Never Too Far Novel

Chapter 301

However, this was the exception that Elliot couldn’t have no matter how much he wanted her…

After Anastasia came out of the office, she breathed a sigh of relief. She really didn’t want to accept too much kindness from the man since she feared that she would not be able to repay him enough if she were to give herself up as collateral.

In order not to get to that place, she had to refuse wherever she could.

As expected, the regular meeting held at 3:00PM that day was to introduce the airborne designer, Aliona Dora, to the rest of the company. Despite Felicia making a formal introduction to the other workers, other than the male employees, the female ones were obviously lacking in enthusiasm as they welcomed her into the team. It was to be expected as beautiful women were naturally the enemies of other women. Furthermore, why would they be happy about having one more competitor whose strength they didn’t know?

“Hi, everyone! My name is Aliona Dora. I graduated from a design institute in Flor, and I specialize in jewelry design. I look forward to working together.” She herself did not expect the education she received from young would turn out to be one of her advantages in approaching Elliot.

Alice was visibly more irritated now that there was another person who joined via personal connections when she wasn’t even done dealing with Anastasia.

Anastasia was also feeling the pressure. Bourgeois would soon be holding a grand jewelry show in the early spring of the new year and it was her chance to show her talents. She, too, wanted to have this opportunity to show what she was capable of.

“Alright, let’s talk about the jewelry show in early spring,” Felicia continued. “Since we have become one of the brands under QR, the jewelry show will be set up in the country. We must not miss this opportunity to show what we have in store during the show. The company will also provide utmost support to our designers to participate in the competition.”

She then added calmly, “This is a show worth millions of dollars. It depends solely on your potential to win the race and be the one on top. I wish all of you the best of luck. The deadline will be at the end of this month.”

After the meeting ended, Anastasia was in the middle of clearing the desk when Aliona came to greet her in a surprisingly friendly tone. “Hello, Miss Tillman. We met earlier in President Presgrave’s office.”

“It was my fault for interrupting.” Anastasia smiled lightly.

Aliona pressed her lips together and replied with a smile as well, “No worries. We were done talking by then.”

Anastasia thought that she shouldn’t be too cold to the daughter of Elliot’s father’s friend, so she politely said, “Since we are colleagues now, I look forward to working together with you.”

However, as soon as Anastasia left, Aliona’s eyes immediately darkened. She only came to the company with one purpose in mind: she was going to become Elliot’s woman and marry him. She was fully prepared to sacrifice anything and everything else to achieve the purpose. She was even willing to sacrifice herself to Elliot, give birth to his child, and use the child to legally obtain the right to the inheritance.

Riley had given her 2 years to get everything done. When the time came, Riley would get rid of Elliot and the entirety of the Presgrave Group would fall in the hands of Aliona and her child.

Aliona was a child Riley had adopted from an orphanage. He had spent a lot of money to raise her. Not only did she learn all the advanced etiquette, she also graduated from a prestigious school and she was fluent in 4 languages. At the same time, in order to hide from the Presgrave Family’s investigation, Riley had made her a member of the Dora Family, and had presented her as Lucas’ illegitimate daughter to Elliot.

Lucas was a close friend of Elliot’s father and unfortunately had a weakness that Riley had gotten hold of. He was the puppet Riley was using through Aliona to take over Presgrave Group.

Since she wanted to repay Riley for raising her, Aliona listened to his words as though they were absolute. Her mission in life was to help her adoptive father regain the Presgrave Group.

And Anastasia was, undoubtedly, the biggest obstacle in her completion of the task.

She decided to first become good friends with Anastasia, and after she had gained her trust, Aliona would find an opportunity to let her disappear from Elliot’s side.

Anastasia was sitting in the office since Felicia had asked her to solely focus on the upcoming jewelry show. The company was also putting great importance in the developing haute couture.

Not long after that, Grace pushed the door open from outside and she came in with a cup of coffee in her hand. “Here, Anastasia. This is for you,” she said to Anastasia.

