Chapter 674: Chapter 674: You Sure Care About Him
The warmth and coolness imprinted on her petite and jade-like earlobes did not retreat, but instead slowly traced along her graceful neckline, leaving a trail of fine yet slightly cool kisses.
Ann Vaughn was trapped in Cyrus Hawthorne’s embrace, unable to see his expression at this moment. Apart from the occasional soft and slightly warm breath against her skin, she couldn’t sense anything else, let alone break free.
"Cyrus, let me go!" Ann Vaughn forced herself not to tremble too noticeably, her gentle voice tinged with a smoldering anger, "Didn’t you want to avoid seeing me? Isn’t it enough that I voluntarily stepped out of your sight? What more do you want?!"
Her intuition told her that he seemed to be angry at the moment.
But clearly, she was the one who should be angry!
Upon hearing this, Cyrus’s finely chiseled handsome face was enveloped in coldness. Most likely because Ann Vaughn couldn’t see him, the dark and intense depths of his narrow eyes held a dangerously wild light, without hiding a trace.
If she saw this, she might be so frightened she’d run away.
Thinking of this, a cruel and free smile played on Cyrus’s thin lips, devoid of any warmth.
He slowly parted his teeth and methodically undid the knot on Ann Vaughn’s bath towel, as if unwrapping a delicate gift, his movements so elegant one might think the coldness in his expression was an illusion.
Before Ann Vaughn could get a response from him, she felt a cool sensation brushing her skin.
Suddenly, she panicked.
Especially because the phone that had fallen to the ground hadn’t ended the call yet, with its screen still lit up not far away, which made Ann Vaughn feel an embarrassing sense of being watched, tightening a string in her mind.
Ann Vaughn bit down hard, her bright eyes misty, finding it difficult to articulate, "Let go, my phone..."
A terrifying gleam flickered in Cyrus’s eyes as he casually glanced at the phone, now showing the call had ended, his voice cold, "You seem concerned about him."
Concerned about who?
Before the doubt arose, Ann hadn’t had time to understand the meaning behind his words when her mind was suddenly overturned by a wave, unable to focus on anything else...
The deep night outside the window, due to the impending dawn, was covered with a light mist.
The flickering candlelight on the long table in the room intertwined with the strands of spring, indistinguishable from each other.
Time passed, unknown how long.
The man stepped out of the bathroom, holding the poor curled-up figure in his arms, and placed her on the bed. Just as he was about to stand up, his face was suddenly greeted with her soft slap, like a small beast scratching, posing no threat.
"You’re not the one being scolded, so what right do you have to be so angry?!" Her soft voice carried a sobbing tone. As soon as Ann Vaughn touched the blanket, she forced herself to endure the soreness in her body and wrapped herself tightly in the covers.
Afraid that the hungry wolf before her would pounce again.
Looking at the small cabbage in front of him, a trace of indulgence flashed across the man’s handsome face. He grasped her soft hand and placed a gentle kiss on her ring finger.
The moment the kiss landed, his expression suddenly darkened.
"Where is your ring?"
Ann Vaughn already felt her eyelids fighting a battle to stay open, but upon hearing this, she immediately sobered up.
"Ring... ring..." She shrank her neck into the covers a bit, whispering, "I took it off while bathing."
She didn’t dare to say that she had taken it off earlier out of anger and had never intended to wear it again.
But how could such a small thought escape Cyrus’s notice?
His thin lips curved, "If your ring isn’t in the bathroom, you’ll bear the consequences."
With that, Cyrus stood up from the bedside and headed toward the bathroom.
Panicked upon hearing this, Ann Vaughn quickly extended her hand from under the covers, firmly grabbing the corner of his clothes, "Why do I have to bear the consequences for taking off a ring while you can do whatever you want without one? You’re just exploiting me!"
"During the wedding, you forcibly pulled off the ring from my hand and threw it away. Now I take it off for a moment, so what! The thing given to me is mine, and I have the right to decide what to do with it. What does it have to do with you!"
Hearing her spoiled voice, full of grievance, Cyrus’s heart, cold and hard all night, finally softened a bit.
Even if she had taken off the ring to see that man, it didn’t matter anymore.
"Where’s the ring?" Cyrus asked in a deep voice.
Ann Vaughn sniffled, turned her head away awkwardly, "...In the purse on the table."
Fetching her ring, Cyrus retrieved his own ring from his suit jacket. Sitting at the edge of the bed, he propped his chin as he watched her looking like a puffed-up little hamster, his fingertips suddenly itched.
"Do you want to put it on?"
Ann Vaughn huffed, still sulking, refusing to relent, "You beg me."
Cyrus pinched her soft, pink-tinted cheek, threatening gently, "I think you’d rather beg for mercy."
"..." Remembering the earlier scene, Ann Vaughn’s cheeks flushed red. Under his slightly dangerous gaze, she reluctantly extended her hand.
The pink diamond ring was back on her slender, pale finger.
For some reason, Ann Vaughn suddenly felt like an empty gap had been filled.
After taking it off, she did regret it, but taking it off herself and putting it back on was too embarrassing, an obstacle in her heart she couldn’t overcome.
"Help me." Cyrus placed his ring on her palm, his eyes lowered.
Ann Vaughn, confused, followed through, and couldn’t help but remark, "What kind of ring exchange ceremony is this?"
After speaking, she looked at Cyrus, tempted, "Shouldn’t I pull off your ring and throw it away to avenge the past?"
Seeing the hamster ready to list their past grievances, Cyrus’s eyebrow twitched, pressing her wrist in his palm, and in the next second, he moved towards her.
"Wait, bring me my phone." Ann Vaughn shrank into the blanket, gesturing with her chin at the phone still lying pitifully on the ground.
It probably ran out of battery long ago.
Cyrus’s narrow eyes deepened, "Since you’re so energetic, don’t sleep tonight."
Planning to meet another man?
She might as well dream.
Ann Vaughn: "?"
...
The next day, Ann Vaughn barely opened her heavy eyelids until the sun was high in the sky, squinting around the room, not seeing Cyrus’s figure.
Her phone had already been picked up and placed on the table.
She reached for it and accessed her contacts.
She wondered if Warren Vance did anything to her uncle since she didn’t show up last night...
Ann Vaughn bit her lip and called the nurse in Ian Vaughn’s ward to inquire.
But the nurse said that yesterday only she and her grandparents had visited her uncle, with no one else seen, everything else was normal.