Chapter 413 Who Will Turn Out To Be The Winner
“Anna, you must be dreaming. Do you really believe that Nicholas can survive in Avenport?”
Michael took a few strides toward me, all while staring at me coldly, his dark eyes emanated rage.
I panic almost instantly but managed to calm myself down. Our eyes locked before I uttered without any sign of weakness, “Why not? I don’t think he’s any lesser than you!”
The one year I spent with Nicholas opened my eyes to his abilities. In fact, I wouldn’t be able to guess who would have the upper hand if he were to compete with Michael. Regardless, I must stand by Nicholas’ side, as he was the only hope that I could be reunited with my child.
“Anna, you sure are confident of Nicholas’ abilities. Since you trust him so much, then we shall see who will turn out to be the eventual winner!”
Michael’s eyes flashed with disdain and grew even more glacial. Evidently, he was infuriated by what I said.
I glanced at him calmly and fell silent. At the end of the day, an argument between the two of us served no useful purpose. After all, when it comes to the business world, it’s one’s abilities that are crucial and not whether an argument has been won.
“Then I wish you all the best,” I said calmly before turning and walking away.
“Wait!” Michael’s voice sounded behind me. I could feel the rage that was emanating from him.
Frowning, I turned around, and asked indifferently, “Is there anything else?”
“If you want to see Amaury, come here every Friday!”
I stiffened for a moment. He’s giving me a chance to spend time with Amaury!
I could no longer maintain my distant and cold expression. I gave Michael one last look before leaving swiftly.
I was not sure of the motive behind Michael’s offer. One year ago, he made me utterly disappointed. But now, he was giving me another chance to spend time with Amaury. What’s his motive? What is he thinking?
He had always been like this, and his unpredictability had perturbed me since forever.
He’s always like this, giving me hope whenever I feel hopeless. I really hated enduring the emotional turmoil he caused me, as it made me feel helpless.
Sometimes, I would be inclined to trust him. However, his past conduct made me extremely hesitant.
As I walked slowly on the pathway, my mind was consumed by images of Michael and Amaury.
I forcefully shook my head to brush away all the negative thoughts. His motive was irrelevant as long as I get to spend time with Amaury. Ultimately, what he offered was something good for me.
Initially, I thought that I could only meet with Amaury after all the matter had been settled. However, Michael gave me a chance to spend time with Amaury last night. His action caused my hatred toward him to diminish slightly.
Nonetheless, it did not influence my decision. Even if he let me meet Amaury every day, I would still want to fight for my child’s custody. Only when I successfully obtained the custodial rights would I be in peace.
I knew that if Amaury’s custody rights remained with the Shaw family, the same incident that happened a year ago might happen again in the future.
My thoughts were cut off when I felt a pang of pain coming from my nether region. Although I had already applied medication, last night was too intense. Besides, it had been a year since I had any sexual intercourse. As such, it was only natural that my body could not take it.
Only after cursing at Michael in my heart did my rage manage to subside.
Just then, my phone rang. Looking down, I saw that it was a call from Nicholas. Immediately, I felt guilty as I was reminded of what happened the night before.
Regardless, I still answered his call to avoid any suspicion.
“Hey, why are you calling me so early in the day? It’s not even time for work.”
I immediately started speaking after answering the call as I did not want him to have the first say.
“Where are you now? It sounds very noisy over there. Are you outside?”
Nicholas spoke softly, but his tone suggested that he was slightly suspicious.
“Yeah, I’m on the road.”
His query made me panic and I answered with guilt flashing in my eyes.
“Why are you out so early in the morning? Shouldn’t you be at home resting? Did something happen?”
Nicholas sounded concerned about my well-being, but all it did was make me even more anxious.
“No, nothing happened. It’s just that I feel out of shape recently. So I woke up early to squeeze in a workout before going to work. I’m all right.”
I came up with a random excuse to avoid him finding out about what happened last night. After all, he had always been worried that I would get entangled with Michael once again. If he found out that I had spent the night with Michael and even had sex with him, he would be infuriated and the situation might escalate.
I wanted to avoid the trouble. The most pertinent thing in my mind right then was to help Nicholas achieve his goal. This way, both of us would get what we wanted.
“You’re exercising? I’m surprised that you’re so disciplined and hardworking. Back then, you would even skip your meals just to learn about the ins and outs of the business industry. But look at you now, you’re willing to spend some time working on your own health! Your change is quite drastic since you returned to the country.”
Nicholas spoke in a similar manner, soft and calm. However, I had this unexplained feeling brewing in my heart that he was trying to hint at something.
“Why? Do you like it better when I’m a workaholic? My sole purpose in returning to the country is to get back Amaury’s custody rights. I want to take care of my son from now on and I need to be healthy for that. Or else, I won’t be able to take care of him once he returns to my side.”
I pretended not to understand what he was trying to imply and spoke sarcastically.
“Well, it’s good that you remember your purpose. For a moment there, I thought that you’d forgotten all about it after meeting with Michael.”
Nicholas smiled and acted as if he didn’t care. Previously, he kept reminding me to hate Michael. Because of that, I got annoyed and was angry with Nicholas. Now, it seemed that he no longer dares to do it directly, but rather subtly.
After spending the past year with him, I started to know him better. He was a smart person that could read a person’s mind masterfully. But it was a really tiring experience having to deal with a man like him.
In a cold and glacial tone, I uttered, “I have been clear with my purpose all the while. I don’t care about anything else.”
With that, I hung up before he could say another word.
