Chapter 3

Anthony tossed his jacket onto the sofa. His black shirt hung on his tall and well-built torso though he looked aggressive. Anne lowered her gaze. She had not completely forgotten about that night. She knew how muscular and sexy his body was. "Why… why did you bring me here?" she asked fearfully. She dared not speak up in front of this powerful man. Yet, after she spoke, she heard a rumbling sound coming from her starving tummy. Anne felt embarrassed. Since getting off the plane, she had not eaten anything. The exhaustion from running and the flight were finally catching up with her. Anthony said coldly, "You must be hungry. Serve the food!" From the other end, a middle-aged man in a working uniform brought over a bowl of hot soup and placed it on the table. "Mr. Marwood, the seafood soup is ready." The butler, Hayden, announced before stepping aside politely. It was as if he had never existed. When Anne heard the word 'seafood', her face turned pale. "You may have your dinner," Anthony said with cold eyes. "I'm… allergic to seafood. I can't eat this," Anne said in her shivering voice. She had a severe seafood allergy. Once she had seafood, the symptoms could even take her life! She had experienced this before… "So, you're going to put my effort to waste?" Anthony's eyes were filled with hatred. Anne understood it. Anthony had done this on purpose. He wanted to kill her! "No… I can't eat it. I will die…" Anne resisted and backed away. Anthony went forward, grabbed her arm, and tossed her toward the table. "Eat it!" "Argh!" Anne fell onto the table, and the purse she was holding fell two to three meters from her. Since she turned off her phone hastily, she did not zip up her bag, resulting in her phone falling out. Anne could not care less about her hurting knees. She stared at the exposed phone anxiously. Anthony was walking toward the phone. The moment he picked up the phone, Anne felt her breathing halt along with her heartbeats. Anthony picked up the phone and realized that it had been turned off. He pressed the button on the side to turn it on and realized the phone was not turned off because of a lack of battery. "I… I'm afraid of my aunt calling, so I turned it off…" Anne knew how much Anthony hated her aunt. He saw Sarah as an enemy. "Password." Anthony glanced at her coldly. Anne felt her fear rise, and she was almost blacking out. However, she knew that she had to stay calm. "Let me…" Anne walked over and carefully took the phone from Anthony. She went back to the table, afraid of showing him her passcode. Anthony looked at her coldly and mockingly. Anne lowered her head to type in her passcode while looking around. Suddenly, she picked up the seafood soup from the table and threw it over! Bang! It fell between the two of them! The hot soup was all over the floor, preventing Anthony from coming closer! Anthony's dark eyes glinted, and he saw the woman escaping. He called out, "Hold her!" Anne was terrified, and she ran even faster. When she ran out of the living room, she saw the bodyguards coming from the front, and she quickly made a turn. Anne saw a set of stairs and hurriedly ran down. However, her heels prevented her from running, let alone running down the stairs. She suddenly lost her footing… "Argh!" Anne fell and rolled down the stairs. "Argh!" Anthony caught up and stood on the top of the staircase, looking down heartlessly. All he saw was that Anne lying at the bottom of the stairs. She had blacked out with blood oozing out of her wounded head… Anne woke up abruptly as if from a nightmare. She sat up and groaned as she felt dizzy. She touched her forehead and found a bandage over her head. She recalled falling down the stairs. But now, she was in this unfamiliar room. The sky had turned bright outside… A thought crossing her mind, she anxiously pressed on her chest, got out of bed, and went into the washroom. After closing the door, she took out her phone from her chest. She hid it there when running away, and thankfully, it was still kept there. Anne did not care what condition she was in. She instantly deleted all messages regarding her children. Luckily, she had a backup copy on her computer. After doing so, she messaged the nanny: [Do not call me and do not let my kids call me. Something happened. I will call you when it's done. Mark my words.] Nancy, the nanny, replied: [What happened?] Anne answered: [Don't worry, I'm fine. Please take care of my kids.] After that, she walked out of the washroom. Anne looked around the bedroom. It was unfamiliar, but the luxurious decorations did not make it hard for her to figure out that this was a room in the mansion. She knew Anthony had placed her here and couldn’t help thinking what he was trying to do. No matter what he wanted, she must not stay here any longer. She had to leave! Anne opened the bedroom door and found the stairs. The mansion was so big that it gave her a headache finding the way out. After going downstairs, she did not care about getting back her purse. She tried to run away with her phone in her hands. However, she was stopped before she reached the big metal gate. She almost bumped into the bodyguard and had to back away. Anne tried not to panic and said, “Let me leave.” “This is an order from Mr. Marwood,” the bodyguard said coldly like a machine. “Where… is he?" "Not sure." Anne knew that there was no way out. What else could she do? She returned to the room and called Sarah, "Aunt, didn't you say Anthony had left Luton long ago? Why did he show up?" She would not have returned to Luton if she knew he was here! "He did leave! I haven't heard from him for many years. We would definitely know if he was in Luton, and I would have told you!" Anne trusted her aunt, so why did Anthony show up at the party? Out of kindness? No way. Sarah had told her that Anthony had cut ties with Ron and the rest of the Marwood family long ago. They were out of touch completely. So why… Anne caressed her forehead, and her head was aching. Anthony did not come to attend the party but to trap her. However, it was too late for her to realize that… "Anne, what's wrong? What happened? I tried calling, but your phone was turned off." "I'm…fine. I saw some old friends, and we went drinking in a bar. I had too much…" Anne told a lie because she did not want to worry her aunt. After all, Anthony was only after her now.