Chapter 15
Charlotte rejected them without hesitation.
“No, thanks. New Orleans has my parents and family. As for Miami… I’m tired of it.”
Jaziel suddenly smiled, but his expression quickly turned cold.
“Charlotte, you’ll regret this. You’ll come back to us!”
“There’s no need. I won’t give you the chance,” she replied coolly.
At Theodore’s subtle hand gesture, the bodyguards swiftly gagged Jaziel and Nolan, tied their hands and feet, and tossed them into a helicopter.
Theodore, aware that his new bride had just witnessed his ruthlessness, felt a twinge of
unease.
“Charlotte, are you afraid of me like this?”
He had earned his place in the Washington family not through gentleness but by employing decisive, even harsh methods. However, he didn’t want this side of him to frighten her.
Charlotte gazed at Theodore, and for a moment, the gap between them seemed to shrink.
She smiled and shook her head.
“Why would I be? I think this was handled quite well.”
With two sources of trouble removed, life was undoubtedly simpler.
Charlotte hadn’t expected Jaziel and Nolan to chase after her. In her mind, without her in the picture, they would no longer be held back by inner conflict and would be free to pursue Sophie openly.
The three of them were already living together–getting together was only a matter of time.
Besides, Sophie clearly had that intention.
Charlotte thought, They’re just not used to me being gone yet.
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Chapter 15
A photograph left behind for a few years becomes hard to part with. A person you’ve spent over twenty years with suddenly leaving–it’s natural to feel unsettled.
But with enough time, even habits can be broken.
Charlotte followed Theodore home.
Meanwhile, the rumbling of the helicopter engines mirrored the chaos in Jaziel and Nolan’s
minds.
Why had they even come?
It felt like they had accomplished nothing.
They had been only one step too late–how could Charlotte already be married?
They remembered how shy and flustered she had been when they had tentatively expressed their feelings for her.
How could they not see her internal struggle?
At the time, Charlotte had been torn. She didn’t want to hurt either of them.
No matter who she chose, the other would be devastated.
This indecision kept her from making a choice, and sometimes she even wished they could
all just remain friends.
After all, her feelings for either of them had never reached the level of true love.
Jaziel and Nolan understood this too.
They shared the same thoughts–they didn’t want to destroy the relationship they already
had.
So, they made a decision: to push Charlotte into making a choice.
It was around this time that Sophie entered the picture.
Her deception was clumsy–just a bit of digging revealed that her claims of poverty were
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Chapter 15
exaggerated..
Sophie had grown up in a small village where her parents worked as migrant laborers. While her family favored her brother, they still managed to send Sophie to university.
They even saved enough to support her painting and design studies.
During university, she transferred her household registration to the school, and after graduating, she borrowed a large sum of money to cut ties with her family completely.
Later, in her career, she attached herself to Charlotte.
Jaziel and Nolan had only intended to use Sophie as a distraction, hoping to make Charlotte jealous enough to realize her feelings and choose one of them.
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Years of Longing
