Break her wings and make her obediently depend on Cyrus Hawthorne and the Hawthorne Family like a parasitic flower, is that really for her own good?
Just because she lacks a good family background, does she have to be reduced to a puppet tool?
No one but herself can decide what she should do and what she needs to do.
After leaving the family house, Ann Vaughn received a message from her assistant and headed to the company.
Only after stepping into the company did Ann Vaughn realize that Elias Hawthorne had come to "turn in homework" in just two days.
"President Vaughn, those villagers have agreed to move out and promised not to entangle again, so the land should be dealt with the day after tomorrow," the assistant reported while opening the door to Ann Vaughn’s office.
"So soon?" Ann Vaughn was a bit surprised, she thought Elias would give up when faced with obstacles.
She didn’t expect him to manage those troublesome villagers so easily.
As she said this, Ann Vaughn walked into the office and saw Elias sitting upright on the sofa, his fine brows slightly raised, "Tell me, how did you do it?"
Elias withdrew his gaze from the mural, turned his head, and the light blue eyes reflected the elegant figure dressed in a white velvet suit, "You wouldn’t want to know."
There was a ripple in those light blue eyes, seemingly with something else implied.
"It doesn’t sound like a good method," Ann Vaughn casually sat on the sofa, her delicate face strikingly beautiful, "If what you did damages the company’s image, it also counts as your failure."
He answered quickly and firmly, without a hint of guilt.
Ann Vaughn reluctantly believed his words, then looked up at the assistant and said, "Take him to handle the entry procedures this afternoon, and have someone prepare an office for him."
"Okay, President Vaughn," the assistant replied.
"As for you..." Ann Vaughn’s eyes returned to Elias’ face, her slender fingers tapping the table twice, "Starting today, you’ll manage all internal affairs of the company and provide a summary report to me once a week."
Elias was slightly stunned, "And you?"
"Me?" Ann Vaughn’s smile deepened, her red lips curled, "Didn’t I hire you to free myself?"
A rare expression of bewilderment appeared on that seemingly expressionless face.
It seemed he did not anticipate the development of things this way.
Ann Vaughn then stood up, walked to his side, patted his shoulder, and said with a deep smile, "Good luck, sister-in-law, I’m really optimistic about you."
After saying this, Ann Vaughn gracefully left the office.
"Keep an eye on him, if he shows any abnormal behavior, call security to detain him." Outside the door, Ann Vaughn stopped and instructed the assistant behind her.
"Since you don’t trust this person, why hire him?" the assistant wondered, "There are plenty of capable executives, we don’t necessarily have to hire someone whose background we don’t know."
Unknown background...
Ann Vaughn slowly savored those words, her lips curled slightly, "Precisely because we don’t know what he intends to do, we keep him."
This bloodline, absent from the Hawthorne Family Tree, was unknown even to Harold Hawthorne, having wandered outside.
Yet Cyrus Hawthorne knew everything and placed him in his company, acknowledging his identity.
Such a person was willing to hack her phone and alter messages, painstakingly trying to enter her company...
How could Ann Vaughn rest easy letting him stay in the shadows, doing things that would catch her off guard?
Might as well turn the tables on him.
Upon hearing Ann Vaughn’s explanation, the assistant had a faint inkling, "Rest assured, I’ll make arrangements accordingly."
Ann Vaughn nodded, then ended the topic and handed the assistant herbal formulas she had organized days ago, "These medicine formulas have all been improved, the rest is up to you." ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ ɴoᴠel Fɪre.nᴇt
These were some formulas gradually phased out since the establishment of Imperial Glory.
Previously, out of curiosity, Ann Vaughn obtained them from Uncle Murray and found that some formulas were not so dismissible, prompting her to improve them.
The assistant, recalling the matter of the special medicine, felt somewhat exhilarated looking at the formulas in hand, "I’ll connect with the lab and inform you as soon as the results are out."
More and more patients came to Vaughn Clinic for treatment, so much so that the staff there couldn’t put up the closed sign until late at night every day.
Ann Vaughn was much better off, thanks to her initial rule of seeing only ten patients a day, allowing her to catch a breath and set aside time to produce new inhibitors.
The outside demand was urgent; many patients came to inquire about cancer treatment almost every day.
Ann Vaughn was unwilling to delay for too long, potentially missing the treatment window for patients who could still be cured, resulting in her accidentally sleeping in the clinic’s laboratory two nights in a row.
The stop sign was already hung at Vaughn Clinic’s entrance, the inside was pitch black.
The laboratory, however, was brightly lit, as bright as daylight.
"Ding-dong." The phone on the table suddenly rang.
Ann Vaughn, who had just fallen asleep on the desk, was startled awake, reaching out for the phone, and without looking, she swiped to answer, her voice tired, "Hello?"
"Why aren’t you sleeping yet?" The low, cold voice mixed with the sound of a whistling wind brushed past Ann Vaughn’s ear.
Ann Vaughn’s eyes brightened, and her soft, bent back straightened as if being inspected by a teacher, "You’re not asleep either."
Hearing this, Cyrus Hawthorne’s voice turned slightly cold, "Mrs. Hawthorne, you’d better not let me find out that not only are you not home, but you’re staying up outside."
"How... how could that be?" Ann Vaughn couldn’t help but shiver, so cold that goosebumps appeared on her arms.
She guiltily began to tidy the things on the table, stood up, and started to walk out, "I was just reading, I’m about to go to bed now, really!"
"Lying is an extra punishment."
Why is this man so hard to deal with?
Ann Vaughn muttered inwardly, locked the door of Vaughn Clinic, turned, and walked to her car, "I’m already getting ready to go home, I swear I’m not lying this time."
"Hmm." Cyrus Hawthorne’s voice was deep, with a hint of seduction in the tail end, "Did you miss me?"
"... You wish." Ann Vaughn’s cheeks turned slightly red as she snorted arrogantly, put on her Bluetooth earpiece, and drove off.
The line paused for a few seconds, then a rustling sound came from the earphones.
Just as Ann Vaughn suspected the call might have been disconnected, Cyrus Hawthorne’s voice came through again, "I have something to deal with temporarily, I’ll ask you for an answer later."
Before Ann Vaughn could respond, the call was hung up from the other side.
Listening to the busy tone from the earphones, the words Ann Vaughn had initially intended to say got stuck in her throat, and she pursed her red lips in disappointment.
She does not want to think of him.