Chapter 169

Elliot thought to himself, If she agrees to it, I sincerely want to care for her and Jared forever. I don’t
mind not having my own child in this lifetime.

At that moment, Anastasia was busy chopping up some vegetables, but she was careless and cut
herself. The pain she felt made her wince and she was close to tears. Even the vegetables were
stained with droplets of bright-red blood and it was quite a horrifying scene. It was only then that she
realized that it was quite a deep cut that she had suffered.

Instantly, she placed her finger under running water. As she looked at the blood still trickling from her
wound, she suddenly recalled that she had a first-aid kit, so she took a kitchen towel and wrapped it
around her finger before heading out of the kitchen. She then turned to Elliot, who was currently in a
squatting position on the ground, and asked, “President Presgrave, could you please help me get the
first-aid kit? I just cut myself.”

As soon as she said that, Jared-initially busy with his presents—and Elliot, who was by Jared’s side,
instantly rushed over to her. Elliot anxiously asked, “Where’s the first aid kit?”

“It’s underneath that cupboard.”

“Mommy, let me have a look. There’s so much blood!” Jared was frantic as he shouted, “Mr. Presgrave,
hurry up and help Mommy!”

Elliot opened the first-aid kit and retrieved the crepe bandage from the box. Then, Anastasia removed
the towel wrapped around her wound, causing the cut to become exposed to the air. She had suffered
a cut to her left index finger at the part connecting to her fingernail, so there were plenty of blood
vessels there. It would likely take some time to stop the bleeding.



“Why were you so clumsy?” Elliot’s expression was full of worry and there was a slightly pained look in
his eyes.

“It’s alright. It’s quite normal to suffer a cut to the finger for one who’s used to cooking.” Anastasia was
quite calm as this was a small matter for her.

However, her words caused Elliot’s heart to clench. Does that mean she has a lot of past experiences
with cutting herself?!

At that point, Elliot thought of her bringing up Jared by herself overseas without any

support and wondered, How did she get through that by herself? Besides, Jared was still very young
back then. Instantly, Elliot’s thoughts went to his cousin Nigel.

That explains why she’s so close to Nigel. It must be because he provided her with a lot of help over
the two years when she was overseas. As such, she regards Nigel as a friend as close as her family,
but she doesn’t love him.



“When you were overseas, did Nigel help you in many ways?” Elliot looked at her and asked

In response, Anastasia nodded. “Yes, he did.”

At that, Elliot took a deep breath. Why didn’t I take the time to get to know her earlier? He had focused
his efforts on helping Francis and he had assumed that everyone in the Tillman Family would obviously
have a great life if Francis was doing well. However, Elliot’s recent investigations had uncovered that
she had left the Tillman Family ages ago and brought up her child by herself overseas. She hardly kept
in contact with Francis, but Elliot hadn’t quite yet found out the exact reason for that.

“Let’s go out for dinner. Take a break from cooking tonight.” Elliot finished off by adding, “It’s my treat.”



He was well aware of how cost-conscious Anastasia was, so he didn’t want her to have to spend
money.

Meanwhile, Anastasia also realized that she couldn’t possibly cook in such a state, so she nodded.
“Sure, let’s go to a nearby restaurant.”

“Mommy, does it hurt?” Jared inched closer to peer at her finger and he blew at it comfortingly. At that
point, Elliot had already bandaged her finger carefully.

Anastasia shook her head. “No, it doesn’t hurt at all.”

However, Jared was quite skeptical. “Mommy, you should take a break from cooking for the time being.
We can eat out. I’ll use my allowance to treat you.”

“That’s not necessary. I’ll treat you guys for the entire month.” Elliot ruffled Jared’s hair as he
announced, “Come on, let’s go and have dinner!”

Elliot brought them to a high-ended restaurant and all of the food served seemed to be quite pricey.

Meanwhile, Anastasia speculated that the entire meal cost one month of her paycheck. Come to think
of it, I actually do benefit from being friends with Elliot!

In the end, Elliot sent them back to the entrance of their residential area and Anastasia stated
insistently, “You should go home now.”

She was adamant not to allow him to enter her house as it was quite late.

However, Elliot was quite worried, so he murmured, “Call me right away if there are any issues.”

Meanwhile, Anastasia waved at him and hand-in-hand with Jared, the mother-son duo walked back in
the direction of the entrance of the residential area.



Elliot stayed there and watched them walk inside before driving off.

“Mommy, Mr. Presgrave is so nice to us. Grandpa said that you should marry the one who treats us
well.” Jared lifted his head and turned to Anastasia when he said that.


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