Chapter 183 – Finding the Secret Daddy for My Baby Novel

Filed To Story: Finding the Secret Daddy for My Baby Novel

She was rendered speechless by this, but she pretended to be serious as she countered, “Don’t worry, President Presgrave, you are the center of my universe, which makes you far more important than my future boyfriend or husband!”

“Don’t get cute with me,” he warned darkly on the other end and immediately ended the call.

Anastasia was already used to this. She set the phone down and glanced at the time, only to see that she had to head over to pick Jared up from school now. It looked like she was going to have to dig deep for inspiration for the rest of the night if she wanted to come up with the perfect men’s necklace for Elliot.

When she picked up Jared from school that afternoon, he asked if Elliot would be dropping by the apartment later. She took the chance to tell him solemnly that the man would no longer be visiting them, and the little boy was so disappointed that he didn’t speak throughout the entire car ride home.

Since she had to work through the night, Anastasia waited until Jared had fallen asleep before she started pondering on the design of the necklace. However, she found herself thinking about Elliot’s handsome face and his domineering expression from time to time. As night fell, she no longer had to keep all her emotions bottled up, and the lights above brought out the dazed look in her eyes.

The feelings that she had suppressed during the day suddenly welled up in her, reminding her of their presence. She wondered why she had felt so uneasy when Hayley had given Elliot the necklaces and why that feeling disappeared when he declined the woman’s gift.

Perhaps Anastasia was only happy to see Elliot turn down the necklaces because she didn’t like Hayley. She adamantly believed that her hatred for Hayley was the only reasonable explanation for this.

Presently, Anastasia did not spend too much time thinking up complicated designs for the necklace. Knowing Elliot, he preferred something understated and disliked anything gaudy. With that in mind, she decided that the necklace would have to be simple and sturdy. Moreover, it would have to be something that could complement his masculine charm.

The recent trend for men’s necklaces gave Anastasia inspiration for an elegant herringbone-chain necklace that would flatter the man’s chiseled and alluring collarbone, which, if left unadorned, would be a great disservice to the jewelry industry.

He had set the budget at ten million, which offered her great flexibility given that she was in charge of picking out the materials for the necklace. As for the design, it was up to her to imbue her personal flair into it. She gave a rough sketch and let inspiration take control. She imagined the way the chain would drape just above his collarbone, and if she added another chain to it, the visuals would be stunning.

The tip of her pencil gently sketched over the paper as she drew the man’s broad shoulders and the curve of his neck. She then added the chains, which nestled just slightly above the dip in his collarbone. She paused and leaned back slightly to see how the design looked.

It was only then that she froze in her seat, and her mind went blank for a moment. Why does this drawing look so much like Elliot? Anastasia couldn’t believe what she was seeing. At that moment, she realized just how clearly she could picture every part of Elliot in her head.

It turned out that giving Elliot too much room in her headspace during the day was a bad idea because Anastasia was having a hard time falling asleep right now without thinking about him. She even had a wet dream that involved him doing several unspeakable, yet sinfully pleasurable things to her, and she woke up the next morning loathing herself for having subconsciously enjoyed it.

On Friday, she got a message from Alex asking her if she would drop by Tillman Constructions. Seeing as all her other work had been set aside while she focused on designing Elliot’s necklace, she decided that it would do her some good to go out and get some air. As such, she asked Felicia for the rest of the day off and headed over to Francis’ company.

In the last few years, Francis’ company had doubled in size, and the land next to the ten-story office building was occupied by warehouse after warehouse where all the inventory for their building materials was kept. While the area was rather remote, the size of the enterprise was more than enough to compensate for its location.

Anastasia’s car drove past the warehouse estate for quite a while before she even drew close to the company building. At that moment, she suddenly understood why Francis could not bear to part with the business. He had poured all his blood, sweat, and tears into building up the company from scratch, and he had a trove of employees who depended on him for a living. In other words, this company was a part of his soul.

When she pulled up outside the building entrance, she headed for the doors and was immediately stopped by the security guard. “Is there something I can help you with, miss?”

“Hi. I’m Anastasia, and I’m here to look for my father, Francis.”

The security guard was startled by this, and he appraised her in shock as he pressed, “You’re President Tillman’s daughter? How come I’ve never seen you before?”

“That’s not surprising, seeing as I’ve been abroad for the last few years.” Anastasia smiled. Since she didn’t want to put the security guard in a hard place, she added, “How about I give my dad a call and have him send his assistant down to escort me?”

The security guard decided to believe her, and he wasted no time in opening the door for her as he said, “Pardon me, Miss Tillman. I didn’t mean to doubt you. Please come in.”