A frown began to appear on Anastasia’s face as she looked at the coffee before she asked, “Who is this from?”

“Didn’t you know? Miss Dora has gotten all of us coffee. The coffee beans are freshly ground!”

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Knowing that this was a common thing for the newbies to do to start off on the right foot with their colleagues, Anastasia gave a small ‘oh’ before she unhesitantly took the coffee and drank it.

“Anastasia, everyone is saying that Miss Dora is the president’s relative. What do you think?” Grace came to her to pick up more gossip.

To her disappointment, Anastasia only shook her head with a laugh. “I am not sure about that.”

Grace could only absent-mindedly blink as she mumbled, “You don’t know as well, huh?”

Anastasia was not a busybody who would spread this kind of gossip. She wouldn’t say a word even if Aliona was the daughter of Elliot’s father’s close friend.

“Stop your tittle-tattle and get back to work!” she urged Grace.

Anastasia’s female instinct was telling her that Aliona had come to Bourgeois for Elliot. Ah, she thought. Elliot has another suitor again.

The man had so many admirers that whoever ended up marrying him would definitely live a married life being constantly worried. Even if he had never approached women, there were a ton that would throw themselves at him.

It was at this moment when the landline in front of her started to ring. She then reached out to pick it up. “Hello?”

“I might not be able to pick up Jared with you this evening. I will go with you tomorrow.” He sounded apologetic as he informed her that in his low voice.

Anastasia immediately knew that Elliot had a prior date tonight and he wouldn’t be able to spend time to accompany her in picking her son up. “Don’t worry about it. I understand that you are a busy man, President Presgrave. You don’t have to worry about picking up Jared from now on,” she said politely.

He teased her again in his magnetic voice. “Are you angry?”

I definitely am not angry, she thought as she responded, “Why would I be? You think too much, President Presgrave.”

The man still added another explanation. “I have a dinner that I can’t say no to tonight.”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me.” As soon as she finished saying that, she hung up the phone and left the office feeling slightly irritated. She went to the pantry to get herself a glass of lemon water, but just as she was about to look for a place to sit, she heard someone entering from the door.

Aliona had a leery old bird of an employee who also happened to be single sticking close to her side. “Miss Dora,” the man pestered. “Are you free tonight? Let’s have dinner together.”

She only turned with a polite smile as she rejected him. “My apologies as I have a date tonight.”

When he heard that, the man tried to speak in a roundabout manner to fish out more information. “Oh, so you have a boyfriend, Miss Dora.”

Her sharp gaze fell on Anastasia at that moment and she only smiled without giving a definite answer. “I am really sorry! I have dinner with someone really important to me.”

Anastasia automatically knew that she was talking about Elliot when she said that it was an important person.

The male colleague somewhat awkwardly laughed as he left and when he did, Aliona poured herself a cup of tea before she sat across Anastasia. “Anastasia,” she called out abruptly, “we have actually met before.”

“Oh? When was it?” Anastasia tried her best to recall but to no avail. It was impossible for her not to have any recollection at all if she had met such a beautiful woman before.

Aliona laughed gently. “It was during Old Madam Presgrave’s birthday banquet. I also know about how you fell into the pool. I was there at the time. You really had me worried when you fell in!”

Anastasia’s face turned pink when she heard that. Aliona had probably seen Elliot giving her CPR those few times if she was present at the banquet.

“I must have looked silly,” Anastasia calmly replied.

“Anastasia, your relationship with President Presgrave must be quite good! I can see that he worries about you,” Aliona probed. Even though she knew the truth behind Anastasia and Elliot’s relationship, she tried her best to pretend like she didn’t.

When Aliona said that, Anastasia immediately denied. “No, no. Our relationship is strictly professional. He is my boss and I am his subordinate. That is all.”

She actually is denying having a personal relationship with Elliot? Aliona’s heart skipped a beat. “Please take care of me since I am new here, Anastasia.”

