Chapter 352 Charlotte Won Again
"Let her in!" Charlotte said, all chill.
Dana gave a nod.
Elizabeth was an art student, but Charlotte? She could rock the piano. Elizabeth was kinda shocked; she figured rich ladies just ate, drank, and gossiped.
The woman in front of her had this long, blonde hair flowing down her back, looking all elegant and stuff.
Just as she was about to say something, Dana came in with some coffee.
Elizabeth sat down, eyeing the fancy cup, feeling a twinge of jealousy.
She wanted that kind of life.
"Miss Russell!" she called out to Charlotte.
The piano music stopped, and Charlotte's fingers still hovered over the keys. She gave a little smile. "Miss Grayson, you don't even wanna call me Mrs. Hawkins? Feeling that confident?"
Elizabeth felt super awkward.
Charlotte got up and sat across from her, telling Dana, "Get me a coffee. It's been a minute since I had one."
Dana went off to get it.
When the coffee came, Elizabeth's face turned icy. "Mrs. Hawkins, are you doing this on purpose?"
Charlotte took a whiff of the coffee. She smiled a bit. "You could say that. Miss Grayson, what do you need from me?"
Elizabeth, being young and all, went straight to the point, "Mrs. Hawkins, you must've seen the rumors from last night. I'm here for an explanation."
Charlotte laughed. She sipped her coffee and then put the cup down, saying, "Miss Grayson, are you saying my husband slept with you?"
Elizabeth's face was all dark and hard to read.
In the end, she lied, "Yes!"
Charlotte still had that faint smile. "Then go find him! Miss Grayson, if you wanna be Mrs. Hawkins, focus on Frederick. If you wanna be a mistress, let me tell you, I won't stand for it."
Elizabeth's face turned ugly. She didn't expect the seemingly sweet Charlotte to be so tough.
Elizabeth was out of her depth.
Charlotte looked up, quietly sizing up the girl in front of her.
Anyone would be pissed to see someone else trying to seduce their husband, especially when that face was all over the media.
Charlotte pulled out a document and tossed it in front of Elizabeth. "Check this out and then decide how to talk to me."
Elizabeth's face went stiff. She hesitated, then reached out to pick up the thick stack of papers, which detailed all her various escapades.
In her freshman year, she dated two guys at the same time.
One of them was a married dude!
After getting busted, her boyfriend beat her up so bad she ended up in the hospital, and the married guy gave her an apartment. Since then, she couldn't get pregnant anymore.
This year, she signed with Tina's company.
She even got plastic surgery to look like Charlotte.
Elizabeth's face went ghostly pale, and she started shaking. "Mrs. Hawkins!"
Charlotte slowly finished her coffee. She gave a slight smile. "Once this info gets out, your future's toast. I doubt you want all your hard work to go down the drain because of your shady ambitions!"
Elizabeth was trembling. "Mrs. Hawkins, I swear I won't go near Mr. Hawkins again! Last night, it was all me; Mr. Hawkins didn't even let me in the room."
Charlotte stayed calm.
Elizabeth kept going, "Mrs. Hawkins, if you have any other demands, just tell me. Just please, spare me!"
Charlotte said coolly, "I have two demands. First, get your face back to how it was. Second, ditch Tina's company and sign with the one I set up!"
Elizabeth's face went even paler.
But she had no choice; she just couldn't figure out why Charlotte would let her off the hook!
When she asked, all shaky, Charlotte played with her coffee cup, lost in thought.
After a bit, she said softly, "Because you're not the first to try and get close to Frederick, and you won't be the last. If I tried to get rid of everyone, it'd be too exhausting!"
Plus, Elizabeth was Tina's pawn.
Charlotte's real target was Tina. Tina had invested so much to make Elizabeth famous, and losing it all would hit her the hardest.
Elizabeth left. As she walked out of the villa, she bumped into Frederick.
He looked worn out from travel.
But he was holding two big toys, the kind little girls love.
Frederick walked straight into the hall, put the stuff down, and leaned in to kiss Charlotte on the corner of her mouth, asking softly, "Did we have a guest?"
Charlotte looked up.
She murmured, "It was your guest. Wanna see her off?"
Frederick, annoyed, bit her gently on the corner of her mouth.
Charlotte smiled faintly, wrapped her arms around his neck, and returned his kiss.
