He turned to walk away when her timid voice suddenly sounded.
"Excuse me, Mr. Sterling. Don't you think you're being too judgmental? You don't know me, and after the way you spoke, I really don't care what you think at all. Only a selfish, arrogant, self-absorbed person can talk down to another person in this manner."
She noticed his eyes flash darkly with anger. His gaze frightened her to the bones; it almost made her bite her tongue, but she recalled how his words had been fatally offensive and pressed on.
Men like him who looked down on women disgusted her as much. He might have frightened her with those cold eyes and voice, but she could not just stand by and let him insult her for absolutely no reason. She might be plain and simple, but she was as much human as he was, and thankfully he wasn't the boss of her—maybe he was in some kind of way—but he wasn't the one to hire her. Thus, Anne felt she could speak her mind.
"Whatever I do, I work very hard for it. And—"
He suddenly backed her to the wall in the empty hallway, eyes glowering with rage like her speaking back was an insult to the pride he seemed to carry on his sleeves and head, and her heart jolted despite the bravado she tried to keep.
"How dare you? Who the hell made you believe you could talk back to me?"
Anne flinched, almost closing her eyes so she wouldn't have to look into his stormy ones. But her mouth, which never learned to shut up whenever it came to fighting for herself, blurted, "So what? This isn't some ancient dynasty where you're the king and no one can talk back to you. In this time and age, everyone has freedom of speech."
Her mouth had always been her undoing, and it very well seemed it was doing just that at this point, because her words further riled the devil in suit and tie, scowling darkly at her like Yama.
He banged his hand against the wall behind her, causing her brown eyes to flutter, then leaned into her where Anne was forced to shrink against the wall, his expensive cologne invading her nose and his dark midnight eyes glaring at her murderously. He drawled hoarsely, "In this city, I am king."
Anne couldn't find any word to argue with him about that. No one would hear the name Andrew Sterling without feeling the urge to bow at his feet. He was that powerful and unbelievably arrogant. She'd heard so much and come across articles speaking about his aloof arrogance; he was a man no one would mess with. She had believed his power was exaggerated in the country—he wasn't the president of their country or some god, he was mere mortal.
Though she had always been neutral about him in the past as she had no reason to concern herself with someone like him, he had just made himself into the top list of her most disliked people.
Deciding to show just how much mortal he was and that she wouldn't cower at him in fear for insulting her, she straightened her back, where her head just stopped above his chest, and looked up at him, meeting those midnight cold eyes in defiance.
"Well, even if I were trying to trap and enchant someone, it shouldn't matter to you. After all, I'm working for your brother, not you."
He seemed taken aback by her words, and Anne used that chance to slip away and rush into the chairman's office before he would stop or come after her.
Andrew was stunned. He'd met his fair share of stupidly brave people, and this woman topped the ranks. No one had dared to look him in the eye before, not to mention talking back to him. No woman had ever talked back to him; they mostly had no words or would start to cry even before he parted his lips to speak. He was used to the opposite gender being meek and utterly annoying, and he'd never known one as foolishly brave as this one.
He'd like to see just how stubborn and defiant she'd be when he had her in a few days. He would break her into fully submitting to him before their contract was over. She had just dug her own grave by opening those pink lips of hers to speak back at him.
Days passed by and Anne did her work diligently, but as Thursday morning arrived, she suddenly began to feel nervous. The next day was a Friday—she'd have to let that man have sex with her in order to earn money for Kristen's operation.
At a conference meeting where she escorted her boss, Andrew Sterling barely sent her a glance or acted like he had had any heated exchange with her. To be honest, she had thought he would get her fired after the way she spoke to him the other day; she never expected to get away with it.
But there was one thing with Anne: when someone questioned her character, she never knew how to shut up.
The meeting ended and all the board members left the conference room, including Andrew Sterling—except one. Anne had been left behind in the conference room to pack up some files for her boss. Noticing the fact that Chairman Sterling still remained in his seat along with that board member, she quickly packed up and made to excuse herself when all of a sudden the board member revealed a gun.
"You foolish old man! You want to let me drown in debt? I have no other way of remaining in this city if I lose all my properties. If I lose everything, I'd rather die, but I'll make sure I take you with me."
Stanley Sterling was the chairman of Sterling Enterprises. The older man had seen so many people lose their minds when it came to money, hence even while having a gun pointed to his head, he didn't move nor flinch.
"Who is to blame for your losses, Dalton? It's all you. If you didn't gamble away the company funds selfishly, you'd never be in this position. I only had mercy on you and didn't press charges because your wife pleaded your case. Now you're pointing a gun to my head?" The older man stood up from his seat calmly. "If you really have the guts, then shoot me."
Anne felt her heart suddenly lurch. She wanted to call for help, but the man looked ready to shoot Chairman Sterling any moment. Perhaps he was unaware that she was behind him and had assumed everyone had already left. She used that as an opportunity and grabbed a vase by the entrance.
When one became violent, words would no longer be enough to stop them—it was best they were incapacitated. Anne swung the vase with all her might over the man's head swiftly with the hopes of knocking him out, then getting Chairman Sterling to safety and calling for help.
"Argh!" the man groaned, grabbing the back of his head with one hand.
She hadn't expected him to suddenly whirl around after crying out in pain briefly, and the next thing she heard—
Bang!
The gun had been shot, and a searing pain shot through her body. Her eyes widened as she felt the warmth of blood trickling down and staining her shirt.