Chapter 442: Chapter 442: You Finally Woke Up
After Ann Vaughn left the inner room, Miyi Yates called over the man from earlier, "Have you discovered that the doctor who developed the treatment for the epidemic is that woman?"
"Yes," the man affirmed.
Miyi Yates nodded thoughtfully, "I didn’t expect... she’s quite capable."
She had underestimated that woman.
Although she thought of it like this, Miyi Yates didn’t concern herself with someone insignificant. She turned and went back to the inner room, "The incident of the Family Head getting injured is a top secret. She’s not one of us, and when the Family Head wakes up, get rid of her."
"Yes." The man clearly understood what needed to be done, turned around, and went to make arrangements.
...
For two consecutive days, apart from someone bringing water and food during meal times, the man who had previously grabbed Ann Vaughn hadn’t appeared again.
Given the severity of Cyrus’s infection, he should wake up today.
But even if he wakes up, what then?
Ann Vaughn ate two bites of bread, lost her appetite, and got up to look out the window. All she saw were guards in black uniforms, which discouraged any thoughts of escape.
She clutched the curtain’s edge listlessly, basking in the sunlight. Her curly lashes fluttered as her eyes filled with weariness.
When she was brought here, her phone and bag were taken away, leaving her with nothing to do but wait for Cyrus to wake up so they would release her.
As for Cyrus... heh, it would be better not to see him.
With that thought, Ann Vaughn picked up the glass of milk on the tray and drank it slowly.
Click.
The door suddenly burst open with a "bang" as the man who had pointed a gun at Ann Vaughn burst in. He strode up to her, and when he saw her drinking the milk, his expression changed suddenly, "You drank the milk?!"
Milk?
Ann Vaughn looked at the cup of milk in her hand. A flash of realization crossed her mind. Without thinking, she bent over and spat the milk into the nearby trash can.
"If you’d come any later, I would’ve swallowed it!" Ann Vaughn spat out the milk cleanly, the fire in her chest almost reaching her head, "Did you poison the milk?!"
Damn!
She had saved Cyrus, and not only did these people not thank her, but they actually wanted her dead!?
The man didn’t answer her question, "Get up, come with me."
Ann Vaughn eyed him warily, "What do you people want now?"
"The people sent by His Excellency the President are waiting for you outside the lodge. You can keep stalling." The man’s expression was unpleasant as he spoke.
Could it be Shrek?
Ann Vaughn’s tightly strung nerves loosened slightly after two days. She took a tissue to wipe off the milk stains at the corner of her mouth and started walking out, "Lead the way then."
The man, being treated as a mere guide: ...
Meanwhile, outside the lodge, Shrek was almost wringing water out of the handkerchief he was using to wipe his sweat, deeply intimidated by the rows of formidable guards stationed outside the lodge.
How on earth did Doctor Aquarelle end up kidnapped by Mr. Hawthorne’s people?
He couldn’t afford to offend either of these two—
While he was pondering this, a slender, delicate figure walked out from the lodge’s entrance. Seeing this, Shrek quickly approached, "Dr. Vaughn, are you alright? You’re not hurt, are you?"
Ann Vaughn shook her head slightly, wanting to say something but ultimately saying nothing, "Thank you for making the trip."
"It’s no trouble; it’s my honor to assist you, Your Highness..." Shrek hadn’t finished his sentence before he shifted his words and made a gesture, "Please, get in the car."
"Alright." Ann Vaughn’s mind was still somewhat unsettled, so she didn’t notice the title Shrek nearly let slip. She took a few steps forward and got into the extended Rolls-Royce.
Soon, the Rolls-Royce sped away.
At the floor-to-ceiling windows on the lodge’s third floor, Miyi Yates withdrew her gaze with an ever more subtle smile, "Her luck is indeed quite good."
"Perhaps we should report this to the Family Head. Even with the President and the Vaughn Family Head protecting that woman, she’d have no escape if we had the Family Head’s orders."
"No need, she’s just an insignificant woman; there’s no need to trouble the Family Head."
Just as she finished speaking, a voice came from the front, "Miss Miya, the Family Head has awakened."
At the same time, inside the inner room.
Pale sunlight streamed through the windows, casting its light on the man sitting on the bed, his features cold and handsome, yet it did nothing to soften the sharp, intimidating aura around him.
Like a fierce beast of the forest that had been sleeping for a long time, every move he made was brimming with intimidating incisiveness.
The doctor beside him, measuring his blood pressure and heart rate, trembled, his hands shaking, not daring to lift his head, fearing he might accidentally anger this fearsome deity.
"How long was I unconscious?" The man slowly lifted his gaze, asking in a deep voice.
"Mr. Hawthorne, you’ve been unconscious for nearly a week," the doctor answered truthfully.
The man nodded slightly, his long lashes drooping down, casting a pleasing shadow in his deep eye sockets, also hiding the fleeting fluctuation in his eyes.
Yet on his wrist, there remained a certain sense of familiarity.
"Family Head," Miyi Yates entered the inner room, her eyes smiling as she saw the man awake, "You’re finally awake."
Cyrus seemed oblivious, his narrow dark eyes locked onto his right wrist, his brows furrowed, "Has anyone been to the lodge?"
Miyi Yates maintained her smile, her voice soft, "No one has, since you fell unconscious, I’ve ordered a lockdown of the entire lodge."
Is that so.
So it was his own illusion after all.
"Everyone leave." He blandly instructed, reaching over to pick up the encrypted paper list on the table.
"Yes, please rest well." Miyi Yates intended to say more, but the man’s demeanor was so cold that she dared not overstep, leading the doctor out of the inner room.
...
During the two days of Ann Vaughn’s disappearance, a considerable amount of panic was stirred among various people.
Some even suspected she had been kidnapped by spies from a neighboring country intent on destroying Eland. Harbors, airports, and docks were on high alert just to find Ann Vaughn.
Initially, Shrek was supposed to take Ann Vaughn to the Presidential Palace, but Ann Vaughn remembered the antidote issue, so she postponed it to another time.
Though the epidemic among the residents was under control, and all the patients were gradually improving, if the source of the plague wasn’t eradicated, there was still a possibility of another outbreak.
What caught Ann Vaughn by surprise was the person Shrek sent to assist her was the young man she had seen before.
Because he was wearing a mask at the time, exposing only a pair of exceedingly attractive light-colored eyes, Ann Vaughn had instinctively thought he was quite young.
But after he took off his mask, he revealed a different kind of mature masculine charm.
And he seemed oddly familiar...
What Ann Vaughn didn’t know was that when Ian Vaughn saw her face, his astonishment and suspicion matched hers.