Chapter 480: Chapter 480: Her Mother’s Whereabouts
The hidden bloodthirsty intent in the words was like a sharp blade of ice, silently stirring up a storm of mental torture in the living room.
Laura Quinn’s eyes widened, transitioning from disbelief to a furious rage in mere seconds.
"Annie just lost a child, not her life!" Laura stood up trembling, unable to even bother with her wrinkled clothes, pointing at Cyrus Hawthorne with sorrow, "You’re still young, so many women would want to bear your children, why insist on having a child with that ill-starred woman of questionable status?!"
"It’s true I gave her the broken child grass, but when you got married, your heart was still with Cynthia Vaughn, and you didn’t care for Ann Vaughn at all. Mom was just trying to help you, to prevent her from having Hawthorne Family descendants and entangling with you even further. Did Mom do something wrong?!"
"Mom only regrets not being harsher back then, letting her die to end it all!"
In just a few words, Laura Quinn spilled out the emotional journey from those years.
From the moment she first laid eyes on Ann Vaughn, she disliked her, not because she married into the Hawthorne Family as a substitute, but because of that face, constantly reminding her of her own humiliating past!
Just seeing that face made Laura want to destroy her!
The way she looked now, not a trace of a dignified lady was left.
It was a stark contrast to the image of a gentle and soft-spoken mother from Cyrus’s few childhood memories.
"Shut up!" Cyrus’s expression suddenly changed, his cold, narrow eyes like a certain predatory and violent beast, locking onto Laura, "No matter how much I disliked Ann Vaughn back then, I only distanced myself, reduced interactions. From beginning to end, I never thought of taking her life."
"Neither should you cover your ruthless actions and ugly soul blinded by hatred under the guise of doing it for my sake."
Laura, being stared at by his cold eyes, felt as if her throat was being squeezed, cold sweat running down her back, overwhelmed by a fear of blacking out, her eyes widening but unable to alleviate it at all.
She couldn’t tell exactly when, but her son had completely slipped from her control.
He once cared about their mother-child bond, never disrespecting her in the slightest.
But now, he didn’t even consider her as his mother he once held dear—
Currently, a subtle, indescribable annoyance cloaked Cyrus’s chest, and the more he recalled Ann Vaughn’s frail and pale figure, the stronger that emotion grew.
The person who hurt her and that child wasn’t others, but his own mother.
This realization made him feel disgust for even half of the blood running through his veins.
"Mark Joyce, take her away." After a while, Cyrus spoke in a deep voice.
Mark was about to respond when Laura’s last shred of composure snapped, hastily interrupting him, "No! You can’t hand your mom over! Because, because—"
"Only I know the whereabouts of Ann Vaughn’s mother!"
Noticing Cyrus’s eyes filled with implicit impatience, Laura could only grit her teeth, revealing the long-buried secret in her heart to make a trade.
Concerned about Ann Vaughn, Cyrus indeed narrowed his eyes and looked at Laura, "Is this true?"
Ann Vaughn’s birth mother was known to be Shuhua Vaughn, but she went missing many years ago, followed shortly by news of her death.
The exact details, however, remain unknown.
"It’s true! Mom can swear on her life!" Laura, seeing a glimmer of hope, responded quickly, her eyes reddening.
But what Laura didn’t know was that when Bella Hawthorne rushed home after hearing the news, all she could think of was defending Laura’s actions, only to hear those cruel words.
...
The drizzle had already started falling. Though it wasn’t heavy, the entire world seemed to be blanketed in a thin mist, making the surroundings appear indistinct.
After leaving the hospital, Ann Vaughn had a clear goal and went straight to The Hawthorne Residence.
The security guard at the entrance recognized her and let her in without any issues.
In a daze, Ann Vaughn walked all the way to the villa, so absent-minded that she didn’t even notice the Hawthorne Family servants coming and going.
The villa was eerily silent; Ann Vaughn’s steps were light, and apart from leaving faint moist prints on the floor, there was no sound at all.
Laura’s biggest daily habit was arranging flowers in the living room, so Ann Vaughn walked toward the living room without hesitation.
"Keep this matter a secret from Annie for now. If anyone leaks the secret to her, don’t blame me for not sparing them." A low, magnetic voice came from inside.
Next came Vera White’s uneasy questioning, "But brother, how long can we hide Miss Annie’s miscarriage? She’s a doctor herself; it’s only a matter of time before she finds out."
"She won’t find out."
"I never imagined in my wildest dreams that Mom would do something like this to Miss Annie... I won’t know how to face Miss Annie anymore in the future..."
As Ann Vaughn was about to enter the living room, she heard the conversation, freezing in place, her eyes shimmering.
She originally thought Cyrus was hiding the miscarriage news from her out of fear she’d be sad.
She believed it so firmly, yet now he had dealt her a stinging blow.
Laura was his mother, his immediate family; how could he... for a mere Ann Vaughn, for a mere child, make Laura face consequences?!
Ann Vaughn’s face turned deathly pale, and she lost the will to even step into the living room, her eyes dimming as she turned and left.
Standing in the living room, Bella Hawthorne glimpsed a slender figure flash past the doorway, familiar but preoccupied with annoyance and chaos, she didn’t think much of it.
...
Not long after returning to the hospital, Ann Vaughn developed a high fever. Her already muddled spirit grew increasingly chaotic, with a dull pain gnawing at her nerves.
She had just had a miscarriage and been out in the rain; to make it back to the hospital before collapsing was already the extreme limit of the restorative medicine’s effect.
A blunt pain pooled in her heart, her body besieged by illness and injury, the dual blow pushing her to the brink of collapse, yet she tenaciously gritted her teeth, vaguely warning herself.
Nothing is insurmountable; only by enduring will everything become better...
After searching outside and contacting Cyrus, Sherry returned to the ward, only to see Ann Vaughn lying on the bed, her skin flushed with an ill heat, mumbling to herself.
Sherry’s heart sank and immediately lifted, she hurried to touch Ann’s forehead, "Why is she so hot!"
"What’s wrong with Annie?" A man’s deep, cold voice came from the phone, accompanied by slamming sounds of something falling due to the abrupt movements.