However, Anastasia unexpectedly comforted her, “Don’t worry, I am sure President Presgrave will take very good care of you.”

Aliona’s thoughts immediately went haywire at that. Does she not feel the least bit jealous? Isn’t she supposed to really like Elliot? Did Father’s resources give us the wrong information?

Instead of continuing beating around the bush, she spoke bluntly, “Anastasia, do you like President Presgrave?”

Pfft! Anastasia choked on her glass of lemon water. After letting out a small cough to clear her throat, she nonchalantly explained, “We are merely a boss and his subordinate. Please don’t misunderstand if you were to hear any rumor about this, Miss Dora. President Presgrave and I are innocent. There is nothing between us.”

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Aliona was slightly caught off guard when Anastasia had denied it without even needing to give it a second thought and she couldn’t help but wonder, Could it be that she really does not like Elliot? Does this mean she won’t get in my way?

“I am sorry that I was being presumptuous,” Aliona hurriedly apologized.

“It is fine.” Anastasia smiled with pursed lips as she picked up her teacup. “I will be heading back to the office then.”

Aliona’s gaze seemed to darken as soon as Anastasia left the pantry. She wondered whether the reason Anastasia denied having a relationship with Elliot was because she was being careful or if she really didn’t like the man.

Anyhow, no one could disrupt her plan. She admitted that Anastasia was a gorgeous woman, but Aliona was confident that she would be able to win over Elliot.

She was going to look her best during dinner tonight with Lucas and Elliot.

Anastasia had just returned to the office when the landline began to ring again.

Picking up the call, she spoke into the phone. “Hello?”

“Come up for a bit,” Elliot’s voice came through the other end of the call.

“It is almost time for me to get off from work.”

“It is about work.”

And of course, Anastasia wouldn’t possibly believe him. “Let’s talk tomorrow.”

“Anastasia Tillman, can you please show your boss a little respect?” he grumpily huffed in reply.

However, she really didn’t want to see him, so she insisted, “President Presgrave, just say what you want on the phone.”

He stubbornly insisted, “We will talk in my office.”

Anastasia already had a feeling that he wasn’t going to talk about work, so naturally, she wouldn’t fall into his trap.

“Forget it then.” She hung up the call after throwing that out.

The look on the big boss’ face in the president’s office immediately fell when the call was dropped. His tall and lean figure swiftly stood up before he started taking big strides out of the office.

Anastasia was editing a few old drafts in her office when she clumsily dropped the documents in her hands. Then, she sucked a deep breath before she squatted down.

At this moment, she heard the sound of someone opening the office door. Thinking that it was Grace, she spoke from under the table. “Grace, help me to pick up these documents.”

The person who had just come in didn’t say anything in return and only reached down to help Anastasia with her request. It was only when Anastasia crawled out from under the desk that she had the surprise of her life.

Instead of Grace, it was Elliot standing there with some documents in his hands. There was a sour expression on his face as he tossed the papers on her desk. “Do you think this kind of sloppy work is acceptable?”

Anastasia knew that she probably deserved the scolding because she hadn’t been in her best condition during work today. Like a dead mouse that felt no cold, she fearlessly challenged him, “Go ahead and cut my salary then!”

“You want a deduction on your meager salary? Do you plan on feeding Jared air?” He let out an annoyed puff.

