Chapter 7: She Never Thought of Staying with Charles for Long

With a heavy sigh, thinking about Anna and Charles getting hitched, Aurora said wistfully, "Anya, Charles ain't no walk in the park. Rich kids like him got minds deeper than the ocean, and his constant scandals make him a terrible pick for a life partner."

Anna had been abroad for years and didn't know much about Crystal City. But Aurora had been in Crystal City since she was a kid. And she worked as a journalist. So, she knew all about Charles Percy .

Although born into a rich and fancy family, and being the only heir, Charles didn't care about the family business at all. Scandals followed him everywhere. The women around him, except for the movie star Tina, never lasted more than two weeks.

Aurora remembered a woman who tried to use her looks and a baby to force Charles to marry her.

That caused a huge stir, and the woman even got a bunch of reporters involved, making Crystal City buzz with gossip.

Aurora was there too. In front of countless cameras at the entrance of Apex Holdings, Charles looked down at the woman sitting on the ground and coldly said, "You think you can join the Percy family and become the mistress? You?"

The woman didn't expect Charles to be so blunt, and her face turned pale instantly.

Later, no one knew what Charles did. But within half a day, the woman who wanted to use the baby to climb up disappeared completely from Crystal City. Even any news about her vanished.

Aurora was still lost in her memories when she heard Anna's voice, "Aurora, you're overthinking it. I never planned to stick with Charles for long."

Aurora looked up.

Anna continued, "Michael wants to mold me into someone he can manipulate and exploit. In all of Crystal City, the only force that makes him cautious is the Percy family. Therefore, marrying Charles is my only option."

It had nothing to do with love, just a temporary fix.

"That's good then." Aurora sipped her coffee and asked Anna, "So, are you settling down in Crystal City next?"

"Temporarily staying in Crystal City."

After a pause, Anna added, "I signed a three-year contract with Radiant Life Hospital, so I'll probably be here for the next three years."

Aurora caught the hint in her words: "What about after three years?"

"After three years." Anna traced the rim of her cup, her long, thick eyelashes casting a shadow on her eyelids. "By then, the stuff between my parents and Michael's dad should be sorted, and I plan to leave Crystal City and go back abroad."

For the past eight years, Anna had been abroad. To her, abroad felt way more familiar than Crystal City.

Anna turned to look out the window. This bustling city, to her now, felt only endlessly unfamiliar.

Crystal City was her birthplace, but she couldn't find any sense of home here anymore.

Fifteen years ago, her comfort here was her parents.

Fifteen years later, until a week ago, it was Michael.

But now, waking up from a ridiculous dream, she realized that this place only felt like a strange land to her.

In the private room.

Charles grabbed his car keys and stood up to leave.

Sawyer chimed in just in time, "Charles, no need to butt heads with Michael over a chick. Their eight-year history is messy. Even if you and Anna got hitched, it doesn't have to be the real deal."

Hearing this, Charles twirled the keychain nonchalantly. He paused, a smirk of arrogance and coldness curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Sawyer, do you think it's me who'd fear Michael, or the Percy family who'd fear the Tudor family?"

These words sounded cocky, but everyone knew Charles had the right to be cocky.Neither he nor the Percy family feared Michael and the Tudor family.

Others might not dare to mess with Michael, but Charles and the Percy family were different.

After speaking, Charles walked out.

After Charles left, Ethan glanced at the slowly closing door of the private room and turned back, looking at Sawyer with some disapproval.

"Sawyer, why are you sticking your nose in Charles and Anna's business?"

Sawyer sighed lightly, "I just think that Michael is now the top business magnate in Crystal City. From nothing to his current position shows how deep his mind and ruthless his methods are."

Sawyer continued after a brief pause, "If Charles is just smitten with Anna's looks, there's really no need to go up against someone like Michael."

Michael was starkly different from men like Charles and Sawyer. He had earned everything through his own relentless hustle.

In contrast, individuals like Charles, Sawyer, and Ethan were born with silver spoons in their mouths; even if they did nothing, prosperity would come effortlessly to them.

Michael was a new business magnate, while Charles and the others were typical old money.

To put it bluntly, self-made men like Michael, who achieved power and status through sheer grit, often looked down on those like Sawyer and Ethan. Similarly, the privileged heirs wouldn't go out of their way to tangle with someone like Michael.

Though they all occupied the same upper echelon of society, they had long established an unspoken understanding and equilibrium. They didn't interfere with each other's affairs but maintained a delicate balance of power.

Ethan naturally got Sawyer's point.

"Sawyer, come on, not to mention that Charles outshines Michael in every way, just the fact that he quietly got the marriage certificate with Anna and then announced the marriage high-profile through Apex Holdings Group's official channels shows that he can't just be fooling around with Anna."

Surprise flashed through Sawyer's eyes, his expression changing.

He looked at Ethan, "You mean..."

"Just wait and see." Ethan leisurely took a sip of his drink, a hint of interest on his face.

The Percy family mansion.

Yesterday afternoon, Cedric used his connections to check the registration info at the city hall but found nothing, which made him grumpy all day.

This morning, he had just brewed a cup of tea and opened the newspaper to read when he heard a notification sound from his phone.

Because Charles was so inattentive to the company's affairs, Cedric, who had moved to the background, was really worried and had set a special notification sound for company messages to avoid missing anything important.

Cedric casually picked up his phone, and he was shocked to see the official announcement of the marriage.