Chapter 146: Chapter 146: No One Has Ever Been the Exception
But how come she never knew that her grandfather knew someone from the Saxon Family, and why did he leave this jade pendant for her?
The next day, when Sutton Jennings brought Sawyer Jennings over for a meal, Ann Vaughn mentioned this to them.
"Tracing back a century, the jade carvers of the Saxon Family are indeed unique in The Imperial Capital. However, in recent years, this craft has gradually declined, and the Saxon descendants have given up carving, turning to the jewelry industry instead."
Sutton Jennings explained while spreading jam on bread and handing it to Ann Vaughn.
Sawyer Jennings, who had also reached out his hand: "..."
"This jade pendant of yours is undoubtedly from the Saxon Family, and it was personally carved by Old Master Saxon." Sutton Jennings recognized the patterns on the pendant at a glance.
Ann Vaughn accepted the jade pendant from him, fiddled with the pendant’s tassels with her slender fingers, and said with a frown, "I always feel that my grandfather wanted to tell me something through this item."
But the information is missing the most crucial piece, unable to form anything useful.
"If you want to know, tomorrow night is the engagement party of the third son of the Saxon Family, and Old Master Saxon, who hasn’t been seen for a long time, will also attend. You might take the opportunity to ask him in person."
The Saxon Family’s engagement party, so he will also be there...
Ann Vaughn’s hand holding the jade pendant suddenly tightened, her bright eyes filled with a misty light.
In The Imperial Capital, almost all the elite families are interconnected, constantly running into each other, especially for a century-old family like the Saxons, whose history with the Hawthorne Family is not shallow.
It’s possible that the person she most fears encountering might also appear at the party.
"Don’t worry, his flight is tomorrow morning, and he won’t be back until the day after tomorrow." Sutton Jennings, putting his phone back in his suit pocket, guessed something from her expression and spoke reassuringly without pinpointing directly.
Ann Vaughn snapped back to reality, and upon hearing this, the tension in her throat eased slightly, and she smiled at him gratefully.
However, the layer of frost covering her heart was hard to melt for a long time.
-
Hawthorne Group Tower.
Outside the window, the sun was blazing and the sky was clear, yet inside the top-floor office, it felt as if winter had arrived early, the cold and biting wind rushing towards you.
Executives who walked into the president’s office full of confidence, holding their reports, came out with expressions as defeated as wilted eggplants.
"Special Assistant Joyce, how is the president’s mood today?" The planning department manager stood in front of Mark Joyce with trepidation, hoping to hear a reassuring answer.
Mark Joyce’s face was expressionless, he just shook his head, indicating it wasn’t very optimistic.
The planning department manager felt as though mourning a great loss, knocking on the president’s office door as if going to his doom.
Less than fifteen minutes later, the planning department manager walked out with a bitter expression, muttering to himself, "Finished, it’s all finished..."
Mark Joyce returned with some documents and saw this scene: "..."
Fine, another one lost their mind this week.
The temperature in the president’s office was cold to the point of being unbearable for an ordinary person.
The man sat behind the marble desk, his handsome and sharp features exuding the ultimate authority, and when his thin lips opened, the words seemed to be laced with ice.
Although there wasn’t a single curse word, the words could completely crush a person’s will.
As Mark Joyce entered, he saw the finance manager leaving with a look of pure despair.
Behind the desk, Cyrus Hawthorne casually tossed aside the pen in his hand, his brows tightly knitted, and his long fingers loosened two buttons of his collar, trying to dispel the gloom shrouding his heart.
To no avail.
"Did you find her?" After a long while, he asked coldly.
Mark Joyce, standing at the side, took a full three seconds to realize who Cyrus Hawthorne meant by "her," and immediately responded, "Miss Vaughn hasn’t used her ID or credit cards during this period, ruling out the possibility that she’s left The Imperial Capital."
"Our people are still searching within The Imperial Capital’s bounds, but whenever we get a lead, there’s interference, so..."
Mark Joyce didn’t dare continue, the president’s face had already turned as black as ink.
"A bunch of useless people, can’t even handle this trivial matter." Cyrus Hawthorne’s narrowed eyes glistened with an almost imperceptible fierceness, his thin lips curling into a cold arc.
"Yes, rest assured, I’ll ensure they find Miss Vaughn as soon as possible." Mark Joyce said continuously, not daring to take a deep breath.
Cyrus Hawthorne pressed a hand to his brow, suddenly remembering something, and his deep eyes instantly turned as dark as ink. "Where is Sutton Jennings now?"
Mark Joyce immediately retrieved a series of information from a tablet and replied, "He’s been at Aurelia for the past few days, and all activities after six in the evening have been erased, so we can’t determine."
After speaking, a new message popped up, and Mark Joyce continued, "President Hawthorne, Sutton Jennings is attending the Saxon Family son’s engagement party tomorrow, but nothing else unusual."
"Ha." Cyrus Hawthorne’s Adam’s apple moved twice, releasing a low chuckle. His slender jade-like fingers tapped twice on the black desk. "Clear my schedule for tomorrow."
"But President Hawthorne, the scheduled signing of the contract with Veritas Corp from K Country is tomorrow, and it shouldn’t be delayed easily..."
"Do as I say."
Mark Joyce fell silent, a rare complexity surfacing on his usually expressionless face.
The first collaboration between Hawthorne Corp and Veritas was not child’s play; it was a multi-billion-dollar project that Hawthorne fought for several times before securing.
If missed, the loss would be incalculable, and it wouldn’t be a wise decision.
Mark Joyce had been by Cyrus Hawthorne’s side for nearly seven years and had never seen anyone outrank business in Cyrus’s mind.
Not even Miss Cynthia Vaughn had ever been an exception.
-
The following evening.
The parking lot outside the Saxon Family villa was filled with various luxury cars, a red carpet stretched from the entrance all the way inside.
Petals with dewdrops rained down from somewhere above, looking exceedingly romantic.
As the car door opened, Ann Vaughn, dressed in a light blue gauzy cheongsam, stepped out. The first sight was her slender jade-like arms, with a veil draped over them, accentuating her waist, as if it could barely be gripped with one hand.
She tilted her head slightly, and her lightly made-up but exquisitely beautiful face seemed like a blooming flower, her brows were like distant hills and her eyes like pools of water, with her red lips curled into a perfectly intriguing smile, possessing a captivating allure.
Especially her graceful figure beneath the cheongsam, one bit more would be too much, one bit less too little, tempting one to imagine all sorts of things.
It was truly hard to look away.
Sutton Jennings got out from the other side and stood nonchalantly in front of Ann Vaughn, blocking the gazes from all sides, then extended his arm to her.
"Shall we go in?"
Ann Vaughn hesitated for a moment before placing her hand lightly on his arm and walking towards the main entrance.
"Wait, I think I left my handbag in the car."
Throughout the evening, Ann Vaughn had been preoccupied with the jade pendant matter, causing her to be somewhat distracted, only remembering as they reached the entrance that she had left her handbag in the car.