The Audacious Life of Arthur Grey

Chapter 4

San Francisco, in a certain Starbucks.

In front of Arthur Grey sat an elegant and well-dressed lady.

She sipped on her coffee and smiled. “Christian , I’m really happy that you’re willing to meet me.”

Arthur sneered. “Christian? I’m no longer called Christian Grey. My name is now Arthur Grey.”

“The good-for-nothing son-in-law of the Larson family from San Francisco, Arthur Grey.”

“Do you mean you’ve already forgotten that you were the one who changed my name three years ago? Three years ago, you were the one who personally set up this marriage with the Downey family’s Old Master. You were also the one who sent me to the Downey family. Do you mean you’ve forgotten all about that?”

This woman was Emilia Reed, the mother of Arthur. She was also the matriarch of the Grey family, which was the largest family of Atlas Hall.

Emilia took another sip of her coffee, seemingly trying to conceal her nervousness. “Arthur—or Christian —this isn’t what’s important. No matter what, you’ll be my son forever. You’ve suffered over the past three years.”

Arthur sneered. “Three years. Has it really been only three years? From the day I turned six, and you sent me to live in the servants’ quarters, I had already been suffering. Has it only been three years?”

“If not for Dad’s illness and your precious second son disappearing after offending someone, you’d never have remembered your eldest son. Perhaps you could enlighten me about why he gets all your love while I live no better than a dog and why you hate me so much when we’re both your sons.”

“I’ve done a maternity test; I’m indeed your child. That’s why I don’t understand why you’ve treated me this way.”

Emilia expressed her displeasure with a frown as Arthur brought this topic up. Then, she took out a bank card and placed it in front of him. “This is a black card; you can have it. There are 15 million dollars stored in it. I got Robin Hemsworth to set up a company in San Francisco; you’ll be the chairman of this company in the future.”

Arthur didn’t reach out for the card but smiled instead; his smile was a strange one. “As expected, I expected too much from you. You want me to be Master Atlas, but you’re not allowing me to return to Atlas Hall. Did you call the four guardians here to protect me or to put surveillance on me?”

Emilia didn’t reply and focused only on her own cup of coffee.

Naomi Downey appeared in his mind, the Naomi who had been dragged down and bullied by the Downey family because of him.

‘Forget it. I have indeed ruined her life. Since I have already promised to change for her, I won’t allow myself to be humiliated yet again.’

Arthur picked up the black card before leaving.

…

The next day, a company by the name of Starlight Inc. was established.

The ones supporting Starlight Inc. were the Hemsworth family of New York.

The Hemsworth family from New York, Grover family from Chicago, Corbin family from Seattle, and the Rhodes family from Washington were the most established and renowned families in the whole country.

And these four families were the ones who had established the Atlas Hall alliance with the Grey family.

The families’ heads—Andrew Grover, Robin Hemsworth , William Corbin, and Joseph Rhodes—were known as the four guardians of Peregrine Hall.

Currently, Emilia Reed had assigned all four of them to stay by Arthur’s side.

The Hemsworth family from New York was more reputable and established than any other family in San Francisco. As such, countless aristocratic families sent their regards and congratulations once Starlight Inc. was established.

Everyone wanted to have relations with the Hemsworth family of New York so that they would be able to climb up the social ladder.

Unfortunately, nobody had even been able to get past the main gates of Starlight Inc.

Everyone had been stopped. Because of that, the Downey family had called for a family meeting.

All the Downey family members were present. Of course, that included Naomi Downey and Arthur Grey. However, Naomi was seated on a plastic stool at the end.

As for Arthur, he wasn’t even given a seat. Instead, he had been forced to stand in a corner.

“Are you all fools? Why can’t you get into the company? Are all the descendants of the Downey family good-for-nothings?” Albert Downey reprimanded the younger generations for being useless.

“Grandpa, this isn’t our fault. There are so many other reputable families in San Francisco, but nobody else has been able to get in either,” muttered someone softly, trying to rebuke him.

Albert slammed his fist on the table. “Don’t find an excuse for your incompetence. Their elders will definitely reprimand them for their incompetence, but that doesn’t mean that you guys are any less useless for not being able to get in. From tomorrow onward, every family is to send someone to be on standby at Starlight Inc. until someone manages to send a gift in.”

The Old Master had already made his decision, but everyone else was feeling utterly helpless. They could already feel just how powerful and firm Starlight Inc.’s attitude was.

This was an impossible task, but now that the Old Master had already given his order, they had no other choice but to suffer in vain.

As such, everyone turned to Quentin Downey.

Quentin was the eldest of the third generation in his family. He was the favorite of his grandpa and the most likely candidate to succeed the family business.

It went without saying that his words held power.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him expectantly, Quentin felt that his chance to establish his position was finally here. “Grandpa, it might be better for one person to do this and persevere through it. That way, Starlight Inc. will be able to see the persistence of our Downey family.”

“I see. Why don’t we let Naomi do it? She’s the eldest girl in the family and can represent our family; she’s pretty too. I’m sure the old CEO of Starlight Inc. will like her once he sees her.” Quentin knew that this was an impossible task and was pushing the responsibility of fulfilling it to Naomi.

He was clearly trying to find someone to be his scapegoat and to get rid of his enemies using this opportunity.

“Grandpa, I…” Naomi was about to refuse, but she felt Arthur’s hand on her shoulder before she could finish her sentence.

For some unknown reason, Naomi felt warmth. It was as though Arthur had given her some strength.

“Naomi Downey, aren’t you a Downey? Why are you trying to shirk all responsibility now that Grandpa is getting you to do something so easy? Is it that difficult?” Quentin Downey saw that Naomi was about to refuse. Thus, he quickly guilt-tripped her.

“Quentin, who said that I was not going to go? I was just going to ask Grandpa what I would get from this if I really manage to help the Downey family get on good terms with Starlight Inc.”

Quentin chuckled. He looked at Naomi as though he was looking at a fool.?‘Perhaps that whole family is crazy. The husband is useless, while the wife is a fool.’

“Naomi, who are you to talk about conditions with Grandpa?” Quentin was furious. In the whole family, his grandpa—Albert Downey—had the final say. No one, not even he, had any right to discuss any terms.

But today, Naomi had suddenly brought it up.

“What do you want, Naomi?” Albert Downey had shockingly agreed to Naomi’s request!

“I’ll be in charge of dealing with Starlight Inc. in the future.”

“Naomi, what nonsense are you spouting? It’s obvious that the company makes the decisions. Do you think you’re in the place to make such a request? I think you’ve been getting more out of hand lately. Is it because of that piece of trash you have as a husband? It’s no wonder.”

Naomi refused to back down and continued questioning her grandpa, Albert Downey. “Grandpa, if I manage to get Starlight Inc. to cooperate with the family, will I be allowed to take charge?”