Chapter 289 Becoming Miss Stefanelli
His voice loomed over her like a bomb. Anna staggered, nearly collapsing.
Leaning against the wall, her face was ashen, her eyes wide with terror and uncertainty.
Fabio seized the opportunity to advance. "Are you still going to test my patience?"
Anna remained silent.
Her vulnerability was in his grasp, her lifeline. How could she resist?
She clenched her palms, looking up at him. "Fabio, I know you won't tell anyone. You wouldn't dare. But I'll play along with your facade, not for anything else but my daughter's safety. If you harm her, it's going to be an all-out war between us."
Fabio smiled. "Good. Pleasure doing business. You have twenty minutes."
"Fine, but I have one condition—I want Sara to go with me," Anna insisted, not wanting to leave Sara behind and hoping for some support.
Fabio glanced at Sara, said a nonchalant "Whatever," and left to wait in the car.
Once in the vehicle, his dark brows furrowed.
Learning about Penny was fresh intelligence bribed from Wendy earlier that day, and he had no clue who Penny's father was. His earlier words were merely to intimidate Anna.
But why had Anna been so terrified about her daughter's exposure? And what did she mean by 'You won't tell anyone. You wouldn't dare.'?
‘Who was the child's father, and why had she hide it for three years?’
All these questions coiled into a dense fog of mystery enveloping Fabio.
Twenty minutes later.
Anna had packed all their meager belongings.
Sara tugged at her arm. "Xixi, was that your real brother just now? Why was he so harsh on you? Are you really going back to live with the Stefanelli family?"
Anna let out a sigh, "You just saw it. He knows who Penny is. If I don't cooperate with his methods, he's not going to let me off easily. As for why he hates me, I don’t know..."
Sara clutched her chest melodramatically, "This is just wild. A brother should be kind to his sister! But what’s even more heartbreaking is… Anna, I'm sorry."
"Huh? What's up with you?"
"I... I've fallen for your brother at first sight..."
Cough cough!
Anna nearly choked, shooting Sara a look, "Are you sure it's love at first sight and not just lust at first sight?"
"Hehe, same difference, right? Anyway, he's the man I want to sleep with!"
...
It's hopeless.
Anna dismissed with, "He's not a good guy. You'd better stay away," and then she grabbed her purse and headed downstairs.
After all, Sara's affections were always fleeting, so who knew whom she might fancy the next day? Anna didn’t dwell on it.
Once in the car.
Penny saw Fabio and immediately beamed, "Mommy, where did you find this driver? He's so handsome."
‘Driver?’
Fabio glanced at her, tempted to scold, but the girl's chubby white face and her shiny black eyes, like cute, squishy mochi balls, were just too endearing to reprimand.
With a cold voice, he said, "I'm your uncle."
"What?" Penny asked, puzzled, then sighed, "Too bad, uncle, you're too old for me. I like fresh young guys like Charlie, not seasoned, mature types like you."
Fabio was left speechless.
Seasoned, mature type?
The little girl actually described him with those words?
Anna couldn't help but laugh; her daughter was just too cute!
Sara, on the other hand, poked Penny's cheek, saying, "Unlike the little princess, I quite fancy a seasoned, mature man."
Cough cough.
Could this confession be any more obvious?
Anna nudged Sara, signaling her to keep it down.
Fabio effortlessly grasped Sara's implication, having encountered numerous women vying for his attention over the years, allowing him to discern their intentions. He remained focused on the road, driving without engaging further. Sara admired his handsome profile, wishing he would show more kindness to Anna.
But she didn't care; she was determined to have him, to win him over, and then to use that to ease the tension between him and Anna.
Lost in their thoughts, the car arrived at the Stefanelli family estate, only to find the entrance swarming with reporters.
The gate was also adorned with colorful ribbons and flowers as if in celebration, full of excitement and joy.
To the uninformed, it might appear as a wedding.
Anna chuckled, thinking that this charade was just too much.
She said to Fabio, "I don’t want Penny to be exposed to the public."
Fabio parked the car and said, "I'm getting out with you, Miss Hill, all right? Please take the wheel and drive through the underground garage with the kids."
"Sure thing, you old jerk!" Sara blurted out with glee but then instantly realized she called him 'old jerk.'
Fabio's face turned an iron shade of blue as he swept her with an icy glance and pushed the car door open to get out.
Sara was left speechless.
"Anna, do you think he'll hate me forever now? Dislike me? I just want to crawl into a hole and hide! Oh, just give me a block of tofu to bash my head in; I don't want to live anymore!" Sara was distraught, feeling it was worse than death to have embarrassed herself in front of the person she liked.
Anna, a bit speechless herself, rubbed Sara's head and reassured her, "Don't worry, my brother doesn't have feelings for you, so there's no question of hate, much less dislike."
“Ouch! That stung.”
What kind of misery was this?
Seeing the despair in Sara's eyes, Anna chuckled and said, "Chill out, I'm going to get out first. Just keep an eye on Penny and Charlie for me."
"Okay, sure," Sara replied. After Anna got out, she climbed into the driver's seat and headed to the underground garage.
The reporters just thought she was the driver and didn't think too much of it, turning their cameras toward Anna, "Miss Stefanelli, we heard you grew up in the countryside and are finally able to go back home. Could you share your feelings about it?"
"How did you feel when you found out you weren't a country girl but the daughter of a wealthy and noble family?"
"What attitude do you plan to take when living with the Stefanelli family, who have missed their real daughter for over two decades?"
The questions from the interview were clearly slanted.
It looked like Davide Carla had bought off the reporters, trying to focus public attention on her attitude and divert the discourse.
Well, if that was the case, she might as well play along.
Anna looked at everyone and said, "As for meeting my parents after more than twenty years, I don't know how you all would feel, but I'm rather indifferent. As for my attitude towards the Stefanelli family, it's going to be about building a relationship, and where that goes will depend on fate. Of course, I'll start a Twitter account and share with everyone daily, so you can all keep tabs on me. Besides, folks from the countryside stand on their own two feet just as well as anyone else, without inferiority," she said, her voice crisp and confident.
Davide Carla's face tightened at the mention of Twitter. That girl was clearly trying to corner them morally! Such a deep game she was playing!
Even though she disliked it, Carla still smiled and stepped forward to stand in front of Anna, telling the crowd with a grin, "We'll do our very best to cherish her, and today is also the day our family reunites. Katherine and Giorgio will be joining us soon, and we hope everyone will allow us some quiet time together. Thank you all."
The underlying message was clear: the interview was over. Respecting the family's prestige, the reporters refrained from pursuing as aggressively as they would with entertainment stars, and they dispersed. However, Anna's dark eyes tightened in response.
‘Giorgio was coming, too?’
She had to face him again.
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