Hi guys, I've been feeling really motivated to write this FanFic at the moment, I'm really enjoying it.
Thank you to all who have favourited, followed and wrote a review, it means a lot!

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

10. Gold Rush

What a life this was, Anna had never known such luxury. Rolling out of bed in the late morning and enjoying an endless amount of food for breakfast. Her mother had always told her the wealthy lived in luxury, but she had understood the true meaning of that, until now.

The sun was blazing hot today, Millfield's was in the middle of a rare heatwave. Whenever Anna had experienced the warm heat of a Summer's heatwave before she hated it. The sweat and grime that stuck to her body and the air in Bowerstone Industrial was revolting. No way of cooling down and the heat of the factories making it worse. But her current circumstances were making her a lot fonder of the weather.

Dressed completely in her somewhat scandalous loungewear, she sat by the swimming pool. The swimming pool in the garden came as a massive shock to Anna as she explored Reaver's Manor. It was a good shock though. She had never seen anything like it before.

Time had little meaning to her on days like today, she was simply enjoying sunbathing on one of the white sun lounges that resided beside the pool. Her eyes closed and her mind at peace.

Suddenly, it felt as if the sun had gone behind a cloud. Anna reluctantly open her eyes to be met with Reaver. Standing over her, he looked rather casual for once. Wearing a shirt that had been unbuttoned at the top and a pair of black trousers. He hair was still styled perfectly despite the hot weather and he wore an amused look on his face.

"Enjoying yourself?" he asked, eyeing the empty glass of iced tea that sat beside the lounge chair. Anna propped herself up on her elbows and smiled sweetly.

"Of course," she replied. The two had barely seen each other since the day at the castle. Reaver had been working a lot, which surprised Anna. She had never realised how much work went into running such a corrupt and appalling company like Reaver Industries. A lot of meetings and looking at books, it made little sense to her.

"Hm. Walk with me," Reaver said. It wasn't a question or a suggestion. Anna nodded once, slowly getting to her feet. Once she had, she readjusted for shorts she was wearing and straightened out her top.

Reaver began walking, heading away from the house and towards the gardens. Anna loved the gardens nearly as much as the pool. There were flowers of almost ever colour and kind and winding hedge mazes where she had gotten lost for at least an hour. There was also a beautiful fountain with a marble mermaid in the middle.

"You were right," Reaver said as the two walked down the path. Anna glanced to him, unsure of what he meant, "The rebels. They stole one of my ships and tried to make it to Aurora," Reaver explained. Anna nodded, feeling somewhat relieved that the information she had given the King had been correct.

"Were they stopped?" she asked, the feeling of guilt returning to the pit of her stomach. It seemed to burn like a strong fire and frequented her when she thought of her friends in the rebellion. No matter how many times she told herself that she had to put herself first to survive, it made the feeling now smaller.

"The ship was destroyed so the King is assuming anyone on board drowned," he said, his voice sounding unusually serious.

"And what are you assuming?" Anna asked, raising an eyebrow. Reaver stopped by the fountain, looking up at the marble structure before he spoke.

"The Prince, Alec, he's a Hero. Heroes are made of strong stuff," he explained, turning to look at the ex-rebel. She was admiring the fountain, her eyes closely examining the craftsmanship.

"You say that like you've known a lot of Heroes," she said, turning to meet Reaver's gaze. The businessman simply smirked, saying nothing in return as he tucked a loose strand of hair behind Anna's ear, noticing the sprinkling of freckles she had on her nose and cheeks, likely brought out by the sun. The ex-rebel almost froze with nerves but Reaver simply stepped away amused by her reaction.

"You'll be coming with me to Bowerstone Industrial tomorrow morning. I need you to find out about a Mr Thomas Crawley, he's been causing me some bother recently," Reaver rolled his eyes, clearly more annoyed by the situation than upset.

"Oh Tom, yeah, I know him," Anna said. Thomas was an old friend of hers, but they grew distant in recent years. At one point in her life she was convinced she was very much in love with him but reflecting back on the relationship she saw now that she was simply smitten, and they worked better as friends. Last Anna heard of Thomas, he was in process of setting up a workers' union, which would be an issue for someone like Reaver.

"Wonderful, you can deal with him."

"Will that be all? I wanted to have a bath before dinner," Anna asked, conscious of the droplets of sweat that stuck to her skin. Reaver nodded slowly, his eyes wondering over her body as he imagined her having a bathe. A nice thought he admitted to himself.

"For now, that is all," he said, allowing the ex-rebel to head inside.

Bowerstone Industrial was a far cry from what Anna was getting used to in Millfields. The thick heavy smoke of the factories seemed to block out the sunlight but not the heat.

