Chapter 727: Chapter 727: I Was Blackmailed by Yan
Cyrus Hawthorne raised his hand to press his brow, then reached down to pick up the Little Dumpling who was tightly clinging to his leg. He carefully wiped the golden tears off his face with a tissue.
A gentle smile slowly appeared on his handsome face, and his voice was tender and soft, rare in recent days: "When your mommy comes back, I’ll tell her you said she looks like a ball."
The Little Dumpling, who was about to cry loudly to gain sympathy: "???"
The two bubbles of tears in the Little Dumpling’s big eyes were instantly withdrawn. He very consciously took the tissue to wipe his face, as if nothing had happened just now.
Cyrus raised his elegant brows, looking at him with a half-smile, "Grown up, have you?"
"I don’t know if I’m grown up, but you’re definitely going to be abandoned by mommy." The Little Dumpling sniffed his little nose and said, sacrificing himself a thousand times to harm the enemy eight hundred times: "If you don’t take me to find mommy soon, maybe mommy will have another little baby and won’t want us anymore!"
Come on!
Let’s hurt each other!
The Archfiend wouldn’t let him find mommy, so he would keep pestering him!
Cyrus: "..."
If this weren’t his own child...
Cyrus looked at this self-righteous little dumpling with an unreadable expression and rarely felt a sense of frustration.
"The day after tomorrow at the latest, I’ll let you see your mommy. Promise me that you’ll go back to your room, otherwise..."
The Little Dumpling’s ears perked up, completely ignoring his slightly threatening tone, and he suddenly slid down from Cyrus, walking outside with his short legs, "I’ll go back right away."
The Little Dumpling’s body hadn’t fully recovered yet and couldn’t handle intense exercise, so even when running, he was slow, and his steps only appeared large.
Even so, Cyrus’s gaze followed Kenny closely without blinking. Only after he safely ran out did Cyrus’s lips curl into a faint smile.
"Knock knock." Someone knocked on the study door.
Then, the voice of two Hidden Guards came from outside: "Family Head, just now... Miss Vaughn came by, but soon left again."
The smile on Cyrus’s lips suddenly disappeared, his narrow eyes deep like a pool, filled with a chilling coldness.
...
Rillow Bay Cafe.
"I didn’t expect you’d come back." Laura Quinn picked up the hot coffee before her, gently blew on it, and elegantly took a sip, "I originally thought you were quite a trustworthy person."
"I’m really sorry, but your judgment of people isn’t very good." Ann Vaughn spread her hands innocently, saying words that would anger anyone to no end: "A single promise to trap me? You’re making the world sound too good to be true."
Laura looked at her with an expression as if to say "you’ve never been beaten by the harshness of the world," and suddenly choked.
She seemed not to have expected Ann Vaughn to admit it so shamelessly, chuckling bitterly: "But even if it’s like you said, what use is it? Your divorce from Cian is already determined. Even if you come back, nothing will change."
"What I can’t understand is why you would voluntarily request to see me."
This meeting was arranged by Ann Vaughn.
Ann Vaughn took a sip of juice and then slowly said, "I heard what you and Grandpa said in the hospital room before. You hate me because of my mom."
Laura seemed to have known for some time that she was Shuhua Vaughn’s daughter, showing no surprise at her self-revelation.
"But one thing confuses me. You’ve known my mom since primary school, and you were inseparable before marriage, close like sisters," Ann Vaughn narrowed her bright eyes, scrutinizing every subtle expression on Laura’s face, "This is nothing like what you told Grandpa."
"And another thing, when you were a flower vendor, you knew who I was, which is why you treated me so well, giving me seeds and flowers... But after you became Laura Quinn, everything you did had ulterior motives."
It’s not hard to sense whether a person’s attitude towards another is out of goodwill or malice.
But such stark contrast, as different as night and day, Ann Vaughn had only seen in Laura Quinn.
Unable to figure it out, she simply decided to ask directly.
Laura set down her coffee cup, looking at Ann Vaughn with a mocking expression, "Yes, your mom and I were close from a young age, often writing letters to each other about things we couldn’t easily share."
"If your mom hadn’t cut out the first two words from my letters from X year in February, March, April, July, and September, and pasted them on the school bulletin board, we would have remained the best of friends."
"After that incident, I was ridiculed by everyone and couldn’t lift my head until my parents stepped in to settle it," Laura sneered, "Anyway, that’s all in the past. No point dwelling on it."
"As for you? If it wasn’t for the fact that getting close to you means I can get close to Cian and reclaim my rightful position, do you think I’d bother with you? Sometimes people shouldn’t be too naive."
Ann Vaughn furrowed her delicate brows and, when her phone accidentally fell, bent down to pick it up.
By the time she sat back up, Laura had already left.
After driving her car to a spot far from Rillow Bay Cafe, Ann Vaughn parked, then opened the note in her hand.
[Suburban Hospital.]
With such a rare opportunity, is this all Laura told her?
Ann Vaughn pursed her red lips slightly, thoughtfully staring at the note.
During their conversation earlier, Laura’s words sounded like mockery but actually contained hidden meanings.
The first two words of the letters she mentioned from those months, when combined, barely formed a complete sentence –
[I am being blackmailed by Yan, otherwise she won’t spare the ones I care about.]
Yan?
Ann Vaughn recalled the content of the letters, confirming that the dates matched the letters with an initial "Yan," furrowing her thin brows even more.
Could this Yan refer to Miyi Yates?
Yet she wouldn’t say what Miyi Yates held over her, only leaving two vague clues, showing that her previous actions weren’t voluntary.
No wonder Laura would leave so many loopholes in their earlier agreement.
If Ann Vaughn hadn’t seen those letters in Shuhua Vaughn’s room, with Laura’s superb acting skills, it might have taken Ann Vaughn some time to notice anything amiss.
"Ding dong."
Her phone suddenly chimed, bringing Ann Vaughn’s wandering thoughts back.
She glanced down. A concise text message appeared before her.
[Tomorrow night at 8 PM, Maplewood S09 private room, be prepared for the consequences of being late.]
Sender... Heartthrob.
Ann Vaughn’s slender fingers tightened around her phone, recalling being turned away not long ago, her gaze darkening.
She should have expected this; there’s no point in being disappointed now.
Better to think about how to deal with Miyi Yates, the ticking time bomb.
...
The next day, as night fell.
Maplewood.
There was an unexpected issue with a patient at Vaughn Clinic, and by the time Ann Vaughn finished handling it and sped over, it was already 8:30.