Chapter 514: Chapter 514: Eyes Watching from Behind
"Ian." Stanley Sheridan unexpectedly called out to him, stopping in his tracks.
Ian Vaughn didn’t want to engage with him, but thinking of Ann Vaughn in the private room, he restrained himself, his face turning cold as he halted, looking at Stanley Sheridan with a distant gaze, "What’s up?"
In the past, Stanley Sheridan knew well that he wasn’t liked by the Vaughn Family. After repeatedly hitting brick walls trying to mend the relationship, he became wiser and tried not to be a nuisance to them anymore.
Thus, seeing Ian Vaughn actually stop to talk to him surprised Stanley Sheridan a bit.
"How are mom and dad’s health?"
"Fine." Ian Vaughn answered icily, his handsome face full of impatience.
Anyone facing the man responsible for their sister’s death without any punishment would struggle to be patient.
But thinking of his little niece, even as hatred for Stanley Sheridan burned in his heart, Ian Vaughn could only endure a bit.
Stanley Sheridan’s expression relaxed, "That’s good. I just saw you all come to eat with a girl... I wanted to remind you of something."
Did he see Annie?
Ian Vaughn raised his eyes, hoping to catch some surprise or suspicion on Stanley Sheridan’s face, but... there was none.
"That girl looks proper and gentle, but actually she is quite calculating, always aiming to climb to a higher and better place, somewhat greedy for vanity..." Stanley Sheridan warned earnestly, "She tried to marry into the Sheridan Family through Eli, and after I saw through her and stopped her, I thought she’d given up, but it turns out, she even fooled you..."
Listening to just this statement, those who didn’t know much about Ann Vaughn might be swayed by Stanley Sheridan’s words to think she was scheming, having failed to get close to Eli, she chose a roundabout way to approach Ian Vaughn instead.
And coming from Eli’s father, such words carried even more weight.
For anyone else, they may have started thinking about how to distance themselves from Ann Vaughn as per Stanley Sheridan’s suggestion.
But Ian Vaughn suddenly laughed, with not a hint of amusement in his light-colored eyes, a coldness that was frightening, "I have my eyes to discern what kind of person she is. Unlike some people... who have eyes yet treat them as decorations."
"You may not believe it, or even care." Stanley Sheridan was not angered by his cold sarcasm, continuing forcefully, "But what about mom and dad? Can they bear, with their already fragile hearts, to see you manipulated and deceived by a woman?"
Those words almost made Ian Vaughn laugh in anger.
For a moment, he even wanted to directly tell Stanley Sheridan that the woman he slandered and warned against was actually his biological daughter!
His expression would be truly splendid if he knew.
"This is Vaughn Family’s affair, not something for Chairman Sheridan to comment on."
Stanley Sheridan only felt Ian Vaughn was stubbornly infatuated, so lost in admiration for that woman that he couldn’t see reason. Just as he wanted to say more, his phone suddenly rang.
He had been out of the private room for quite a while now, leaving his collaborators inside for too long was not good.
"Think about it carefully, I wouldn’t harm you." Hastily, Stanley Sheridan left after saying this.
Ian Vaughn leaned against the wall, letting out a low scoff.
He wouldn’t harm him?
Hadn’t Stanley Sheridan already harmed the Vaughn Family enough?
"...Uncle."
After Stanley Sheridan left, Ann Vaughn, who had been standing hidden behind a large flower pot, slowly emerged. Hearing what Stanley Sheridan had just said made her head buzz, a stifling sensation she couldn’t describe.
She originally intended to go to the restroom but happened to overhear Ian Vaughn and Stanley Sheridan talking, so she curiously listened in.
It would have been better if she hadn’t.
What had she done to the Sheridan Family, or how had she crossed Stanley Sheridan, to make him speak of her with such malice and disdain?
Although it didn’t quite make her sad, after hearing those words, Ann Vaughn couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of sorrow.
Hearing Ann Vaughn’s voice suddenly, Ian Vaughn was momentarily flustered, silently cursing Stanley Sheridan a few times in his heart.
Damn old thing!
"Sweetie, don’t be upset, your dad is senile, he can’t even see people properly anymore. Let’s not listen to his nonsense, okay?" Ian Vaughn, never having comforted anyone before, spoke rather stiffly.
"He’s not my dad." Ann Vaughn smiled faintly, showing no signs of being upset, "At most, we’re just strangers connected by blood."
The little expectations she once had for the role of a father disappeared completely with what Stanley Sheridan said.
Ian Vaughn immediately understood her meaning but didn’t press further given they were outside. He just stepped forward and patted her head.
"Silly girl, let’s go back."
Ann Vaughn pursed her lips and nodded, turning to leave with him when she suddenly felt an unignorable, beast-like, fierce gaze pinned on her back.
Her natural survival instincts triggered, she quickly turned around, her bright eyes startled, scanning around the corridor, trying to find the source of the chilling stare...
But as she turned, everything vanished into thin air.
It was as if those brief moments were all her own hallucination.
"Uncle... did you feel someone watching us?" Ann Vaughn’s back was straight and somewhat rigid, her bright eyes filled with confusion.
More like a beast than a person.
"No, why do you ask?"
"No, it’s nothing. Let’s go back." Ian Vaughn didn’t sense it, so Ann Vaughn shook her head, dismissing it as her recent lack of sleep causing her imagination to run wild.
Precious Catering even had separate rooms for pets like cats and dogs, how could a beast appear?
Ding-dong.
The sound of a message arriving entered Ann Vaughn’s ear.
She let Ian Vaughn return to the private room first, then pulled out her phone to check the message.
It was from Sutton Jennings.
Only now did she realize, albeit belatedly, how Sutton had been so busy that he often vanished from sight, and she couldn’t even recall the last time they met.
Feeling a touch of embarrassment, she lowered her eyes to read the content of the message.
[Jane Sheridan and Elias Hawthorne are very close, motives unclear, please be careful]
Sutton Jennings must have encountered some urgent situation, as he normally punctuated his messages with a period, but this time, he didn’t manage to do so before sending it.
And as the head of the Yanmen family, whatever Sutton Jennings encountered must have been fraught with danger, yet he still remembered to send a warning message to Ann Vaughn...
Ann Vaughn couldn’t help but reprimand herself inwardly.
Brother Shane had always been so good to her, yet she still held a grudge over that last incident.
Is that something a person should do?