just taken a shower, and the light scent of men’s body wash on him was both pleasant and unfamiliar. Anna Thornton could almost hear her heartbeat at this moment as she lowered her head. When her gaze swept over his alluring eight-pack abs and V-line, she immediately closed her eyes, not daring to look further.

She felt her own tattered and weary appearance seemed a bit disgraceful in comparison to him!

"Ha!" A mocking laugh came from above.

Anna Thornton immediately lifted her eyelids to glare at him, biting her slightly swollen, crimson lips in shame, as if determined to maintain the last shred of dignity of a young lady.

Conrad Sterling’s austere jaw suddenly tightened as he stared down at the small woman pinned beneath him, as if looking at prey in a cage. In that moment, his expression seemed to harbor a multitude of complex emotions—is it lust, pleasure, disdain, or ridicule?

Regardless, none of this hindered his next move.

"Conrad Sterling, wait, I’m not ready yet..."

"Ah... Conrad Sterling, I don’t want to do this, let me go!"

"I won’t ask you for anything anymore! I won’t ask for anything! Sob..."

Though this should have been an intimate, passionate scene, her pleas for mercy were met with the man’s nearly cruel tone: "You have no say in this!"

It’s too late, Anna Thornton, you should not have come to plead with me today!

...

The excessive physical exertion made her feel as though her bones no longer existed. Anna Thornton was exhausted and her entire body was sore, accompanied by a burning pain in certain places.

How that man had so much energy, tormenting her all night and getting out of bed as if nothing happened, she couldn’t comprehend.

Seeing Conrad Sterling come out of the bathroom, freshly showered and dressed, seemingly preparing to go out, Anna Thornton propped herself up, jumped off the bed, and grabbed him: "You’ve got what you wanted, now you should help me, right?"

Conrad Sterling, tying his tie, replied lightly: "Did I promise you that?"

"What do you mean? We’ve already done it, and now you’re playing me?"

Seeing that he intended to go back on his word, Anna Thornton nearly jumped up in anger, but her physical state didn’t allow it. She could only hold on tightly to the man’s arm, wishing she could dig holes in his sleeve with her nails.

"Conrad Sterling, you call yourself a businessman, but you can’t be so unreliable! I gave you my first time, you should be responsible!"

"In business terms, what do you think your first time is worth?" Conrad Sterling asked her.

"I’m the eldest daughter of the Thornton Family, renowned for my looks and figure. Back then, the line of people pursuing me could stretch across all of Veridia. Even if I put my first time up for auction on the black market, it would be worth at least... no, fifty million."

"Listen to yourself talking about back then? Look at you now, haggard and emaciated, with unappealing wounds and bruises all over."

"You..."

"Since you’re asking for my help, I can give you fifty million."

"I don’t want money! I want your connections, your power, to help me reclaim the Thornton Family assets, and I want your intelligence to help me deal with Holly Sutton, to send the woman who killed my dad to jail!"

"At this price, you’re not worth it." Conrad Sterling assessed objectively.

"However, I can give you a suggestion on how to get revenge quickly."

"?" Anna Thornton looked at him expectantly.

"You said Holly Sutton poisoned and killed your dad, then you should buy poison too, an eye for an eye!"

Is this... considered a useful suggestion?

Anna Thornton suspected Conrad Sterling was just toying with her, but looking at his expression, he seemed very serious, so much so... it was a bit terrifying.

Effortlessly, the man pried apart Anna Thornton’s grip on him and with his other hand clasped her delicate chin: "What? Don’t dare?"

"..."

"Let me give you another piece of advice, never pin your hopes on men, especially those only interested in your body."

"Conrad Sterling, you bastard!"

"Remember this lesson and stay away from bastards in the future."

...

After that day, Anna Thornton never saw Conrad Sterling again.

When she was once again found by her stepmother and locked back in the mental asylum, Anna Thornton felt almost despairing.

By then, her belly was already five months pregnant.

Anna Thornton tried writing to Conrad Sterling, even though he had told her not to place her hopes on men.

But she was pregnant after all, all because of that night...

No matter how cold-hearted, Conrad Sterling wouldn’t let his own flesh and blood be born in a mental hospital, would he?

Yet reality proved that the man was truly heartless!