Her eyebrows wiggled as she let out a bright laugh. “Then, maybe you should give me a raise!”

a raise with the kind of attitude you are giving me?” Elliot was already being

had come all the way to her office, Anastasia looked at him solemnly and asked, “Do you need me for something,

is my senior. I can’t reject him,” he started explaining

he meant when he said he has something important to talk to me about? Why does he need to report this kind

for that. Please go ahead with your busy schedule, President Presgrave.” She was staring at him with serious eyes. “You don’t have to go out of

her. It was not

You don’t have to tell me things like who you are having a meal with…” She let out an

to misunderstand.” His dark gaze was locked

be honest, President Presgrave, I think you and Miss Dora look like you would suit each other. You can definitely consider her if you are

and capable. She has a good background, and on top of that, she is your father’s best friend’s

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Anastasia generously sending him off to another

and began stammering, “I am only doing this for your own good! You need a woman, and coincidentally, Miss Dora fancies

He then slowly approached her and eventually came

laugh as she told

he still looked rather

leave, he casually threw these words out:

She was just about to rebuke when he went out and had closed the

work in the first place, but her head was

this moment, her phone rang and she picked up the call after seeing that it was from

have

Is something the

have dinner with Alex tonight. He has something to tell you about

the company?” a worried

a table at a restaurant. I will go to

She knew that her father had the intention to match her and Alex together.

waiting to pick Jared up at the end of a street. When she

safely passed her son to his grandfather, Francis reassured her, “Leave Jared to me. You

why don’t we

some alone time with Jared. You both can go now! Let Alex talk to you about the company

seat and he invited

Francis, “Dad, you can just find a place to have something to eat

got it.” The older man waved

as she and Alex sat in

she started. “Thank you for helping my father all this

That is why he lets me handle the company’s businesses.” Alex’s eyes were filled with anticipation and happiness.

an extremely romantic restaurant. Anastasia placed a few orders and Alex added a few others

had a subtle kind of beauty that made her comfortable to look at. His heart was pounding in his chest as he ate with her. He

confessing his feelings was the difference in their statuses. Still, he couldn’t hide

you. You can ask me anything about the company if you need help understanding. I will go into

It still isn’t time for me to take over the company. We don’t have to rush into this.” Alas, she still didn’t have the confidence to

in his best condition ever since his hospitalization that time. I think he has hopes

she heard his words. “Is that so? How has my

his chest that makes him feel stuffy. The doctor has also told him to take it easy, Miss Tillman,” Alex answered before he sighed. “Your father really needs

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health. Mr. Hunter, you have to let me know firsthand if something were to happen to

you to worry.” Alex had a hopeful glint

Taking over and managing her

her. “I will

she made sure to listen to his every word. There were a lot of things she didn’t comprehend, but he patiently explained through it

a rush to return to her son and father. At this

President Presgrave. What is wrong?” she asked in a

and instead threw her an abrupt question.

“I am at—”

suddenly called out as he wrapped his arm around

him with grateful eyes, but the voice from the phone soon rang out again. “Who

surroundings as she was walking on the road, she quickly answered, “I am hanging up, President Presgrave. I am going home

jealousy in Alex’s eyes as he walked alongside Anastasia. In fact, he had intentionally made himself known to

a high-end restaurant. He wore a gloomy expression as he stared at his phone. She must be on a

and apologized to the father and daughter, “Mr. Dora, Miss Dora, I am

to stay any longer?” Lucas glanced at

time.” After saying that, Elliot took the suit he had taken off, gave them a polite

beautiful and classy she looked, she noticed that Elliot’s gaze had only fallen on

believe that this was all she received

my cover?” She suddenly turned to look at

head and sputtered, “How would I dare to betray him when my son’s life is in

that Riley had a hold on. Lucas had a son who murdered someone abroad and the CCTV recording of

her glass, and with a smile, she said, “I will be needing you to play matchmaker from now

to do with me whether or not you manage to take down Elliot and Presgrave Group. I don’t want to get involved in a fight with the Presgraves. I only want my son to come back to me safely.” The glass in Lucas’ hand was shaking as he spoke. He was now treading a tightrope, and he was not the one determining if he would stay on

Presgraves, but in the end, his son’s life was what mattered most to

a button on her phone, and she pressed it to her

we are right

but wonder what made

her home. What she hadn’t realized was that there was a car heading in

his car as he loosened his necktie in an annoyed manner

started to worry whether something

residential area, but Elliot only continued to sit in the car with an unreadable expression on his face. He seemed to be waiting for

the same place after a few minutes. He even came out of the car to open the car door for Anastasia, who in turn, gave

