Chapter 613: Chapter 613: Why Don’t You Rely on Me a Bit More
"Mommy." Kenny heard footsteps, turned his head, and saw it was Ann Vaughn. A soft smile spread across his little face. "Was the alarm too loud and woke you up, Mommy?"
Ann Vaughn slightly shook her head, "No, Mommy hasn’t slept yet. Why aren’t you asleep either?"
"Well, when the alarm went off just now, something got hit by the electric current setup. Kenny wanted to see what it was, but..." The Little Dumpling’s cheeks wrinkled a bit as he enlarged the interface for Ann Vaughn to see, "The surveillance only captured this."
"Even after zooming in more than ten times, we can only make out the rough shape."
This indicates that the speed of that thing was so fast that the machine couldn’t capture it.
Ann Vaughn looked at the shape on the image that resembled a black cat, silently contemplating for a few seconds.
Was she secretly being watched by a black cat just now?
She looked at the Little Dumpling’s rare, somewhat troubled expression, reached out to rub his little head, and softly said, "Kenny is amazing. Thanks to the alarm system you installed here, Mommy managed to be safe and sound tonight."
"Does that mean Mommy almost encountered danger?" The Little Dumpling turned into a puffed-up ball, not comforted at all, "Just the electric setup isn’t enough, should we add a few more traps and move the sensor lines further inside?"
Ann Vaughn: ???
She might as well not say anything, lest she adds to her little one’s burden.
Seeing that the Little Dumpling was determined to battle that unknown creature until dawn, Ann Vaughn had to forcibly pick him up from the desk, tuck him snugly into his little blanket, and make him sleep soundly.
After the Little Dumpling fell asleep, Ann Vaughn left the children’s room and walked towards Bella Hawthorne’s room.
The Shadow Guard members had already checked her room and left after finding nothing unusual.
Bella Hawthorne hadn’t slept well for a long time. Learning that the villa was equipped with alarm systems all around, she relaxed for the first time in a while and quickly fell asleep.
Seeing no light coming from the crack under her door, Ann Vaughn guessed she must have fallen asleep, so she didn’t knock to disturb her and returned to her room.
Ding-dong, ding-dong—
As soon as she entered, her phone, lying on the bed, stopped ringing but started again within less than three seconds.
Ann Vaughn hurried over to pick up her phone and saw that it was Cyrus Hawthorne calling, so she promptly answered.
"Annie." The deep, magnetic voice transmitted from the other end of the phone to Ann Vaughn’s ears, so close as if he were whispering right next to her.
Suddenly, Ann Vaughn couldn’t help but feel a slight sting at the tip of her nose. Pausing for a few seconds, she said a bit choked up, "Quinn, the cats here are terrifying..."
Upon hearing this, Cyrus Hawthorne couldn’t help but chuckle lightly.
"You’re laughing! I was being watched by a cat, you know!" Ann Vaughn pouted on her bed, her small face full of grievance.
Just thinking about it was creepy.
Could that cat have turned into some supernatural being??
Detecting her dissatisfaction, Cyrus Hawthorne coughed lightly, suppressing his laughter, and his tone carried a hint of consolation: "The Shadow Guard will patrol inside and outside the villa all night, don’t be afraid."
Despite these words...
Somehow, the fear instilled in Ann Vaughn by that unknown gaze was so profound that she couldn’t shake the feeling that the gaze might reappear from some direction.
There’s no foothold outside the window. Even if it’s a cat, unless it had wings, it couldn’t be staring at her through that window...
Meanwhile, the man processing urgent documents on the sofa in the hospital room suddenly heard the quirky song "Uneasy" blaring from the phone.
"...What are you doing?" Cyrus put down the pen in his hand, raised a hand to massage his brow, and asked in a deep voice.
"If it’s really a cat, great. If not, I’ll scare it away with this song!" Ann Vaughn defended.
"..." Cyrus Hawthorne’s lips curled slightly, seemingly both amused and helpless, "No need to play music."
"No, my ability to sleep tonight depends on it," Ann Vaughn’s voice carried a small note of grievance. Without the music, she wasn’t about to start performing rituals in her room to ward off ghosts in the middle of the night, was she?
She wasn’t some kind of shaman, after all...
"From now on, do as I say."
Ann Vaughn instantly perked up, rolling onto her back from the bed, "Say it!"
"Lie down, cover yourself with a blanket, switch to speaker mode, and place the phone on the pillow beside you."
Ann Vaughn did as he instructed, then looked up at the phone beside her, "And then?"
"Sleep," Cyrus Hawthorne’s voice was steady and unhurried. "Before you wake up, this call won’t end."
Thump.
Ann Vaughn’s heart skipped a beat suddenly, warmth spreading from the edges of her heart, even warming her fingertips that had been cold all this time.
Actually, earlier she had prepared more than just the song "Uneasy" as a talisman.
She also had a massive Russian novel thicker than a brick as a sleep aid.
And a few healing romance movies lined up, just in case she couldn’t sleep and decided to watch movies till dawn.
However, "finding someone to be with" wasn’t an option she had considered in her list of choices.
There’s an old saying that the child who cries and fusses gets the candy, but the child who doesn’t cry or fuss not only doesn’t get candy, but eventually loses the ability to seek comfort or help from others, believing they can only rely on themselves.
But not crying or fussing and still getting the candy is even more precious.
Ann Vaughn pulled the soft blanket over her slightly warmed face, giving a low "mm" sound, and said nothing more.
Although separated by a phone, unable to see or touch him, Ann Vaughn’s legs, once shaky with fear, felt grounded, no longer as frightened.
As drowsiness crept in, just before she closed her eyes, Ann Vaughn glanced at the phone still on the call screen, her lips curving slightly upward as darkness enveloped her.
In the haze, she seemed to hear a faint sigh coming from the phone.
"You could depend on me a little more."
"Dummy."
...
The next morning.
Upon waking up, Ann Vaughn’s first response was to check her phone and found that last night’s call hadn’t ended. She had thought Cyrus would hang up the call the moment she fell asleep.
She picked up the phone, feeling the handset slightly warm, and fanned it with her hand before softly saying, "Hello."
"Miss Vaughn." Instead, Mark Joyce’s voice answered from the other end.
The smile that had just appeared in Ann Vaughn’s eyes faded slightly, "Special Assistant Joyce?"
"It’s me. Miss Vaughn, President Hawthorne went with the Madam for a checkup ten minutes ago and won’t be free for a while." Mark Joyce explained while silently lamenting in his heart.
No wonder the overseas cooperative company couldn’t reach President Hawthorne’s phone all night, and texts and emails went unanswered.
Turns out he was busy having a phone marathon with the future Mrs. CEO.