"It's too hot," Anna groaned as she stepped out of the carriage. The air felt so thick she was sure she could cut through it with a knife. Luckily for the ex-rebel, she had gotten away with not wearing a dress on this occasion. Instead, she was able to opt for a white blouse and the only pair of trousers she could find. She'd instructed her maid, Imogen, to find her some more trousers to wear. Dresses definitely were not practical for skulking through the streets of the Industrial Quarter.

"We won't be here too long, my dear," Reaver told her, climbing out afterwards, "I've just got a couple of meetings. I'll meet you back here at 2," he said before leaving her alone. She watched as the man headed towards one of his largest factories, his workers gawking in fear as he did so.

"See ya," Anna mumbled as he went before beginning her own quest, the search for Thomas Crawley. Despite knowing the streets of Bowerstone Industrial like the back of her hands she felt an overwhelming sense of uncertainty of where to begin. Many years had passed since she had crossed paths with Thomas. He once rented a room above the butchers, so it was worth starting there, Anna thought.

Anna leaned back against the factory wall as she waited for Reaver. Her arms were folded tightly across her chest and she couldn't help but let out a deep sigh in defeat. Her mission to locate Thomas Crawley had sent her on a wild goose chase, mainly from tavern to tavern. In the end he was no where to be found.

"Anna Burton? Is that you?" a cheerful voice called out from across the courtyard where she rested. Her eyes quickly darted in search of the voice and they landed upon non other than the man she had been searching for, Thomas.

"Tom!" she smiled, feeling rather relived that she had located him.

"Wow, look at you, you're doing well for yourself," he said as he approached her, wrapping his arms around her in a friendly embrace. He felt warm to Anna, and smelt strongly of smoke, soot and sweat.

"I could say the same about you," Anna replied. Quickly glancing over the man in front of her, she realised she was lying. He didn't look good; his skin was almost grey and the dark bags under his eyes made his face look almost hollow. The last time they had crossed paths she had thought of him as quite handsome. The past few years had clearly been hard on him.

"You flatter me," he said with a pleasant smile, "How many years has it been? Three? What have you been up to, fighting for the rebellion I assume?"

"Of course! And what about you?" she asked him, although she already had some idea of his recent activities.

"Well actually, I've been working on creating a workers union. Pushing strongly for fair rights and equal pay. Oh, and of course, working towards removing Reaver from his seat of power," Tom chuckled at the thought before quickly adding, "you should come to our next meeting!"

Anna's eyes suddenly lit up, this was the perfect opportunity, find out more about the union and put a quick stop to it.

"That would be perfect."

"Oh great! We currently rent a room out at the Riveter's Rest, y'know, the tavern just down the road. We've got a meeting there tomorrow evening, so you're welcome to come, and you should bring Page too. The union would be up her street for sure," Thomas said, gleaming with pride. The corners of his mouth seemed to meet his eyes as he smiled. Anna could not help but return the grin as she nodded with enthusiasm.

Thomas' smoky, grey eyes broke away from the gaze they shared as he looked towards the factory door that they stood near. Anna automatically turned to inspect the distraction. Out walked Reaver, his cane tapping on the floor in time with his step. The ex-rebel inhaled sharply as she watched him exit the building, his eyes finding hers almost instantly causing Anna to look away.

"We better get out of here. If Reaver knew who either of us were he'd have us hung, drawn and quartered," Thomas said, his voice quiet and hushed. Anna nodded understandingly. She couldn't help but think that only a week or so ago, she would be agreeing with Thomas but now things were different entirely.

"Go," she encouraged, "I'll see ya tomorrow."

Thomas smiled briefly, glancing over at Reaver one more time before exiting from the courtyard. Anna watched him leave, feeling regretful for using him.

The grasping of her wrist drew her attention away from her ex-lover as she looked up to see Reaver stood beside her, his eyes narrowed aggressively at Thomas in the distance and his jaw clenched. The grip he held on Anna's wrist was icy cold and strong, not allowing Anna to pull away.

"Is that him?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the road ahead. Anna squinted at the same spot, but she could no longer make out Thomas' figure in amongst the crowd of workers and beggars.

"Yes. He's holding a union meeting tomorrow evening and he's invited me to attend," she admitted.

"I am impressed, my love, good job," he said, finally releasing her wrist from his grasp, a smirk appearing on his lips, "Let's get out of this dingy city."

Poor Anna, she's beginning to have quite the dilemma between her old life and her new life and it's not going to get any easier for her just year.

Thanks for reading, I'll hopefully have the next chapter up soon-ish :)