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will report to you

Thank you, Mr. Hunter,” Anastasia said with a smile. “I will have to trouble you with

then locked his car and offered, “Let me send you upstairs. I can also bring the

didn’t have a reason to reject, so she and Alex started walking side by side to the entrance

from the start till the end that there was a pair of eyes watching

the rearview mirror and asked, “Are you not getting out of the car, President Presgrave?” He

generously, he fumed. It turned out that she already had her eyes on another man and he

be the one assisting Anastasia to inherit the company. Apart from that, Francis had actually

accepted her father’s arrangement? She would rather throw me aside and

instead of it being about work,

they had expected him to be. He had a relieved look on his face when he saw the

chances to get them together. 1 year should be enough before they get married. I can finally

had visited Anastasia’s abode. As he took in the comfortable environment, he couldn’t help but think how beautiful life would be if he were

to school tomorrow!” Francis

Anastasia quickly reminded Alex, “Mr. Hunter, please

Tillman. Please

the conversation. “What is this ‘Miss Tillman’ nonsense? Don’t be a stranger, Alex. Just call her

will

she replied in

could finally let out a relieved breath after Francis and Alex left her place. Little Jared, who was behind her, had his cheeks puffed out as he grumbled, “Mommy, why did Grandpa ask you to go on a date with Uncle Alex?

for a while before explaining to the child, “It

if he knows! I am sure he doesn’t

“Jared, you can’t tell

Uncle

she answered in a singsong manner as she rubbed his

sound right this moment. Thinking that her father had left something behind, she unhesitantly reached out to

Elliot standing there with

she

are you here?” Anastasia asked, in which he mockingly answered, “Alex

more surprised as she wondered how he knew that Alex had dropped by. Did

you are here!” A soft voice called out in surprise.

with an equally gentle demeanor, he carried Jared in his arms and caressed the crown of

“I did.”

your new school? We can change schools if you don’t like

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really like

home resting? Anastasia quietly asked herself after seeing

him off, she started, “It is late, President Presgrave. I need to give Jared a shower and he has to go

wasn’t having the best of mood today, and she

go take your bath. I will play with you when you are done.” Then, he lowered the child back onto the floor and

leave Elliot alone as she brought Jared to the bathroom. After the boy was all clean, he ran to the sofa again to play with the Rubik’s Cube

to do some house

is bedtime,”

still want

it was Elliot who spoke up as he carried the boy wearing

he sticking around

the building were reporting Elliot’s whereabouts to Aliona. She knew that it was Anastasia’s residential area as soon as

call him away on purpose? Why is she saying she doesn’t like him on one hand

questions filled her mind. Anastasia is suicidal, isn’t she? Anyone who gets

was 10:10PM when an exhausted Anastasia, who had done most of the chores, sat

made a soft hushing voice to tell her to keep her voice down before he

it was at this moment she received a text message on her phone. Startled, she took a look at it, only to see that it was a message from Alex. ‘Anastasia, your dad is back home

‘Thank you, Mr. Hunter.’

that. You can just call me

message, she politely replied to

was extremely polite with Alex because she knew she would be relying on

another message over. As

time tonight. Thank you

amazing night? What did she do to make him feel

furrowed and she

narrowed his eyes at her and questioned, “What were you doing

dinner!” She was baffled after hearing his question. What else could they have possibly done together, if not having

not trust her words,

have an underlying meaning to

me back my phone.” Anastasia didn’t want anyone to see her

Sweet

thin lips curled up as he

me my phone.” Anastasia was serious now as she looked at

the phone above his head and

often used to fool women. “Never mind, then. When

not leaving tonight. I am staying overnight

exasperated after hearing his words and she spat, “I don’t have a bed

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on the floor or the couch.” Elliot insisted on staying no matter what