Chapter 180: Chapter 180: Stop Right There!
"Who made such a big splash internationally that the news of you being a mysterious savior is all over the media at home?" Susie Sommers said testily, "You have no idea how scared I am that you’ll get discovered by him... them."
Suddenly, something seemed to cross Susie’s mind, and her expression turned odd for a moment.
Ann Vaughn didn’t notice Susie’s off expression, and she laughed upon hearing this, "Relax, no one will find out that the person is mine."
All thanks to everything Sutton Jennings arranged. Unless a national power steps in to investigate, there’s no way to find out her true identity.
"Annie, there are some things I’m not sure if I should tell you." Susie patted the water and looked at Ann with some hesitation.
Before, because Ann Vaughn had already distanced herself from this place, she didn’t need to tell her these things and add to her burden.
But now...
"Just say it, what are you afraid of?" Ann was somewhat puzzled about what made Susie so hesitant, but thinking of her row of boyfriends, she couldn’t help but be startled, "You haven’t ended up with a life lost, have you?"
"Oh dear, what are you thinking?" With Ann’s interruption, Susie’s inner conflict dissipated significantly, somewhat helplessly, "And while I do play around, rest assured, I won’t cross that line."
"That’s good, I was really afraid you might be misguided by beauty."
The two of them didn’t feel at all that the topic had been skewed, and picking up the red wine by the pool, they were about to toast when they realized the wine was already finished.
"Kenny, come up, let’s go buy some drinks." Ann wrapped herself in a towel and went ashore, beckoning Little Dumpling who was sunning his belly on a float nearby.
"Mommy, you go ahead. Kenny still wants to soak for a while." Kenny paddled his short legs a little, and the float drifted away again.
Ann chuckled at his little turtle-like appearance, "Alright, but don’t soak too long. If you feel uncomfortable, come ashore immediately, alright?"
"Don’t worry, Mommy!" Kenny nodded his head vigorously like a pecking chick.
The wristband on his arm can detect his physical state, and if it exceeds a certain threshold, it will immediately alert them.
It also has a positioning and emergency call system, allowing him to contact Ann’s phone with one button, and even if the call gets interrupted, it will immediately send information to her phone.
Hence, Ann was fairly assured.
The hotel outdoor garden past the hot spring had a vending machine, Ann picked up two bottles of milk, handing one to Susie.
The night breeze was slightly cool, stirring the row of green bamboo nearby with rustling sounds.
"How has the Vaughn Family been these years?" Ann unscrewed the milk cap and took a few sips, casually asking.
"The Vaughn Family declared bankruptcy four years ago. Now they probably live in some corner, left to their own devices." Susie recalled the couple’s faces, and her heart ached for Ann yet again from four years ago, she scoffed, "It’s karma."
Bankrupt?
Ann widened her eyes with some surprise. She hadn’t kept up with domestic matters these past few years. Too much happened that year she first arrived in Veridia, she hadn’t even had time to watch the news.
"It was Cyrus Hawthorne who did it." Susie fell silent for two seconds before saying, "Though the Hawthorne Corp. is incredibly wealthy, the Vaughn Family isn’t one that can be easily toppled. I heard Mo... that man say that in order to uproot the Vaughn Family, the Hawthorne Corp. had to undergo certain impacts as well."
You could say it was damaging without benefiting oneself.
That wasn’t the main point, but rather Cyrus Hawthorne had not appeared at the company for several months thereafter, and no one was able to track him down.
Companies that had always eyed the dominance of the Hawthorne Corp. saw this as an opportunity to strike, united to target them, causing the Hawthorne Corp. to face tribulations once more.
That was probably the biggest blow the Hawthorne Corp. had suffered.
Even Susie believed at that time that the Hawthorne Corp. wouldn’t hold out. After all, their leader Cyrus Hawthorne had disappeared without a trace, clearly his luck had run out.
Yet the name Cyrus Hawthorne seemed destined to write legends.
Thinking this, Susie couldn’t help but admire the man, but remembering what he had done to Ann, no amount of admiration could erase the resentment.
"Annie, I know saying this might upset you, but I need to say it." Susie straightened her expression, "Cyrus Hawthorne isn’t a man worth your love. Even if he regrets how he treated you, you can’t forgive him."
Ann looked at her solemn expression, her red lips curled into a smile, her bright eyes gleaming like starlight, "I once loved him, loved him so much that I forgot who I was, only remembered his name."
"Later, I remembered who I was, so I stopped loving him. Because I remembered the wounds, remembered the pain, and never dared to forget even for a moment."
"I don’t remember because I love him, but because I wanted to warn myself, I may not be able to forgive him, but I won’t ever love him like I did before."
She couldn’t forgive.
But she never forced herself to forgive or forget, she wanted to remember firmly, so she wouldn’t repeat past mistakes.
After speaking, Ann glanced at Susie’s surprised expression, smiling gently and stood up, "What I didn’t say just now was, Susie, when you get serious, you look just like Granny Golding!"
She said this and ran off, leaving Susie jumping up in reaction, to find her long gone!
"Ann Vaughn! Stop right there!!"
Meanwhile, a group of elites led by a distinguished man emerged from the corner of the corridor.
Susie’s sudden shout startled the already tense group of elites, making them jump.
The leading man paused in his steps, his cold eyes suddenly glanced toward the source of the sound, but all he could see was a row of green bamboo.
"Did you hear clearly that sentence just now?" The man’s voice was deep, surrounding his figure with a drop in temperature.
The elites looked at each other in confusion, thinking this was an impromptu added challenge from the president.
"That sentence just now should have been... ’You stop right there?’ "
"Name."
The elite man on the left quickly stood forward, his voice strong and powerful, "Alice Ulrich, you stop right there! I won’t allow you to escape my world!"
A group of elites: ...
Mate, you went overboard adding drama for yourself.
The man in charge lifted his head and massaged his subtly aching brow, his cold gaze sweeping over the speaking elite, "Redo the proposal and give it to me by tomorrow morning."
With that, the man didn’t pause any longer and left.
"Ah..." The elite man was utterly defeated, "Romance novels have ruined me!!"
"If you’d known, you could have said Ann Vaughn. I thought that shout earlier sounded quite like the president’s wife’s name, maybe President Hawthorne would have spared you." Someone beside him gloated.
"Didn’t the president and his wife get divorced four years ago? Could it be the president still..."
"Shut your mouths, dare to mention that name so casually? Quickly keep up, unless you want to go home and starve yourselves?"