Chapter 144: Chapter 144: Who Gave Her the Nerve?
Ann Vaughn felt a warmth in her heart, briefly explained what happened these past few days to Susie Sommers, and asked what she meant by "already resolved".
"Those crazy Hawthorne Family members!" Susie cursed a few times, then suddenly shifted her tone with a mischievous laugh, "Annie, your husband’s methods are impressive! Even though I used the TV station’s influence to clear your name, not many believed it. As soon as he intervened, the matter was resolved."
"Ah?" Ann Vaughn was stunned.
"This morning, Hawthorne Corp. issued a statement, counterattacking from the point that your face wasn’t shown clearly in those photos, and even sued over twenty news agencies that spread rumors!"
"But the interview video..."
"The videos those media released across the web back then were all edited ambiguously. Now the original version has been widely spread since this morning!"
Ann Vaughn’s lips parted, but she couldn’t find the words.
Never did she expect the situation would be reversed like this.
Nor did she anticipate that Cyrus Hawthorne would go to such lengths to clear up this matter for her.
Aside from him, there wouldn’t be anyone else.
Though this reversal didn’t use the most direct evidence to declare Ann Vaughn innocent, the key point is that there’s no decisive proof in this incident showing Ann Vaughn as the actress in the scandal.
Admittedly, the angle of this PR strategy was extremely clever, making it impossible for anyone to refute.
Sometimes, when public opinion reaches an extreme, it rebounds.
And this timing was perfectly executed!
Ann Vaughn hung up the phone, stepped out of the elevator, and couldn’t wait to run to Cyrus Hawthorne’s hospital room.
The impulse coming from the depths of her heart was uncontrollable, making her eager to see him.
A nurse had just finished changing the medication and was pushing the cart out of the room. Ann Vaughn nodded towards her, pressed against the door, and was about to push it open.
"Your move of killing two birds with one stone is truly thorough, Orion Hawthorne probably can’t fathom when you started setting up this game even till the end of his days." Silas Master Moore’s leisurely voice came from inside.
Ann Vaughn instinctively stopped in her tracks, just about to close the door and wait to come back later when she heard Silas continue.
"I don’t know whether Ann Vaughn is pitiable or unfortunate, ending up as the most indispensable pawn in your game’s board, at times even pivotal."
As the door was closing to just a crack, Ann Vaughn’s bright eyes shot open, and a flash of that phrase Orion Hawthorne said in the cabin the other day crossed her mind.
"And you, this woman, are his final pawn!"
She hadn’t understood what Orion meant by these words at the time, and now hearing Silas describe it this way, suddenly made her have a vague feeling of unease.
"Are you free now?" Cyrus Hawthorne’s indifferent voice sounded, carrying a subtle but noticeable annoyance.
Silas chuckled playfully, "I’m busy as a spinning top but still take time to visit you, the patient. Do you think I’m free?"
Seeing Cyrus Hawthorne looking down at the documents in his hand without responding, Silas Moore didn’t feel awkward at all. On the contrary, he eagerly stroked his chin and asked, "I’m curious, since you don’t mind using Ann Vaughn as bait, why not just divorce her?"
"With my years of experience, you wouldn’t have really fallen for her, would you?"
Cyrus Hawthorne glanced coldly at Silas, and then those eyes revealed the familiar coldness and derision Ann Vaughn knew all too well, "I like her? What a joke."
Slam!
Ann Vaughn bit her lip and closed the door completely, her pale face devoid of any color, ashen like paper.
Her heart seemed strangled by wild grass growing out of control, suffocating her to the point she almost couldn’t breathe, as if submerged in water, her breathheavy.
The emotional impact just moments before made the slap of reality resound even crueler and louder against her face.
She no longer wished to humiliate herself but lacked the courage to push the door open and confront Cyrus Hawthorne about why he did this, only able to turn around and flee.
"Then why not simply divorce her outright? Cynthia Vaughn needs her heart for surgery, but with your means, even divorced, Ann Vaughn wouldn’t escape your control." Silas glanced at the hospital room door, then turned his gaze back, asking with a smile, "Or, can’t you bear to?"
Cyrus Hawthorne raised his chin slightly, his slender fingers inadvertently playing with the crystal cufflinks, his brows gradually furrowing.
This was a subconscious gesture he made when worried.
"Just amusement, that’s all," he said leisurely.
"That does make me feel a bit pity for her."
Then, the hospital room returned to silence.
Walking out of the hospital, Ann Vaughn didn’t even know where she was going or should go, aimlessly wandering down the street.
She tried desperately to find a perfect excuse to prove that everything she just heard wasn’t as she interpreted.
But the more she tried, the more vividly the thread in her mind connected the dots.
The secret document in the study was false from the start. Cyrus Hawthorne knew but still expelled her and agreed to divorce her.
And just after she left the estate, Orion Hawthorne’s men conveniently appeared and kidnapped her.
None of this was mere coincidence; it was all due to his schemes.
Dark clouds shrouded the sky, gradually wind picked up, and cold drizzle started to fall. Ann Vaughn walked mindlessly on the road, oblivious as her hand clenched tightly at her side.
Turns out the coincidences she thought were his meticulous calculations.
In the entire charade, she had only gotten one thing right.
He never cared about her and the child’s life or death from the start.
Not a bit... not at all.
Ann Vaughn stopped in her tracks, as if all her energy was drained, standing there unable to move, her soft hair soaked with the falling rain, resting coolly on her face.
Yet it wasn’t as cold as her heart at that moment.
Just then, the phone she’d kept in her hand suddenly started ringing.
Ann Vaughn awoke from her daze, her empty eyes slowly lowering to glance at the phone screen. Upon seeing those three words, her pupils instantly contracted.
Without thinking, she rejected the call, throwing the phone into a roadside trash can, and spun around to run forward like some monster was chasing behind her.
However, she hadn’t run far when her arm was suddenly grabbed by a hand, and the rain disappeared over her head.
"It’s slippery in the rain, running recklessly like this will get you hurt." Beneath the black umbrella, Sutton Jennings’s handsome, reserved face appeared, with a faint hint of a bloody smell lingering.
His almond-shaped eyes stared unwaveringly at Ann Vaughn’s lost face, calmly and firmly saying, "This is my last time being late."
Meanwhile, at the hospital.
Staring at the unanswered call screen, Cyrus Hawthorne’s tightly furrowed brow could kill a fly, his dark eyes swirling with deep dissatisfaction.
This woman actually dared to reject his call?
Who gave her the courage?
Mark Joyce entered the hospital room and was met with Cyrus Hawthorne’s brooding, menacing aura, causing a shiver down his spine, before obediently walking over.