Never Too Far Novel

It was at this exact moment Elliot’s phone started ringing. At that, he swiftly turned to Anastasia and said, “Go ahead and sleep.”

Not wanting to bother him when he was on the phone, she went out of the room. She was already behind the door when she vaguely heard the man bark in a grave, furious tone, “Is this how you do your job?!”

Still in the presence of the gentle Elliot just seconds ago, Anastasia could feel her heart skip a beat at that.

It only got harder for her to fall asleep after she went back to her room. She couldn’t help but wonder what new troubles he was facing this time.

…

Christmas Eve had come at last.

Anastasia promised her father that she would bring Jared home only for dinner, not for lunch.

After the boy had woken up from his sleep, Anastasia first made breakfast for him before she prepared lunch for Elliot, who she thought would only wake up at noon.

It was already 11.30 AM in the blink of an eye.

Anastasia got to the door of the master bedroom with light steps to see if the man was still sleeping. As she stood there, she gently twisted the doorknob before walking in as quietly as she could.

Just like she had expected, he was still sound asleep in the king-sized bed covered in gray sheets. She was suddenly tempted to take a closer look at the man who rarely stayed in bed late.

With that in mind, she trod wearily to the side of the bed like a kitten before she lightly propped her arms on the bed and leaned over to look at the man. She first noticed how his thick eyelashes had cast graceful fan-like shadows under his eyes.

She couldn’t help but acknowledge that there were men out there that didn’t even need to lift a finger, and could make people have bad intentions with just their sleeping faces alone.

Anastasia had to swallow the drool that was threatening to spill as she looked at the man’s sexy collarbones peeking out from the collar of his pajamas. Not only that, she could see the outline of his ripped muscles even though his slender, but sturdy body was hidden from plain sight by his pajamas.

Thank you for creating this masterpiece of yours, God!

Her head was filled with nonsensical thoughts when Elliot’s eyelids suddenly shot open, and he stared straight into her eyes. She was so startled that her arms went soft and her whole body fell flat on his chest.

Anastasia started scampering to get up, but with a tug of his long arms wrapped around her waist, she had been moved onto the bed like a ragdoll.

I only wanted to admire your looks for a bit! Even though she was thinking that, she started coaxing him, “I won’t disturb you. Go ahead and sleep a little longer.”

Without saying a word, he buried his face in the crook of her neck and planted a kiss there.

A tingle darted through her body but when she regained the strength in her limbs, she pushed him. “I was wrong! I shouldn’t have disturbed your sleep… Please, spare me!”

Despite her resistance, Elliot still proceeded to drag her under the blanket warm with his body heat. She felt as much comfort as she felt the danger of it.

This was what people meant when they said that men who had just woken up in the morning were dangerous.

Elliot was like a naughty child still foggy from sleep when he caught her in his arms, and he kissed her anywhere and everywhere he could.

“Elliot…” Anastasia whispered. She could feel how hot the man’s body was against her as she pushed him away.

After a long time of not saying a word, he finally protested in a low voice, “It’s just a quick hug.”

Hearing that, she couldn’t help but grumble to herself, Quick hug, my foot!

“You will be mine eventually anyway,” he hummed as he pressed his lips to the crown of her head.

He wanted to own her before she was officially his woman.

However, Anastasia somehow managed to find a chance to get out of bed. Now that she was looking at the man who had sat up in bed, a lazy and seductive air surrounded him, and she thought it didn’t seem like it would be a loss on her part if she were to jump him now.

She quickly said, “Uh… I made lunch. How about you get up and eat something?”

Rather than answering her, Elliot asked, “When are you and Jared going home?”

“We are going in the afternoon.”

The man lightly stretched before he flipped open the blanket, and that was when Anastasia saw the sight that made her immediately turn around in embarrassment. Does he really see me as his wife or something already?! she gulped.

Seeing that, Elliot began teasing her in a thuggish way, “Why did you turn around? This thing here belongs to you.”

Anastasia fled out the door the next second as she couldn’t bear listening to him any longer.

As she ran out, she could hear his bright laughter echoing in the room.

He sounded like a hooligan then.

After she was done preparing his lunch, the man, dressed in a luxurious outfit, came sauntering down from the second floor like a noble king.

He then asked, “Where is Jared?”

“In the playroom on the third floor,” Anastasia answered as she brought out the food she whipped up.

Elliot suddenly looked at her and said, “Give your dad a call later and ask him if he would be okay with adding one more place on the dining table tonight.”

Upon hearing that, Anastasia narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. “You want to have dinner at my house?”

