Chapter <b>116 </b>
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Charles lounged casually on the bed, his slender, graceful fingers reaching for a cigarette. Remembering something, he changed his mind and put it back.
Ynday back, clearly still unsettled by what had just happened. “Did you catch them?” Ynda asked.
“Yeah. Wannae take a look?” Charles replied.
“Sure,” Ynda said.
Charles expected her to refuse, but to his surprise, Ynda sat up. ‘Guess I got her all wrong, he thought.
Charles had houses everywhere–no matter which city you named, he probably owned a ce there. Right now, that bunch of guys was kneeling in his local vi, looking totally pathetic.
Their hands were tied behind their backs and their legs were bound like prisoners. Surrounded by Charles’s ck–d bodyguards, they instantly realized they’d seriously messed with someone way out of their league.
The guy with the crew cut stuck out his neck, his voice shaky. “We swear we had no idea who that woman was! Somebody just threw cash at us! If we’d known she was untouchable, we wouldn’t haveid a finger on her- no matter how gutsy we thought we were.”
They were all a mess, battered and bruised, faces swollen and bloodied—a clear sign they’d gotten the beating of their lives.
Charles walked in slowly and settled into a nearby chair, his every move full of unforced grace and calm assurance that came naturally to him.
The crew cut guy’s eyes contracted in fright when he saw Charles, and his whole body started trembling.
Charles found the sight amusing, propping his chin up with one hand. “Who sent you?” he asked.
The crew cut guy’s face turned ghostly white, a cold chill crawling up his spine until his scalp prickled.
Even though Charles hadn’t uttered a single threat, the guy felt as if a de was quietly suspended right above his head.
His lips quivered and he started bowing his head frantically. “It was Cedric! We were just following orders and taking money, that’s all! Please, don’t hold it against us!”
Charles lookedpletely indifferent, lowering his gaze.
He and Cedric definitely had bad blood, but Cedric wouldn’t go out of his way to make trouble for him like
this.
‘Was this aimed at Ynda?‘ Charles wondered.
Ynda had never really crossed the Andrade family. That p she’d given Vivian was ages ago—no way Cedric would suddenlye after her now, and travel all the way here just for that. <fnf29a> Chapters first released on find?novel</fnf29a>
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So, when ites down to it, this was aimed at him all along.
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Charles’s face grew cold. He took the dagger Jack handed over and traced the de with his thumb, his movements slow and deliberate. His words came out quiet but carried a deadly chill. “Make sure they’re barely breathing. Then toss them out.”
The crew cut guy banged his head on the floor even harder, scrambling to beg for mercy–until Charles added, “Or would you rather leave here in one piece?”
The guy stiffened, instantly too terrified to bow again. Not a word more–they were hauled out in total silence.
Ynda was just a spectator in all this–she only needed to look a bit scared now and then, clutching her sleeve and keeping quiet in the background.
Charles stuck around with her, brushed a tender kiss on her forehead, and whispered for her to get some sleep. ‘All this chaos… She needs to rest,‘ he thought.
Once she was settled, Charles headed out to strategize with Jack, already nning his next move.
Someone like Charles would never tolerate this kind of challenge to his authority–he made sure everyone knew where the line was.
While Ynda was lying in bed, her phone buzzed with a message from Ian.
[“Such <i>a </i>loving couple, huh.“]
Just four words, but the jealous undertone was so obvious, it almost made herugh out loud.
Ynda just snorted at his jealousy and didn’t even bother to reply.
After two days of resting her injured arm at the vi, Ynda heard raised voicesing from downstairs—it was Vivian Andrade causing a stir.
“Charles, are you really going <i>to </i>pull this at the eleventh hour? We’ve always treated this project as a partnership–our families working together. And now you’re ditching me to sign a government contract behind my back? Is that how little you trust me now?” Vivian snapped,
Charles had a choice on this deal: either sign straight with the government or go through the Andrade family as a middleman,
The profits were basically the same, though going with the government meant payment would be held up for a few construction phases.
He’d just dropped the Andrade family right at the finish line, choosing the government instead–and Vivian stormed in to demand answers.