Elizabeth stood there, feeling miserable. The first time she met Frederick, he was socializing in a private room. Even though he didn't mess around with women, he was still sociable. But now, she saw a homely Frederick.
He'd always bring back toys for his daughter when he went on business trips.
When he got home, his eyes were only for his wife.
Just then, Dana came over holding a super cute little boy. The kid ran to hug his dad's leg. Frederick picked him up and kissed him gently. "Kingsley seems to have put on a bit of weight."
Charlotte stayed on the sofa, looking up at them.
Suddenly, Elizabeth couldn't stand her own face anymore; she felt ashamed.
She had thought having this face was like holding a winning hand.
But now she realized that no matter how much she made herself look like Charlotte, it meant nothing to Frederick because he had the real Charlotte and a complete family.
They were never gonna split.
Elizabeth got into her car, her hands shaking as she called her assistant to schedule plastic surgery for that very day.
Inside the villa, it was all cozy.
Frederick was playing with his son. After a bit, Cherie brought over the luggage and left shortly after.
Charlotte said softly, "Did you come back early because of the rumors?"
Frederick smiled lightly.
After a moment, he said, "No! I came back because you were scared last night."
At night, when they were alone, she told him she was planning to sign Elizabeth.
Frederick was a bit stunned. He took off his watch and started unbuttoning his shirt. As he closed the bathroom door, his voice came from inside. "Charlotte, aren't you being too generous?"
Lately, their relationship had gotten a bit better.
Charlotte didn't want to argue with him.
She walked to the bathroom door, leaned her head against the transparent glass, and murmured, "Frederick, maybe it's because I'm getting older and can't handle the drama anymore. I don't want to push her into becoming a lunatic."
Like Brenda.
Even though she found it gross, she knew that only by everyone getting what they wanted would there be peace.
The sound of water came from the bathroom.
Charlotte listened quietly. She didn't know if Frederick would be content with such a calm life and always stay with her. Her heart was full of scars, while he still had his passion.
The water stopped.
The bathroom door opened, and Frederick came out wearing a bathrobe, his body still damp.
Charlotte was still standing there.
Frederick looked down at her.
After a long time, he gently hugged her and said in a low voice, "I won't make you angry anymore."
He wanted to test Charlotte.
Elizabeth should never have shown up in their lives.
A week later, Elizabeth came back to the country.
At the airport, Tina was already waiting for her. When she saw the bandages on Elizabeth's head, she nearly lost it.
Elizabeth had wrecked her own face.
Reporters swarmed them, cameras flashing at Elizabeth. Tina couldn't hold back and snapped, "What are you doing? You're ruining your future!"
Elizabeth was super calm. "Tina, do I even have a future? I followed your orders to look like someone else to get close to Mr. Hawkins! Maybe my quick rise to fame gave you the wrong idea. Actually, a lot of my opportunities actually came from Ms. Russell."
Tina couldn't believe it.
Elizabeth smiled. "Ms. Russell has been watching us all along! Emotionally, I can't compete with her, and career-wise, you can't either."
Elizabeth's words caused a huge stir, and it got even crazier when she announced she was terminating her contract with Universal Studios and was willing to pay a hefty fee to do it.
She didn't know if she'd stay famous after signing with Charlotte's company.
But Charlotte told her that honesty was the best policy.
So she spilled all her dirty secrets and her inner struggles. After letting it all out, she felt way lighter.
That day, Elizabeth became a hot topic.
But since the male lead had no romantic ties with her, she didn't lose any fans.
Elizabeth was still famous, and the contract she signed with Charlotte was a 70-30 split.
Charlotte took 70%.
This result shocked everyone, even Patrick called Frederick personally, "Frederick, is everything cool between you and Charlotte?"
At Vertex Innovations Group, Frederick was looking at documents while dealing with Patrick. "What could be wrong?"
Patrick was half relieved. "Frederick, I gotta hand it to you. You see, you got into a bit of a scandal, and Charlotte's generosity is enough to make all men jealous! If it were your mom, she'd be crying and cursing at me every day! It's fine as long as there's no problem! Otherwise, I would've thought Charlotte didn't care about you!"
The black ink pen paused.
Frederick said, "Charlotte doesn't like to cry."
She rarely cried, except in bed.
Patrick happily said a few more things.
Frederick hung up the phone, and Cherie came to remind him, "Are you going to Ms. Russell's celebration party?"
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