“I will go to your house for Christmas Eve, and you can come to my house on Christmas. Sounds good?” He was determined to go to her house tonight for the eve celebration.

She didn’t oppose his idea, so she swiftly nodded and said, “Sure. I will inform my dad in a while.”

As Francis had a busy job, he was still working overtime at his company on Christmas Eve.

Today, however, he was sitting here dealing with some personal affairs rather than the usual work matters. He was writing a will. Even though he wouldn’t need it for the time being, he wanted to prepare himself in order to get certain things done, as he had had multiple health issues as of late.

Alex happened to be at the office to sign a document when he found out that Francis was still there as well. He then dropped by to greet his employer.

As the younger man opened the door, he saw Francis looking at some document and quickly covering it with another document when he saw Alex walk in.

“Oh—there you are, Alex!” Francis greeted him.

“It is Christmas Eve, President Tillman, and yet you are still working overtime.” Alex then caringly added, “Please be mindful of your health.”

“I understand. You can go ahead and leave! Come back to work after Christmas.”

Alex was an unusually sensitive person, and he had already noticed Francis’ frantic behavior just now. But before he could say anything about it, Francis’ landline began to ring.

“Hello? Okay. I will be down in a minute.” Francis stood up after finishing the call. “I will make a trip to the warehouse. You can go home now!”

“I’ll go with you, president,” Alex offered, only to be rejected right off the bat.

“There’s no need for that. I am only going to check a few samples of the materials.” Francis waited for Alex to leave his office with him, and he closed the door behind them.

Alex then pretended as if he was walking toward the finance department. When he saw from the corner of his eye that Francis had entered the elevator, he turned around to see if he was alone before he prowled his way back to Francis’ office.

Francis was not one to lock his office door during the day, which made it easy for Alex to enter. When the latter reached the desk, he saw the hidden document that looked a lot like a will. Instead of spending his time going through it word by word, he took out his phone to take a photo of it instead.

After he had finished taking photos of all three sheets of paper, he put the documents back to their original place and scurried away.

It was only after he returned to his car that he could be at ease to check the photos he took.

A cold smile appeared on the corners of his mouth when he finished reading the contents of the will. Sure enough, Naomi had been spot-on with her worries. It seemed that Francis had no intention to hand over the company to the mother-and-daughter duo—Anastasia was the only heiress of the company. Francis might have had it in his will to distribute the other assets to Naomi and her daughter, but none of those could compare to the company which had a net worth of more than one billion.

Alex was suddenly reminded of the trust the mother-and-daughter duo had in him. It seemed like he would have his share of Tillman Constructions as long as he could make Erica fall for him.

At the same time, Francis was chatting with the employees in the warehouse when his phone rang. He took a glance at it before he reached out to pick it up. “Hello, Anastasia! Are you home yet?”

“I haven’t started my journey yet, Dad. I called you to inform you that Elliot will be coming over tonight for dinner.”

“What?!” Francis’ mood instantly lifted when he heard his daughter’s words. It was his honor to have a guest such as Elliot. ”That’s great! I will tell Naomi to prepare a feast to properly welcome the Young Master!”

After Francis cut the call with Anastasia, he immediately called his wife to inform her that Elliot was coming to their house for dinner. Naomi, of course, was taken aback as well.

“What? Young Master Elliot is coming to our house for dinner? We have to prepare more food, then!”

“Prepare as much good food as you can. We can’t afford to disrespect him,” Francis requested.

As soon as the call ended, Naomi quickly instructed the servants to go to the supermarket again. Naomi had initially prepared some dishes that Anastasia didn’t like after she knew that Anastasia was coming home. However, now that Elliot was coming over, she would not dare to offend the Young Master no matter how much she loathed Anastasia.

What was more, it was a once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity to meet a man whose net worth was hundreds of billions. She still had some other plan up her sleeves.

Naomi then quickly called Erica, who had gone shopping in the early morning. Erica was so excited after she picked up the call and learned that Elliot was coming over that she almost passed out.

“Mom, is it true? Is Elliot really coming to our home?” she squealed.

“That is what your Dad told me. It must be true, then.”

“Mom, I can’t talk now,” Erica suddenly said. “I have to buy some clothes.” After she hung up the call, she dragged her friend along to ransack the boutique they were in for clothes.

She was determined to dress her best for Elliot tonight.

Even if all Elliot did was take a look at her a second longer, it would keep her happy for a very long time.

Elliot received a call from Harriet, in which she told him that she was at Brenda’s before she asked him if he would come over. Needless to say, she was caught by surprise when he told her that he was going to have dinner with Anastasia’s family.

