Charles Prescott stood up. As he passed by Anne Sutton, he gave her shoulder a deliberately amicable pat, as if they were still on the best of terms, before walking out of the private room.
Anne Sutton was seething. His pretentious act was infuriating.
In a way, she had to hand it to him. He knew she had slept with Nathan Fawcett, yet he could still put on such a front.
Sean Sutton looked at Anne Sutton. "Mr. Prescott said you and Nathan Fawcett are officially married."
Anne Sutton nodded. "Yes. So, you don't have to be afraid of Charles Prescott anymore. Even if you stop sucking up to him, he'll still have to take care of our family's problems. Once I give birth to a Fawcett heir, he'll be completely out of the picture."
"Don't have Nathan Fawcett's child!" Sean Sutton said.
Hearing this, Anne Sutton looked at her father in disbelief. "The whole reason I married into the Fawcett family was to have Nathan's child. Chairman Fawcett has always wanted an heir for Nathan."
"Of course I know," Sean Sutton said. "I just spoke with Mr. Prescott. He said you shouldn't have the baby. You and he have been together for so many years, after all. He said that after Nathan Fawcett is gone, he'll marry you. If you have a child with the Fawcett family, how could the two of you ever be together?"
"I'm never getting back together with Charles Prescott! And he says he'll marry me? Dad, you actually believe that? You know how proud he is! I'm already married to Nathan Fawcett, and you think he'd still marry me? How can you be so naive?"
'That was just a line Charles Prescott was feeding him to stop her from having Nathan's child.'
'Once Nathan is gone, if she's left without a child, she'll be all alone. With Charles Prescott pulling the strings, who knew what would become of the Sutton Family.'
Sean Sutton said, "That won't happen. I've known Mr. Prescott forever! We go way back; we're friends. If you have this child and it affects Charles's career, it will put me in a very difficult position."
"You put too much stock in these worthless relationships," Anne Sutton said. "Dad, have you even thought about this? If I have Nathan Fawcett's child, my child will be the Fawcett heir. Everything the Fawcetts own will be ours! Why would you be afraid of Charles Prescott then? At that point, he'll be the one coming to you, trying to get on your good side!"
"Anne," Sean Sutton said, "you're too naive! Do you really think it's that simple? You think having a baby means you can take control of the Fawcett family? Charles Prescott is a capable man! He's the one running the company right now; Nathan Fawcett doesn't handle any of it. And after Nathan is gone, what? You think you have what it takes to run the Fawcett enterprise?"
"It's nothing I can't learn," Anne Sutton retorted. "If it comes to that, I'll learn. I'm just sick and tired of living at Charles Prescott's mercy. Dad, have you forgotten? Just the other day, he wanted to send Sharon to the Fawcett family! He wanted our company to go bankrupt."
Sean Sutton said, "I know! But he's given us the funds now, hasn't he? And he said he'd help our company get out of this mess. He's helping us this much, and you're still antagonizing him. You're being completely ungrateful."
"He's not helping us willingly! He was forced to. He's only doing this because Nathan Fawcett made him. Can't you see that? The Fawcetts are the ones who really call the shots! What is Charles Prescott? He's just a tool! As long as I have this baby, the Fawcett fortune will have nothing to do with him. He can forget about ever inheriting it."
"Why do you hate Charles Prescott so much?" Sean Sutton glanced at his daughter. "You two were engaged, after all, and he's treated our family well over the years. You have feelings for each other! Nathan Fawcett doesn't have much time left. It's better for a woman to find a man she can rely on. Right now, by not having Nathan's child, you'd be helping Charles! He'll be grateful to you for it later."
"Feelings?" Anne Sutton scoffed. "Sorry, but I have no feelings for him! And he's never had any for me. If he had any feelings for me, he wouldn't have knocked up another woman. She showed up right at our door, and he still expected me to just put up with it."
"Men fool around on the side sometimes," Sean Sutton said dismissively. "He's a capable man, and he's willing to treat you well—that should be enough! If you're this demanding, what man is going to want to be with you? Do you think Nathan Fawcett is some saint? He's just in poor health. If he were healthy, he'd be just like Charles Prescott. All men are the same!"
From Sean Sutton's perspective as a man, these were all trivial matters.
In his eyes, as long as Charles Prescott was capable, made good money, and could run the company well, he was a good man.
Anne Sutton couldn't believe that even after Charles Prescott had done such outrageous things, her father still thought he was in the right.
Anne Sutton said, "You've always told me that, Dad. To just endure everything. So when he had other women, I pretended not to know. But this time is different! Everyone at the hospital knows about him and that woman. Don't I have any dignity left? How am I supposed to hold my head high?"
Sean Sutton said, "Why do you care about any of that? People will gossip for a couple of days, and then it'll all blow over. We have deep ties with the Prescott Family going back years. Don't be like this."
"Hah!" Anne Sutton laughed bitterly. "You're only saying that because you're the same kind of man he is!"
"What did you say?" Sean Sutton froze.
Anne Sutton continued, "I didn't want to say it! But don't think we don't know about your affairs. Mom doesn't say anything because she can put up with it, but I can't! A married man who still fools around on the side is being irresponsible to his family."
"Irresponsible?" Sean Sutton was furious now. "Your mother just sits at home all day! We have maids, so she doesn't even have to cook. When the company runs into trouble, I'm the one who handles it! I'm the one who has to go out there and grovel, who has to take crap from clients! You don't see any of that. And you think I'm irresponsible? If it weren't for this 'irresponsible' father of yours, how do you think you've made it this far?"
"A man who's responsible to his family doesn't have affairs!"
"You've gone too far!" Sean Sutton roared. "What kind of daughter did I raise? Who taught you to say things like that? With an attitude like yours, it's no wonder Charles Prescott didn't want to marry you."
"What did you say?" Anne Sutton stared at her father in disbelief.
'So Charles Prescott dragging his feet and not wanting to marry her... was her fault now?'
Sean Sutton said, "I don't care what you think. You are not to get pregnant with Nathan Fawcett's child! And even if you do, you're not to have it! What does a woman like you know? After Nathan Fawcett dies and you're a widow, you'll still have to find a man to take care of you."
"Who says I need a man?!" Anne Sutton shot back. "I can live just fine without one. And without Charles Prescott, I can still hold up the Sutton Family all by myself."