Never Too Far Novel

Anastasia walked backstage to greet Felicia. After all, Felicia and her design team were the stars of the product launch party.

“Your designs are so beautiful this time, Felicia,” Anastasia commented as she flipped through the art book. Everything in there was well-designed.

“I hope we didn’t disappoint you.” In Felicia’s mind, Anastasia was the boss.

“I believe in you, Felicia.”

“Anastasia.” Suddenly, a lady called out from behind them before Katrina swiftly moved to stand behind Anastasia.

“Katrina,” Anastasia greeted with a smile.

“Do you mind if we talk in private?” Katrina nervously asked. She currently found it hard to talk to Anastasia because she exuded an oppressive pressure that Katrina did not like.

Felicia gently patted Anastasia on the cheeks. “I’ll help the team out now, Anastasia.”

The moment Felicia was gone, Katrina took a deep breath. “I know Bourgeois is looking for a spokesperson for their product. I was hoping I could have a chance to be in your advertisements.”

“That is up to marketing. You can attend the interviews for the job.” Anastasia smiled.

Katrina bit her lip. “Anastasia, can you make an exception for me just this once? Please? My brother helped you all those years, after all.”

Naturally, Anastasia knew exactly what Katrina was thinking. The woman wanted compensation for Mason’s help all those years and if the one making the request had been Mason, she would have gone along with the plan before asking about why.

When Anastasia remained silent, Katrina continued, “I know I should not be greedy and take advantage of something owed to someone else, but we are like a family. Can’t you make an exception?”

Anastasia knew that Mason was not someone to ask for reparations either. “I’ll have to ask the team about it. I’ll let you know when I have news.”

“Thank you, Anastasia.” Katrina smiled. When Anastasia left, she let out a sigh of relief. Her brother would not ask for anything in return because he was a proud man, but she was not like him.

She would use anything she could to help herself since she was not doing well as a model. If she wanted to become a celebrity, she would have to be famous first.

When Anastasia returned to her seat, Elliot was chatting with Larry, who then stood up the moment he noticed her return. The show started the moment she returned.

Lights beamed down onto the stage as masked models strutted while decked out in jewelry made by Bourgeois. Naturally, Katrina was one of the models. She had all her attention focused on doing the best she could. However, when she walked by, she would stare at Elliot.

Anastasia noticed it, of course. She knew what kind of woman Katrina was. As long as there was an opportunity, Katrina would do anything to seduce someone.

Before the show, Anastasia had been contemplating giving her a chance because of her connection to Mason. Now, however, all of those thoughts had been chucked out of the window.

“I have to answer a call, sweetheart,” Elliot softly said.

She merely nodded in response as she was engrossed in the show. Then, just as he stood up, one of the female celebrities stood up as well. Although she left in the opposite direction, the corridors outside the hall were all interconnected.

That celebrity had been waiting for her chance. Using the excuse that she had to head to the bathroom, she walked out of the hall. When she eventually made her way over to the other side, she saw Elliot taking a phone call while standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

Elliot was like a magnet that attracted the gaze of every woman present that evening. No matter where he stood, he would become the center of attention.

After all, he was a man whom people rarely saw. Any woman with brain cells would know not to waste any opportunity that came along.

The celebrity’s name was Cathryn Windsor. She was considered one of the most popular celebrities of the year due to a popular show that had recently aired. Due to her fame, she had recently been announced as the spokesperson for Bourgeois’ new products.

However, her ambitions did not end there. She wanted a strong and powerful benefactor, someone like Elliot Pregrave, who stood at the top of the food chain.

Elliot ended the call and turned to return to the event hall. At the same time, she pretended to be busy talking on the phone and acted as if she did not see him there. When she crashed into him, he reached a hand out to her shoulder to stop her from falling to the ground.

Cathryn hastily apologized, “I’m sorry, President Presgrave. I didn’t see you there. This is all my fault!” She then reached out and patted his arm. “I hope I didn’t hurt you!”

Elliot waved his hand and answered, “It’s fine.”

“Oh, sorry about the lipstick stain on your suit. Let me take care of it.” Rather than removing the stain off his arm, she tried to reach out to stroke his chest after saying that.

His arm prevented her attempt right away, and he said in an icy tone, “No need.”

Cathryn let out a frustrated sigh as soon as Elliot walked away. She saw this as an opportunity to stimulate his interest in her. No one could approach him because he behaved in a way that was true with what she had heard about him.