Charles sat on the sofa, contract held firmly in both hands. He raised an eyebrow, the smile in his eyes barely noticeable. “As long as there’s no signature, Vivian, you have no say in what I do.”
Vivian’s face went from pale to flushed, her eyes instantly red. “I dragged so many of the Andrade Group’s
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execs here, made such a scene—and now you turn around and sign with someone else? How do you expect me to face them?”
“Vivian, I’m a businessman. Your reputation isn’t even on my radar,” Charles replied coolly.
Vivian started shaking all over, her nails digging deep into her palms. She’d actually fallen for his bedtime sweet nothings, thought he might care for her a little. Turns out, he was cold as ice.
She bit her lip so hard she tasted iron.
“Do we really have to turn this into a mess? You break the contract now, and there’ll be noing back from this between us and the Andrade Group,” Vivian said.
“So?” Charles replied.
Charles couldn’t care less about losing the Andrade Group.
Vivian almostughed–it just hit her how ridiculous it was, all that running around she did to get that shipping line set up for him. What a joke.
“Is this about Ynda? Did that woman say something to you?” Vivian shot back, her tone sharp and using.
Ynda, listening from upstairs, just shook her head. ‘This’ll only make Charles think even less of her,’ she thought dryly.
Sure enough, Charles’s face grew tense. “What does she have to do with any of this?”
“If she wasn’t clinging to the Mrs. Sinir spot, you’d never treat me like this! Charles, after all these years- don’t tell me you never cared about me!” Vivian insisted.
With that, she slid straight onto hisp, trying to steal a kiss.
At that exact moment, Ynda came downstairs–and when she saw what was happening, all the color drained from her face.
“You…” Ynda’s voice shook, unable to finish her sentence.
Charles immediately pushed Vivian away, his eyes goingpletely cold.
Vivian’s humiliation was almost palpable, but she forced out a mockingugh. “Oh, cut the act, Ynda! Don’t pretend you didn’t know about Charles and me. I’ve been to your wedding suite with him plenty of times- we’ve hooked up there more than you think. Haven’t I told you all this before?”
Ynda’s face wentpletely pale, and she looked like she might copse.
She turned to Charles, her eyes started to redden, threatening to spill tears.
Ynda choked, her voice trembling. “Is what she’s saying true?”
Charles’s features turned steely, and a dangerous glint shed in his pitch–ck eyes. His voice was cold as steel as he told the nearby Jasper, “Throw her out.”
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Vivian had never been humiliated like this–she waspletely shattered.
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“Charles! I’m the CEO of the Andrade Group–are you seriously going to treat me like this?” Vivian called out indignantly.
But Jasper had already thrown her out.
Vivian had never been so humiliated in her entire life, and her eyes zed with humiliation and hatred for Ynda.
Ynda stood there, head down, silent.
Charles softened his voice and reached out for her, but she jerked away hard. “Don’t touch me!”
A sly, irresistible smile spread across Charles’s face as he yanked her straight into his arms, holding her withmanding force. “You actually buy into her crap? Hm? Is your trust in your husband that shaky?”
Ynda found herself genuinely impressed by how this man could keep his cool no matter what drama was thrown at him.
‘If I didn’t already know the truth… Maybe I’d actually start thinking I’d wrongly used him,‘ Ynda mused, a tinge of doubt flickering in her heart.
She tried to wriggle free, but he just tightened his grip around her waist. “Quit squirming. Your arm’s still injured,” Charles said, concernced with authority.
Her eyes reddened even more, lips pressed together, looking as if she’d been seriously wronged.
Her looks were all soft grace and quiet fragility–beautiful in a way that made people want to protect her the second they saw her.
Charles brushed a gentle kiss against her cheek. “She’s just making stuff up. She couldn’t win me over, so now she’s trying toe between us.”
Ynda’s voice shook as she stared at him, hurt shing in her eyes. “Did you two just kiss?”
“No,” Charles said calmly.
He grabbed her fingers and pressed them to his corbone, a teasing glint in his eye. “Wanna double check?”
Ynda’s hand tightened as she drew a shaky breath. “I believe you,” she murmured.
Charles’s gaze grew gentle, and he quietly wrapped her in his arms, letting out a soft, weary sigh.
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