Oh, how she hoped that Elliot would quickly make Anastasia his wife!

Around 3 PM, Anastasia dressed up her son like a fashionable and handsome child model.

had changed into a gray casual suit, with a dark-colored shirt layered with a vest. He looked just like an awe-inspiring young master of a

head to look at him. He probably would look good in

underground parking lot together. He chose one of his cars that had a child safety seat installed in it. Ever since he started bringing Jared along on drives, Elliot had thrown aside all his

just like a family of three on

had returned to the Tillman Residence earlier than he usually would. The whole place had been cleaned thoroughly

makeup in the mirror and trying on one outfit after another. She wanted to pick the one she looked best in before

floor, she saw an impressive-looking sedan driving into the compound, and that

Elliot was finally here.

husband’s company’s annual celebration before. He was such a brilliant man that she couldn’t help but hope that her

started bubbling away when she went out with her husband to welcome their guests, only to see how much they looked like a family when Elliot carried Jared out of the

Anastasia managed to tie a

that, they even brought along

“Welcome, Young Master Elliot!”

Elliot greeted

boy he was holding, too,

a fake smile plastered on her face as she stood beside Francis. “Young Master Elliot, we are glad

then nodded and

She didn’t want to embarrass

sure you take good care of Young Master Elliot

down from the stairs on the second floor, she looked at Elliot, who was walking in, and greeted him excitedly, “Young

then invited him to sit on the sofa, while she sat beside

however, suddenly remembered that they didn’t have milk at home. He insisted on bringing

resigned at her father doting on

but she, too, could only watch on as her

her own daughter

at her daughter before she went into the kitchen. Erica caught sight of that, and she immediately understood what her mother was signaling her to do. Out of nowhere, she had

Erica, who usually called her sister by her full name, suddenly offered to help. Erica didn’t dare show disrespect toward Anastasia now that Elliot was

leave a

teapot to Erica, she sat beside him before she grabbed a handful of cherries and passed them to

one cherry out of her palm and popped it into his mouth. She, too, ate one as she looked at

can a man look so graceful in everything he does? she

another fistful for them to share. Erica was sitting across them making

from jealousy right there

show this friendly side

have immediately put an unapproachable front by being his usual

asked

She stopped eating the cherries after that. Instead, she started peeling two oranges, and Elliot only ate what

that had been in her

Erica served him a cup of tea. As soon as the cup was in his hand, he took

more oranges,”

one of them for him. Just as she was in the middle of it, the man suddenly put two peeled pieces of oranges into her

first, but she soon began to enjoy the sweetness erupting across her taste buds.

he asked in a

Anastasia hummed

peeled another orange and brought it to her mouth again. With that, her mouth was

couple. Despite how much effort she put

about staying with them, she quickly stood up as she

of them said anything to Erica in reply. Anastasia only proceeded to shove a whole orange she had just peeled

that she did it intentionally, he bit the orange in half before sending

a tomato at that. She could never win every time

fed

my mouth taste good?” he leaned in next to her ear and asked, making her

into the kitchen, was visibly upset as she stood beside her mother, her lips pouting. Naomi could only look at her with sympathizing

only did the young boy have milk

it, she sternly asked, “Jared, did you pester your Grandpa into buying you a

didn’t.” The boy’s cheeks puffed up. “Grandpa wanted to buy it for

to back his grandson up. “I bought it for Jared. He didn’t pester me

playing around with Anastasia just a second ago, but now, his back was as straight as a

down and poured more tea into Elliot’s cup, and he warmly said to the younger man, “Have some tea, Young Master

can just call me by my

called out rather naturally. Truth was, he had already thought

Francis was surprised by the resemblance between Elliot and Jared. Elliot looked exactly like

about the identity of her son’s real father. He never had the courage to

Naomi

shrimp,” Jared said as he pointed to a shrimp

of the shell, Elliot suddenly brought his bowl over for Anastasia to place a peeled

to peel a few more for him. Naomi started to feel anxious as she looked at Anastasia seemingly assuming the role of Elliot’s wife. Anastasia has got a

as Erica was attracted to Elliot’s gentle and handsome appearance, she loathed

meant that it was time for

off at the door as he reminded them to drive slowly. Erica and Naomi had also

Francis said to the

at how

lot of rage as well. “She is trying to make us think

her teeth as she

a look at it, she angrily accepted the call.

