Chapter 65 Charles Makes a Birthday Cake Himself

"Anna, you don't know Charles at all. You'd never even talked to him. A guy like him, who's been chasing after pretty faces for years, is a master at sweet-talking. A marriage certificate means squat. Don't let his smooth words fool you," Michael said.

? Anna turned to face Michael. "You don't need to remind me. After eight years of your lies, who can I trust? Who would I dare to trust?"

She stepped closer, locking eyes with him. "Actually, I should thank you, Mr. Tudor, for showing me what real deceit looks like!"

With that, she spun around and walked away. Michael quickly grabbed her wrist. "Anna, I've been at every one of your birthdays. Let me take you out for dinner the day after tomorrow, okay?"

"I told you I don't need it!" She yanked her hand free and stormed out of the hall without looking back.

Outside Aurora Mansion, Anna was about to get into her car when Samuel, dressed in a suit, walked up the tree-lined road.

Anna stopped in her tracks.

Samuel approached her, hesitating before finally asking, "Anna, are you doing okay?"

Anna shot back, "What did my father leave behind?"

Samuel's face flickered with emotion before he said, "Mr. Tudor wants to see you."

The moment she saw Michael in the hall, Anna had guessed it.

When she came, she still remembered the warmth of her childhood.

Now, it seemed unnecessary.

Her nostalgia, longing, and reluctance ultimately became tools for others to hurt and use her.

Anna's lips curved into a silent smile. She didn't look at Samuel again and walked towards her car.

Before opening the door, Samuel asked again, "How's everything with the Percy family?"

Anna gripped the door handle tightly, her voice tense. "Of course, it's good. The Percy family is powerful and influential. How could it not be good?"

Hearing this, Samuel lowered his head. After a long pause, he murmured, "That's good."

Before leaving, Anna couldn't help but ask, "Uncle Samuel, Michael said he had a grudge against my father and approached me for revenge. I get that now. But you were so close to my dad, like brothers. Why did you treat me like this too?"

Michael's grudge made sense, but Samuel's betrayal was a mystery.

Samuel just said, "Anna, I'm sorry."

Anna didn't know if he was apologizing for tricking her into coming today or something else.

She wanted to understand, but Samuel wouldn't say more.

When she pressed further, he just kept apologizing.

After Anna left, Samuel watched her car drive away, his eyes filled with guilt.

But soon, all those emotions were replaced by a firm resolve.

Now, Samuel thought the Percy family was the most powerful in Crystal City, just as Anna said, powerful and influential.

Charles seemed to dote on Anna as well.

Since that was the case, let the past be the past.

He only had one child, Thalia, and he had to think about her future.

Especially since Thalia was so into Michael.

The next day, around noon, Aurora called Anna, saying she had booked a private room to celebrate Anna's birthday the following day.

Anna then glanced at her schedule.

After checking, she leaned back in her chair and said, "Aurora, I've got surgeries both in the morning and afternoon tomorrow. I can't make it."

"I see." Aurora was about to suggest meeting in the evening but then remembered Anna's husband, Charles.

Aurora sighed. "Well, we'll make it up another time. I don't have the guts to compete with Mr. Percy for your time tomorrow night."

The next evening, when Anna got back to Regal Retreat, Charles was in the kitchen making a cake.

Tall and elegant, Charles was decorating it with cream and fruit.

Seeing this, Anna was a bit surprised.

Glancing at the already prepared cake on the dining table, Anna walked to the kitchen door and asked, "Isn't there already a cake outside? Why are you making another one?"

Charles turned around and casually fed her a washed strawberry.

Anna instinctively bit into it.

Charles said, "The one outside is from a bakery."

He turned back to continue spreading the cream and added, "Since you only have one birthday a year, we need to make it extra special with a fantastic cake! I wanted to make you a cake myself, but I was afraid it wouldn't taste good, so I bought one just in case."

Anna walked over, watching him skillfully make the cake. "Then why are you still making one yourself?"

"Just killing time, making a cake to pass the time. Anya, wait outside for a bit. The cake will be ready soon," Charles said.

"Okay. I'll go find the cat." Anna looked around but didn't see that mischievous cat. She got up and walked out.

The cat Charles brought back, although biologically a cat, behaved more like a dog in Anna's eyes over the past few days.

A dog that loved to destroy things!

This cat would bite anything it saw!

If it grabbed a stack of documents, its claws would shred them into countless pieces.

In her twenty-plus years, Anna had never seen a cat that was such a destroyer of homes before!

After ten minutes, she found the cat in Charles's study.

Several sheets of paper were scattered messily on the floor, with claw marks scratched across them.

And the culprit was crouched in a corner of the desk, its butt sticking up, tail flicking, playing with something.

Anna approached and saw the cat batting at a pen cap with its paw.

Scattered around it were several pens and a fallen book.

Anna picked up the cat and set it aside, then gathered the pens and papers from the floor and placed them on the desk.

She put the book back on the shelf.

As she was about to leave with the cat, she noticed a silver and gold mask on the third shelf of the bookcase.

The mask was exquisite, covering only the area around the eyes.

Seeing this familiar mask, Anna instinctively reached out and took it down.

A vague memory surfaced in her mind.

Then, a long-forgotten memory flooded back.