The Bond Between Us (Anastasia and Herman)

After leaving the Mortons, Anastasia sent Mr. Rowland on his way.

Salma, puzzled, asked, "Ana, why did you hand the company over to them? With that share transfer agreement, they wouldn't dare hold out on you."

Anastasia replied, "Mom, what's more important to you the company or Dad?"

"The company is your father's life's work. Giving it away, he'd never be okay with that," Salma said, knowing Tavon all too well.

"What's the point of holding onto material possessions if you don't even have your health?" Anastasia said bluntly. "This is the quickest way to get Dad out of there. I've never managed the Morton Group. Imagine if I just showed up, waving that share agreement, declaring myself the new CEO. Would the other shareholders be happy? Ashley and Jia would fight tooth and nail. It'd be a bloodbath, and I can't handle that."

Salma was speechless.

Anastasia knew her limits and where she stood.

"You're always so level-headed," Salma remarked. "But really, do you think you could run a small bakery without experience and not end up overwhelmed, let alone a company with over a thousand employees? You've been in high society, but life's not like those trashy romance novels where you magically know everything."

Salma chuckled, "You do have a knack for seeing the bright side."

Thinking of Tavon's stroke, Salma sighed, "Your dad was perfectly fine, and now... who knows if he can be cured."

"Let's focus on getting him out first," Anastasia said, glancing back towards the Morton estate. "The real trickster there is Sandy. Be careful around her, Mom."

"I thought Sandy was gentle and sensible, quite innocent."

"We'll see just how 'innocent' she is tomorrow," Anastasia replied. "If I'm not wrong, Sean will come to us with conditions."

"What kind of conditions?"

Anastasia feigned mystery, "You'll find out soon enough."

After the Gianna incident, Anastasia had learned not to trust anyone easily.

They took a cab back to The Grand Plaza Hotel. Salma headed straight to her room, while Anastasia went to the supermarket to pick up some groceries.

After shopping, Anastasia waited for the elevator alone. As the elevator arrived and she stepped in, pressing the button for her floor, a pair of slender, well-defined male hands suddenly stopped the closing doors.

The elevator dinged, startling her. Looking up, she met a pair of piercing hawk-like eyes.

Instinctively, she moved further inside as the masked man entered, nodding slightly in apology. He then reached out with a pack of sanitary napkins, "You dropped something."

Had he not spoken, Anastasia might have thought she'd encountered a weirdo.

Glancing at her tote, she saw a hole; the sanitary napkins were indeed hers.

"Thanks," she said, mortified as she took them back.

The man hadn't selected a floor. As the doors closed, he mentioned off-handedly, "I'm on the fifteenth floor too."

"Oh," Anastasia chuckled nervously.

As they ascended, she caught a faint scent of blood. Her eyes darted to the man's arm, wrapped in a bandage that was bleeding through a fresh wound, crudely treated, not by professionals. "You're still bleeding. You should have that looked at in a hospital. Infection can be nasty. You should take care of yourself," Anastasia said, a touch of unwarranted concern in her voice.

Her words seemed to strike a chord with the man, touching a rusty string in his heart as something seemed to shift within him.

Take care of yourself...

He'd lived for over two decades, and this was the first time anyone had said that to him.

When the elevator doors opened, Anastasia walked out towards her room, groceries in hand. The man also left the elevator, heading the opposite way down the corridor to another room. There, he removed his mask. This was the same man who had passed a note to Julie at the wedding.