sorry, Erica. I’ve been busy dealing with the company’s inventory. I didn’t mean to not reply. I called you

is it?” she

can have it sent to your mom. Don’t ever let your dad find out that this photo was secretly taken. I will definitely lose

the photo over. She couldn’t wait

will send it over now.” Alex then hung

the will via message. She quickly dragged her mother back to the living room and said, “Mom, Alex secretly took photos of Dad’s

word by word, and by the time they were done, their faces had

had expected, Francis didn’t leave even a small part of the

Naomi hissed under her

are we going to do, Mom? Dad has no intentions to

of people important to him, huh?” She scoffed. “I finally see his true colors.” All those years Naomi had been

are we going to

he is helping us. It is only a will. We can just change the contents.” A wicked

in the first place. It would be a forever thorn in her heart if

the secret was that she needed to get Francis’ property to make sure that she and her daughter

felt at ease on the way back to Elliot’s villa as they listened to songs while she enjoyed the bustling night view of the city outside the car window, whereas little Jared was quietly playing his Rubik’s Cube under the dim lights in the car. Wealth and power were the least of her priority—all she prayed for

the villa when they reached home. As soon as they arrived at the parking lot, Anastasia caught sight of a truck parked there in the

this exact moment. The second a light suddenly lit up behind the truck, she could see a huge glass case decorated with balloons and flowers, and in it was a white sports car quietly parked

boy beside her had seen it as well,

beside the truck then. After he got out of the driver’s seat, he went and opened the door

astonished, she asked, “Is

during the annual celebration!” He gazed at her with deep eyes and smiled. “Of

even begin to describe her joy. She had to admit that the man had his way of pleasing

will gladly accept it, then.” She had stopped rejecting him out of courtesy because at

him without feeling like she

something nice on Elliot’s behalf in hopes that she would be so touched she

glass case to admire the new sports car, she got her phone

late now. I will accompany you to test

exactly the way she liked it, in terms of

to say that she

night. She was slightly angered when she questioned him, “Did you go to Riley behind my back? Are you not afraid that

“Miss Dora, I suggest you finish your father’s plan as soon

Father say?” she asked

as you don’t get done with it. We are all going to die because

sole purpose of carrying out his plan. Their ‘father-daughter relationship’ wouldn’t mean a

Lucas, “I am already planning it out. I won’t

of Lucas’ villa. She asked her subordinate who was

necessary preparations. All we are doing now is wait for an opportunity

she instructed with just a

child was easier to kidnap. Plus, Aliona detested Anastasia. She knew that kidnapping Anastasia’s son would tear the woman apart, and if Elliot loved her,

this time involved a lot of risky operations, but she had to do it to get Riley

received a call from the police right after

Presgrave, please be informed that a close friend of your

but Lucas cut off

about what went on, Elliot

greeted each other without saying anything

you.” Elliot hung up the phone. He began to recall what happened at the last charity auction held by Lucas. He kept thinking about which drink it was that must have been laced with drugs. It took him a while to finally remember how the last drink he had was

of alcohol was the

would help his daughter do such a shameless thing. Lucas used to be a top dog in the business world, until the moment his son had wasted and lost all the family fortune. He had been getting by in recent years through investments and

hoped that Lucas wouldn’t

when he went to Riley, or did he have some other ideas up

“Investigate Lucas’ son who is abroad for me and also, find out the blood relation

Presgrave,” Rey

after all these years of keeping

would respectfully call Lucas his senior. Other than

she stood in front of the windows, which coincidentally granted her a view of the sports car downstairs. The white car carried a feeling of romance as the lights of

time at the Tillman Residence, Francis had fallen into a deep sleep after he had a little bit to drink. On the other

intent in her eyes had long taken over her feelings for

…

excitement for Christmas the day after Christmas Eve. Many children had started to come out to play

Anastasia had breakfast, Jared told her that he wanted to go to the museum. She, too, knew that she couldn’t bore him at home all day. It was necessary to bring him out to see and

“I am afraid I can’t keep you company

worry about it. You have spent a lot of your time with Jared. I will take

a few others go with you. They won’t get in your way.”

gave a nod of acceptance.

tow, whereas Elliot and his bodyguards drove toward the direction

held Jared by his hand as they walked in. There were a lot of people, and most of the visitors were children. The museum had also organized many fun events that

over there!” The boy swiftly pointed to

behind them made sure to blend in within the crowd, their eyes intently watching the

who Riley had trained overseas. With their ruthlessness and professionalism, they were almost as skilled

dozen of them, both female and male, who

around them. The place was crowded with children and parents. She could easily lose her child if she had stopped paying attention for a second. And so, she had her

David. Just as David was about to walk past her, she suddenly stuck a needle into his waist before she