Why was he married if he didn’t like women?

Right after Cathryn left, Felica came out from around the corner. She had just come out from the bathroom when she saw this scene, and she thought it would taint her sight for the day.

She wasn’t often the kind to pry into other people’s business, but she felt it was necessary to alert Anastasia about this. If an actress went out of her way to try to seduce Elliot, then she was not the best choice to represent Bourgeois as a spokesperson.

Anastasia’s phone lit up with texts. She checked it and saw it was a text message from Felicia.

‘I just saw Cathryn trying to flirt with your husband in the hallway, Anastasia. You should take note.’

She read the text calmly and her eyes went to where Cathryn should have been. There was no one there.

‘Thank you, Felicia,’ Anastasia replied graciously. At this moment, Elliot had returned and his large hand went out to grasp hers with the intention to caress it.

She then raised her head to meet his gaze. Despite the dim lighting, the man’s eyes gleamed with affection. When she noticed this, she smiled sweetly and kissed his cheek, showing her affection in public.

Cathryn happened to see their affections as she was going back to her seat. She started to feel a little scared as she thought about the foolish thing she had just done. She was worried that Anastasia wouldn’t let her off the hook if she knew about the flirting earlier.

She was glad Anastasia didn’t know about it.

Who would know what Anastasia knew, though?

When Elliot saw just how bold she was to kiss him in public like this, he gave her a contented smile that made her heart flutter.

Her face started to blush as she felt the gazes of everyone on them. Her confession of love for this man was publicized.

This was a warning for anyone who wanted to take him away from her.

The press conference went smoothly while the online media reaction was spectacular. A great deal of support and encouragement was shown to them with some exceptional items being promoted as well…

After they left the conference, Elliot took her to a posh restaurant for dinner. Tonight was the night of their date.

In addition to that, he had another surprise in store for her. He was pleased to get the most beautiful brooch that was being offered at the event, and he planned to give it to her as a present tonight.

“Oh! When did you get this?” Anastasia was a little surprised, but she was excited that he had just given her something out of the blue.

“It looks good on you,” he told her, praising both the brooch and her.

Anastasia took the gift as Elliot placed his chin on his folded palms and looked at her affectionately. “Since you accepted my gift, Mrs Presgrave has to reward me tonight.”.

“Oh! So, there’s a secret motive here!” Anastasia’s eyes narrowed as she said, “I think I need to pay closer attention to what’s going on around me. I can’t always be fooled by you.”

Elliot kept looking at her with love in his eyes and told her, “I wouldn’t care how stupid you are because you still have me wrapped around your fingers.”

Was he calling her stupid?

She protested, “I’m not stupid. I’m actually quite clever.”

“You are correct. My wife is the most clever woman alive,” he said as his grin grew more endearing. It was as if he would never get tired of flirting with her in this manner.

How could Anastasia continue to fight after noticing that he was being affectionate with her? At this moment, he continued to fill her plate with food. “Sweetheart, you need to eat more in order to have enough energy tonight.”

This caused her to quickly blush. “Is that all you can think about?!”

“Is there anything else?” Elliot closed his eyes and seemed to be thinking about what he was going to say. Then, he said, “I don’t want anything else tonight except you.”

After hearing this, Anastasia didn’t waste any time in lowering her head to start eating, and this man immediately began piling more meat onto her plate. Why did it seem as if he was feeding her to be slaughtered later that night?

The next Monday, there was a meeting at Bourgeois in the morning.

Anastasia sat at the chief designer’s seat and she was dressed in a beige suit with her hair tied back. This gave her delicate and lovely face a natural and tidy appearance.

The first topic she wanted to discuss with everyone today was the termination of Cathryn’s endorsement contract that was recently signed.

“President Tillman, we just invested 10 million dollars on her. If we break our contract with her, we have to compensate her for liquidated damages.”

When Anastasia heard that, her eyes turned cold. “Then, you should figure out how to avoid compensating her for terminating the contract.”

Everyone cringed at this statement. They initially thought that she was more pleasant, but they certainly never expected her to throw such a serious challenge at them on her first day.

“President Tillman, may I know the reason why you are terminating Cathryn’s contract?”

“I don’t like her,” Anastasia answered bluntly as she elegantly twirled her long hair around her finger.

Her response was both arrogant and straightforward.