She nodded and strode through the door before coming to a stop at the front desk. The company building had only been set up not too long ago, and she wasn’t sure which floor Francis’ office was on. After asking the receptionist, she made her way up to the third floor.

Francis did not care much about decorum or formalities. One might even say he was laissez-faire. Since Alex had seen Anastasia before at the banquet, he approached her enthusiastically and told her that Francis was in a meeting, informing her that he would be done soon.

She took the chance to survey his office and sat down on the chair behind his desk. She had long since outgrown days where she whined, pestered, and vied for her father’s love and attention, but moments like these were reminiscent of those times.

She waited patiently for her father’s meeting to come to an end, but just as she was about to take a sip of her tea, the door to the office suddenly swung open, and the female assistant who had escorted her up earlier came rushing in. “Miss Tillman, something terrible has happened! Your father collapsed in the conference room. Quick, go take a look at him!”

Anastasia’s hand trembled, and the tea in her cup nearly spilled over as she stood up abruptly. “What?” Then, she hastened out the door after the assistant as the both of them made their way to the conference room.

Meanwhile, in the conference room, an ashen-faced Francis was being carried over to the couch by a few of his employees. Anastasia frantically ran over to him and crouched down next to the couch, urging, “Dad? Dad, what happened?” She was beside herself with panic as she demanded, “Has anyone called 911? What in the world happened here?”

“We’ve called 911. President Tillman looked fine earlier before he suddenly collapsed.”

“He probably heard that the company is getting acquired and he couldn’t take the news,” one of the managers said gravely.

“What? What do you mean the company is getting acquired? Who said that?”

“The clients just now weren’t here to talk about business; they were the representatives for the acquiring party, and they were here to discuss the acquisition.”

Even Anastasia was stunned. The news of the acquisition must have been too much for Francis, and he had collapsed out of shock. Is there no way for Tillman Constructions to escape the acquisition at all? Is this just fate?

“Anastasia, President Tillman will be just fine,” said a young man. She looked up and saw that Alex was eyeing her worriedly.

Then, she turned to look at her father. He was breathing heavily, and his eyes were tightly shut as though he was in pain, his skin pale and waxy. How can I not worry about him?

20 minutes later, an ambulance sent by the 911 dispatcher arrived to ferry Francis to the hospital. Anastasia and Alex went as well, and upon their arrival, Francis was immediately wheeled into the emergency room.

Only then did Anastasia snap out of her reverie, and she debated on calling Naomi and Erica. After a moment of thought, she decided that she had to call them.

Anastasia got Alex to make the phone call. When he was done, he walked over to her and said, “Mrs. Tillman and Miss Erica are on their way to the hospital.”

Anastasia nodded tiredly as a worried look etched upon her face. She wasn’t sure what would happen to Francis’ company. Elliot had told her before that the acquiring party had their eyes set on the profitable construction industry, and Francis’ company had been their target for a while now. It followed that they would have done plenty of homework and made arrangements well in advance. They were determined to go through with the acquisition no matter what.

Just then, Alex sighed. “Anastasia, the whole acquisition thing has come up out of the blue, and President Tillman likely collapsed from the shock of it all.” Frankly speaking, he didn’t want to leave the company either. He had toiled hard to get promoted to financial manager, which was a position that came with a handsome paycheck.

Out of everyone, Anastasia was perhaps the first to know about the possibility of Tillman Constructions’ acquisition. If such was the fate of the company, it would have been too late regardless of whether she told Francis about it or not.

With a sigh of resignation, she hummed in response and said, “Let’s go and see how my dad’s doing right now.” She could only pray that her father would pull through.

Ten minutes later, the doctor came out of the emergency room and told them that Francis’ heart problem was acting up again. Additionally, he would be transferred to the ICU for further observation.

Anastasia let out a breath when she heard this. Age was catching up with Francis, and his body was no longer as tough as it used to be.

Half an hour had passed before Naomi and Erica showed up at the hospital. The former’s eyes were red and puffy as she barreled down the hallway. The latter, however, was seething with rage when she saw Anastasia.

“How’s my husband? How is he?” Naomi demanded urgently as she marched up to Alex.

“Calm down, Mrs. Tillman,” Alex said in a soothing tone. “President Tillman has only just come out of the emergency room. For now, it seems that his old heart problem is acting up again, and he’s been transferred to the ICU for further observation.”

Just then, Naomi noticed Anastasia standing there and realized that she must have arrived before them. A skeptical look flashed in her eyes as she asked, “How did you get here before us?”

“Miss Tillman was at the company when President Tillman collapsed. She came with me to the hospital,” Alex explained.

Naomi sneered icily, “Eyeing your father’s company, huh? What, are you here so you can hasten the handover proceedings? That must be the case, or you wouldn’t have beaten us to the hospital.”

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