Unable to find Cyrus Hawthorne’s pen on the desk, she pushed her chair back and opened the drawer under the desk to look for it.
As she opened the second drawer on the left side, Ann Vaughn’s gaze suddenly halted.
A small, exquisite white velvet box was placed inside the drawer, its contents unknown.
Driven by curiosity, she picked up the box and opened it for a peek.
To her surprise, she saw two rings intricately wrapped around with sapphire in the center, lying quietly inside.
The rings are uniquely styled, and when the two sapphires are placed together, they subtly reveal a heart shape in the gemstone.
Ann Vaughn tentatively slipped the woman’s ring onto her ring finger— Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs ɴoᴠel Fɪre.nᴇt
She stared blankly at the ring on her finger, a sourness accumulating at her heart, growing denser, almost splitting her in half.
One half kept her calm and rational; as long as she doesn’t see his corpse, it means there’s a possibility he is still alive.
The other half... was already dead.
Ann Vaughn lowered her eyes, full of endless darkness and loneliness, as if dragging her into a hopeless abyss.
Yet unbeknownst to her, a flicker of light was quietly spreading in the corner.
Ann Vaughn, you have to safeguard everything for him, wait for him to return.
With this thought rising, Ann Vaughn took off the ring, put it back in the box, placed it back in the drawer, and closed it.
She waited nineteen years before; another nineteen years won’t matter.
The news of Cyrus Hawthorne’s accident did not spread, as family members and top executives of Hawthorne Corp. unanimously kept this secret.
Inside the company, it is explained that President Hawthorne is out for work, temporarily managed by his wife, Ann Vaughn, and thus no one suspects anything.
Even if someone tries to leak it out, The Shadow Guard will swiftly nip any potential issues in the bud.
Harold Hawthorne finds it frustratingly impossible to leverage the internet to pressure Ann Vaughn!
The teacup on the table was knocked over, shattering instantly into pieces.
"It’s all because of that bitch Ann Vaughn!" Harold Hawthorne angrily kicked at the sofa leg, his face gloomy as he spat a venomous remark, then he looked at Laura Quinn, who was cheerfully playing with her nails, "Look at what your son has done! Such a vast estate, all handed over to an outsider!"
Laura Quinn laughed indifferently: "Why are you so anxious? He made a will to leave everything to Ann Vaughn, but if Ann Vaughn and that child both die, who do you think will inherit the property?"
Naturally, it would be her, as a mother, who inherits.
Harold Hawthorne chuckled immediately, "Then what do you plan to do?"
"The way she swallowed them, let her spit them out the same way. If she refuses, don’t blame us for being ruthless." Laura Quinn took out a mirror, adjusted her collar, "She doesn’t even know how to manage a company; just wait, she’ll be deposed within a couple of days."
Having been Ann Vaughn’s mother-in-law for more than half a year, she knows Ann Vaughn’s limits.
Let her handle those poor Chinese medicines, but financial management? That would be a dream.
Harold Hawthorne agreed, "When the old man wakes up and sees the company in chaos because of her... control will naturally shift back to me."
The envisioned future between the two was quite rosy, unaware that the "management idiot" they mentioned had already dismissed the third wave of senior executives coming to report business matters.
Before entering the office, no one was free from the mindset of "What does a practitioner of Chinese medicine know about management? Can she even read a report?" Thus, the proposals and reports they should have done well appeared half-hearted.
It was mere presumption that Ann Vaughn was easy to fool, allowing them to get away with sloppy work.
But reality gave them a lesson——
"Why did this quarter’s earnings drop two points compared to last quarter?"
"Did you seriously work on this proposal? Even if I fed rice grains onto the keyboard, whatever a chicken pecked out would be better than investing a billion into a project with no potential for profit."
In just one morning, the executives once again experienced what human hell is.
Where’s the promised business idiot?
The ones spreading rumors have rocks in their heads??
The people in the secretary’s room watched the senior executives go in with their heads held high and come out in defeat, unable to resist commenting.
"If I didn’t know Miss Vaughn was in there, I’d almost think President Hawthorne had returned..."
"That’s why they say they’re a couple, two demons as peas in a pod..."
"Feel sorry for them for a second..."
Such comments about Ann Vaughn, of course, went unheard by her as she worked hard to deal with an acquisition contract, her head about to explode.
The earring with communication capabilities clipped to her ear continued to transmit a man’s smooth yet stern guiding voice: "There’s an issue with Article 7, I told you to amend it."
"Alright." Ann nodded.
"Amend point three of Article 11."
If anyone were present at this moment, they would certainly think Ann Vaughn, continuously saying "alright, alright, alright," must have gone mad.
In fact, she was about to go crazy herself.
"Bro, this is too hard..." Ann Vaughn amended the clauses one by one as instructed, then handed them to the secretary for printing, continuing with the next document.
Elliot paused briefly over the earpiece, "...What did you just call me?"
"Bro." Ann replied weakly, rubbing her aching waist and reading out the incomprehensible content in the document for him.
Fortunately, there was Eli Sheridan.
Otherwise, she would have been fooled by those scheming and cunning executives.
Eli’s stern voice softened, becoming more gentle: "It’s challenging, but you have your bro here."
Ann Vaughn quietly felt guilty for a few seconds.
Eli didn’t know she was actually his biological sister, but he treated her incredibly well over the years, often making her want to call him brother.
Upon discovering he was truly her biological brother, she was delighted and chuckled under the covers in her dreams.
Not being able to reunite with him made Ann feel quite regretful.
But torn between her uncle’s instructions and her brother’s warmth, Ann Vaughn didn’t let herself get tangled up.
With Eli’s help, Ann managed to handle the pile of documents in less than an afternoon that she alone would have likely labored over for ages.
However, this resulted in a side effect: sore waist, aching neck, and she nearly couldn’t stand up from the chair.
But when she snapped out of it, she found that the nearly paralyzing heartache she felt amid the overwhelming paperwork had actually subsided slightly...
Her phone rang at this time.
Ann barely had the strength to pick it up, directly swiping the screen to answer and activating the speaker, "Sherry?"
"Annie, it’s bad news, our medical center just got sealed by the authorities!"