“President Tillman, I understand. I’ll take care of it right away. We will have to discuss our new spokesperson after launching the new product at the conference. Do you have any recommendations?”

“You may suggest a few for me to select from,” she replied.

Felicia was the only one aware of the rationale for her decision.

Anastasia asked Felicia to stay. “Felicia, please remain. The rest of you may return to work!”

Anastasia with admiration in the

she expressed her appreciation. “Felicia, thank you

first woman to openly flirt with President Presgrave. You still must take

“It wouldn’t upset me if I didn’t know about it, but I’ll take action if I

planning department to inform her

artiste? The contract has been signed. I don’t

was made by

Vice-president Young, correct? He was there when the

it’s our big

boss?”

President Presgrave’s wife, has taken over as president of

do this, you will be in breach of contract! Bourgeois would be obliged to pay liquidated damages in this manner! This is definitely something that we do not want to

the artiste has not fulfilled the conditions, we have the right to

and the employee from Bourgeois engaged in a lengthy discussion,

“Cathryn, have you been involved in any scandals recently? You

How could they treat me like this?” Cathryn was filled with resentment, believing that

it off.

“You mean, Vice-president Young?”

the wife of Elliot Presgrave, is the current president of Bourgeois. Out of so many people, why would she want to terminate the contract

as her guilt gnawed away at her. It couldn’t have

easily. She eventually got a hold of Anastasia’s general office line after asking around and decided to ask her

a cup of coffee. She had just finished reviewing her upcoming schedule and

this moment, her office phone began to ring, and she reached out to answer it. “Hello? Who

Redding. I am Cathryn Windsor’s manager. I’m sorry to bother you, President Tillman, but I have to clarify something. The popularity and reputation of our artists are great, so I’d like to know exactly what it is about our artists that does not fit the standards of your company. We’ll do all we can to resolve

to find out what your artist was doing in the hallway on the day of the press conference. Tell her, if she does anything like that again, she will no longer be a part of

she slammed the

President Tillman on the day of the press conference?” Georgina questioned Cathryn, who was seated on

I have

me the

to chew on her lips as she grasped the severity of the matter and quickly elaborated, “I saw Elliot answering the phone in the

was there at the

I’m

you know what Anastasia just said to me? She threatened to throw you out of the industry if this happened again!” Georgina scolded, “Out of everyone, the person whom you’ve chosen to upset

powerful?”

Mrs. Presgrave, she can make you disappear in an instant. Forget about the

Bourgeois, she was still full of enthusiasm. After a short break, she quickly drafted another schedule. She was a

a knock at the door and Mason entered after opening

Anastasia!” she said with a smile since he

work,” he insisted. Then, he sat on the chair opposite from her and asked,

it some thought, “Mason, you’ve been kind to me. If you really

it. Thus, she had no intention of rejecting

taken off, so I really hope she establishes a reputation elsewhere.” Mason expressed his

charge of organizing the event to allow her to promote

of relief. There

don’t often ask me for help. I had to do this, of course.”

relevant department thereafter and asked them to make some

Anastasia’s door was knocked on again and

she thought it was her assistant, Grace, bringing in documents, but

a smile as

you doing here?” Anastasia stood up

into a hug before lowering his head and kissing her crimson lips. “I’m here

soon as she realized that her window shutters were open, her face became

didn’t seem to mind and he

to do what he wanted. After all, she had

like a massage from your husband?”

enjoy working,” she answered as she shifted her head

Then, he acknowledged, “You can work

replied, “I know, I

released her and took two steps back before checking

in this manner because it made her feel like he was admiring a piece of

made him grin before he said, “Your outfit is

narrowed her gaze at him. “Do not try

heard this, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Does this mean I can do whatever I want when

know what to say, so she gave him a shy, angry look, but she was still happy in her heart that he

for himself and took a seat before he gracefully

realize the reason for his visit.

someone be

we had a little

he heard this, his eyes lit up with jealousy.

an endorsement contract for

blinked when he heard

got up, closed the shutters, walked

took the initiative, it caught

to plant a kiss on his lips. She had learned certain skills from him and now, she was going to give him a taste of his own medicine by using those

was going to get more and she whispered in his ears, “You shouldn’t

Then, he wrapped his arms tightly around her and said, “Alright, I’m not jealous. I won’t

as Anastasia was about to move away from his lap, he quickly restrained her. “Are you leaving

initiating the kiss,

the next instant, he grasped the back of her head and gave her a

for her grew stronger

Grace wanted to give Anastasia some important documents, so

due to

room was not appropriate

pushed the man away and Elliot left with

returned, Anastasia smiled and puckered her lips. “Do not tell anyone what happened just

of course, didn’t dare! However, it looked like she had changed her mind about Anastasia, who had become

to. Don’t worry, President

walked out to get some fruits for her dad. She had just returned and was making her way toward the entrance of the ward when she heard her father’s anxious voice coming through the open

