Chapter 280: Greed

When Charles Capet and Anne Hathaway left the yacht, it was already early morning. They headed straight back to Charles's beachfront villa in Santa Monica Palisades.

The next day, Charles and Anne didn't wake up until noon. Since they hadn't seen each other for a while, they didn't plan on going out.

Charles was sitting in a chair checking work emails. Anne came from behind, hugged his neck, and said, "Aren't you going to the office?"

Charles shook his head, then turned to kiss Anne for a while. "No, if it's something important, they'll call me."

Charles's emails typically contained names and brief summaries of scripts or ideas for movies and TV shows that the company had received and compiled.

These allowed Charles to quickly pick projects he liked since he was now a top producer in Hollywood.

Charles noticed an email about the release of a new product, the Apple iPhone, which was hosted by Apple's CEO Steve Jobs last week.

Charles smiled and said, "Sweetie, look at this. Apple has released a phone. It's a significant smartphone with a candy-bar design."

The email was sent by Dona Williams, considering Capet Investments owned shares in Apple.

"An Apple phone?" Anne wasn't familiar with this stuff, "Is it impressive?"

"Movies, music, internet - the smartphone is going to change the world," Charles said as he got up and led Anne to the terrace. The first-generation iPhone was set to be officially launched in June.

Without caring if Anne understood, Charles reminded, "If you have extra money, you could buy some Apple stock as an investment. It would be a good financial decision."

After speaking, Charles pulled Anne onto his lap. She nestled against him in her short nightgown.

"Buy stocks? Apple, you say." Anne nodded, "I'll remember that and think about it."

While holding the seductive Anne, Charles thought about her future scandal when she dated a con artist. Now that he'd prevented that, there would be fewer blemishes on her reputation.

"Anne," Charles said while caressing her thigh and placing a hand on her chest, "Do you think many people are jealous of you?"

"Jealous of me?" Anne, already holding Charles's neck, kissed his cheek upon hearing his question. "Of course, many people are jealous of me. Hollywood is full of beautiful girls, and they don't know Charles Capet."

Charles laughed, "That's not what I mean. I'm talking about you, Anne Hathaway. Look, in terms of background, you're ahead of many Hollywood stars who didn't even graduate high school. Plus, your pretty face and sexy figure are natural advantages. Most importantly, you gained fame right from the start with The Princess Diaries. And now, you've become even more famous because of The Devil Wears Prada."

Anne paused, pleased with Charles's praise, then whispered in his ear, "Well, I still have a bit to go to be on par with top stars."

"Whack," Charles playfully slapped Anne's thigh, "What I mean is that you've never really had a low period since your debut. Even when seeking to transition after The Princess Diaries, you never lacked roles. Your career progressed too smoothly!"

"Ah, I guess I'm lucky. I got chosen for The Princess Diaries right at the start. And when I needed to transition, I met you and got The Devil Wears Prada. Others might be jealous, but what can they do?"

Charles realized that Anne's almost perfect life in a previous life had caused the public, led by capital forces, to derive pleasure from criticizing her.

No matter what, Anne had some stains on her record. With media guidance, those stains got magnified.

"Yeah," Charles smiled, "If they want to be jealous, let them be."

After all, even Harvey Weinstein, the former king of indie films, was no match for him now. Couldn't he protect his own woman?

Anne also laughed and kissed Charles passionately.

Just then, Charles's phone rang. It was Lily Ying.

"Boss, Freddie Mac's stock price has dropped 14% recently. Should we..."

Before Lily could finish, Charles interrupted, "No, it's not time yet. $60 is still high."

Charles knew Lily wanted to play it safe by cutting their losses now.

While on the phone, Charles pressed Anne's shoulder, and she gave him a look before kneeling down.

"The subprime mortgage crisis is starting. Once financial institutions and banks announce last year's fourth quarter or this year's first quarter profits and losses, it will cause a stir," Charles explained. "We can't close our positions now."

"Boss, even if it erupts, it will take at least six months. And though Freddie and Fannie Mae are private companies, they have government backing, so the government might intervene," Lily warned.

"Heh, I understand," Charles said, with one hand holding the phone and the other on Anne's head, "This crisis will be huge, really huge. Even if the government intervenes with the two firms, their market value will have plummeted."

"Plenty of banks and investment firms have large investments in the mortgage credit market. They won't want the real estate market to crash, right?"

Facing Lily's question, Charles chuckled, "Don't worry. An avalanche can't be stopped. Just remember, we must wait. We entered at $70."

"It's now $60. There might be fluctuations, but don't worry; just hold on until next year."

"Alright then," Lily was concerned the stock might rebound, but selling now still yielded a good profit.

"Yeah, check out the CDS and CDO markets - they're chaotic. The bubble has reached its peak. Financial derivatives are overused, all thanks to Wall Street vampires. With insurance on subprime loans, they're transferring risks from commercial banks to investment banks," Charles elaborated, taking a deep breath.

"People are greedy, I'm greedy. It won't be long before it really breaks!"

By the second half of the year, when the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis fully erupted, Charles would be invincible.

After hanging up, Anne stood up with a pout, glanced at Charles, and headed to the bathroom while covering her mouth.

*****

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