Chapter 662: Chapter 662: The End of the Line
In the past, every time she came back to this home, it was like the Princess traveling incognito. From her father to that half-brother of hers, who didn’t greet her with a smile?
But now she’s just hit rock bottom, and they can’t wait to show their true colors!
...
The next day.
At the break of dawn, Ann Vaughn, being a light sleeper, woke up and went with Old Mrs. Vaughn and Old Mr. Vaughn to the hospital to give Ian Vaughn a pulse reading and acupuncture.
Yet, he still showed no signs of waking up.
"The patient’s desire for consciousness doesn’t seem strong. Preliminary analysis suggests he might have suffered some intense shock before the accident, causing this reluctance to wake." The doctor shook his head, sighed, and said, "I’m sorry, we have no way around it."
This hospital is under the Vaughn Family, and the doctors are familiar with Ian Vaughn.
Seeing him like this, lying here, weighs heavily on their hearts.
Ann Vaughn escorted the doctor out of the ward. Upon her return, she saw Old Mrs. Vaughn discreetly wiping tears, and her nose turned sore.
But crying wouldn’t solve anything at this moment.
"Grandpa and Grandma, do you know where Uncle went on the day of the accident?" Ann Vaughn pursed her lips tightly, walked up to Old Mrs. Vaughn, and gently asked.
"The police said they found the severely injured Ian near a pavilion on the Mountain Loop Road. Unfortunately, there’s no surveillance on that stretch. Tire tracks suggest he was hit by a small car."
Old Mr. Vaughn lowered his head, sitting by the bedside, speaking in a deep voice.
Hit-and-run.
These four words darted into Ann Vaughn’s mind; she furrowed her brow slightly and asked, "And do you know why Uncle went to Mountain Loop Road?"
"He hadn’t told us, and surveillance at the Viridian Palace captured him leaving home at five a.m., without a driver or driving himself, possibly took a ride. But..." Old Mr. Vaughn hesitated.
"Could he have gone with the person who hit him?" Ann Vaughn echoed his suspicion gently.
Old Mr. Vaughn nodded emphatically, "The problem is, we have no clue who that person is."
Seeing Ann Vaughn’s worried expression, Old Mr. Vaughn continued, "Don’t worry, I’ve already asked Uncle Murray to investigate. We’ll definitely find something."
If not for Ian Vaughn’s condition worsening last night, worrying Ann Vaughn might not see him one last time.
Otherwise, Old Mr. Vaughn and Old Mrs. Vaughn absolutely wouldn’t want Ann Vaughn to come to Marinia, for fear of her being caught in danger.
Upon hearing this, Ann Vaughn stood up to get Ian Vaughn’s phone from the table. Upon turning it on, the lock screen password interface appeared.
She wasn’t skilled in this, but her sweet treasure definitely knew how to unlock it.
When they returned to the Viridian Palace at noon, Ann Vaughn handed the phone to Kenny to unlock it.
The phone was in Little Dumpling’s hands, and within moments he cracked the lock screen password, leaving Ann Vaughn amazed.
"Honey, you’re incredible! If Mommy loses her job, we certainly won’t starve even if we set up a stall under the bridge." Ann Vaughn chuckled and opened the dial interface on the phone.
Little Dumpling couldn’t help but sweat at those words.
How was he to tell his mommy that his little stash wouldn’t let her end up setting up a stall under the bridge?
"Mommy, Kenny steals money from Daddy to support you!" He thought for a moment and seriously nodded.
Ann Vaughn burst out laughing, giving his soft cheek a kiss, "Sweet treasure, I haven’t pampered you for nothing."
"Hehe."
Ann Vaughn quickly checked every incoming and outgoing number on the day Ian Vaughn had the accident. She also searched the recordings for the automatically saved phone conversations, listening to them one by one.
No useful clues were found.
"Mommy, where do you usually keep important things?" Kenny tilted his little head and asked.
The question immediately made Ann Vaughn think of a place, "Right! The study!"
When she visited last time, she went to Ian Vaughn’s study, knowing the password on the study door, she headed in smoothly.
Inside, it was as tidy as when Ann Vaughn last visited.
Kenny trotted around to the mahogany desk, climbed onto the chair, and observed carefully for a while, taking a pencil from the pen holder.
In no time, Kenny raised his head and shouted to Ann Vaughn who was at the bookshelf, "Mommy, found it."
"Found what?" Ann Vaughn put the book back and quickly walked over, lowering her head to look at the notebook in Kenny’s hand.
On the blank sheets, Little Dumpling had brushed with a layer of pencil, revealing faint words.
Probably because Ian Vaughn pressed too hard while writing on the previous sheet, leaving marks visible on this one.
"What is ’Safety something’, ’Never something’? What is 187635?" Ann Vaughn stared for a while, but the middle words were unclear, couldn’t figure it out, "A phone number?"
The phone numbers in this area start with 186, but there are a hundred similar numbers, plus the middle digits are unknown.
Ann Vaughn squatted down to search through the wastepaper basket beside the desk.
But there were only some discarded calculation drafts inside, nothing she hoped to find...
"Mommy, bad news." Little Dumpling suddenly called when Ann Vaughn had a headache.
Ann Vaughn stood up and glanced at the handheld mirror in Little Dumpling’s hand, seeing news headlines that pierced the heart displayed on the screen.
"Only Heir of Vaughn Family Meets Unfortunate Car Accident, Life Hangs by a Thread!"
"Reported drop in stock prices of Vaughn Family’s company, prominent family in Marinia left without a successor!"
The subsequent news hadn’t popped up yet, but Little Dumpling, with a cold little face, directly shut these messages in the corners, never to be released!
Online news was removed quickly by Little Dumpling, not causing widespread attention.
However, Vaughn Headquarters had already erupted into a storm.
Though Ian Vaughn was a professor at S University, he was also the invisible boss behind all Vaughn Family industries, with Uncle Murray solely entrusted to manage everything, while he rarely intervened.
Now that something’s happened to him, and Old Mr. Vaughn had long since stopped concerning himself with business, it’s like losing a supporting pillar, causing unrest below.
It’s easy to imagine, if this situation gets out of hand, what kind of blow it would deliver to the Vaughn Family.
When the wall falls, it is crowded.
Those who previously had good relations or partnerships with the Vaughn Family may not offer a helping hand, but will certainly nibble away at all Vaughn Family’s industries bit by bit, leaving no chance for resurgence.
Having stayed by Cyrus Hawthorne’s side for a long time, Ann Vaughn has picked up and can somewhat grasp deeper aspects.
After going downstairs, Ann Vaughn intended to find the two elders in the master bedroom but heard noise coming from the living room.
"Madam, you’re saying, Ian is now a vegetable, unsure if he’ll recover, do you really want the Vaughn Family to end?"