If you do not repay them, you

nothing else I can do, I’ll just go to jail for two

What should I do when you’re gone? The York Family was interested in our Sophia

Sophia fled the country.” Drake was distressed on

I wouldn’t let you head back to prison. If you

almost dropped the fruits in her hands. What? Dad owes the bank a billion? And as long as I agree to marry Christopher, his family would help Dad pay off his

for Christopher. After she had fled to avoid their marriage the last time, he

the arguing couple. “Dad, Mom, I’ve heard everything, so

“Sophia!”

their daughter’s determined face as they

long as I can pay Dad’s debts; as long as Dad doesn’t go to

didn’t know that her family was facing such

Drake was about to assure her when he

it’s okay. I’m willing to marry Christopher. I’m

the table before turning to leave the ward. Outside, she found Christopher’s

voice sounded. “Hello,

“I’m Sophia Goodwin.”

decided to reach out to me!”

but can you really help my

as you marry me, your father will be like my own

Then, let’s find a time

abroad now. I’ll come back on Friday, and I’ll pick

“Great!”

hung up the phone, she sighed as

was basking his 200-pound body in the sun; the towel wrapped around him

you really going to marry Sophia Goodwin and pay off Drake’s

be so naive. I’ll pay the initial down payment first. After she marries me, she’ll be my wife. By then, she’ll have to listen to me. Then, it’d be up to me to decide whether I really

Averna. A woman who was wiping the greasy table top raised her head and looked up at the people who were swarming in for lunch. Then, she stopped wiping and looked carefully before she quickly turned her back, afraid

trimmed to her ears. She had been here for almost a month now and had nearly severed all contact from the

knew one of them: Erica Tillman. She had the same haircut as Hayley and wore the same clothes, so

to eat things she had never eaten before. The food served here wasn’t even served to her servants back at home, but she had no

was as if she was getting her karma served to her. Although she had gone through

was serving over ten years of imprisonment. Erica was quietly eating her rock-solid steamed buns and some rancid noodles when she heard a sharp voice yelling, “Hayley, what are you doing? Get

froze in her place. She raised her head and looked in the direction of the voice and saw a familiar figure. Although the woman had deliberately turned her back toward her, Erica could still recognize her at a

eyes, Hayley was despicable and shameless. She had blatantly stolen Erica’s man and fed her with negative thoughts that

recognizing her. However, at this moment, she turned around

she was slapped hard across the face in the next

slap wasn’t enough, Erica started screaming while reaching out to pull her hair. “Hayley

with pain and two correctional officers came

as she wiped her face. As she had gone through several plastic surgeries, the lumps on her forehead

look like a witch! It’s disgusting!” Erica sat down and mocked Hayley, who went back to wiping

for more than ten years anyway! Anastasia is a gem now and known as Mrs. Presgrave. Do you know that she and Elliot are married? She is also the eldest daughter of the Tillman Family. As for you, you are just a piece of trash by the side

bit her lips. Of course, she couldn’t tell Hayley how she really felt because of her envy toward Anastasia. However, right now, she couldn’t even have the freedom she desired the most. What was the use

live a good life,” Hayley continued as she sat across

darkened at the sound of this. Her parents were jailed and she herself was imprisoned. At the end of the day, had she ever

she would have never destroyed herself to this extent. She would

regretting,” Hayley commented as if she could read Erica’s

Erica raised her head and asked, “I still have no idea how

hiding it from Emily. For her, those days were

waiter contacted me and gave me that watch.” Hayley clearly remembered the day when Elliot came to her store to look for her.

widened as she prodded,

sell the watch. A week later, Elliot returned to my store and asked whether I was the

scolded, “You

I could buy whatever I wanted. There would be nights where I get to dine with Elliot and go on jewelry exhibitions together.” Speaking of this, Hayley

how Hayley became a wealthy woman overnight. It turned out that she had stolen Anastasia’s identity and took advantage