CHAPTER 681: CHAPTER 681: SHE WAS ACTUALLY PLAYED!

Brooke Ryan almost ground her teeth to pieces.

"What the hell are you spouting?! Aren’t you my lawyer? Who gave you the guts to team up with someone else to deceive me?!"

Lawyer Hawthorne remained calm, his words striking at the very moment: "Miss Ryan, you’re overthinking. I’ve always been Miss Vaughn’s lawyer."

The amount of information in his words nearly made Brooke faint in rage on the spot.

She had been played!

From the moment she received the stock transfer documents, she had fallen into Ann Vaughn’s trap!

Does that mean being expelled from the Viridian Palace was also a smokescreen?!

Brooke Ryan was trembling with anger. Realizing this, she lashed out at Flynn Murray beside her, "Didn’t you say everything would go smoothly? Didn’t you say everything was going according to your plan? I’m telling you, if anything happens to me, you won’t get away either!"

Flynn Murray’s expression changed, "Shut up!"

"You dare tell me to shut up? Hypocrite, scoundrel!" Brooke Ryan was furious, and her fragile alliance with Flynn Murray was suddenly broken without any warning.

Seeing this dogfight, the shareholders couldn’t believe it was Flynn Murray, who had diligently worked at The Vaughn Group for so many years and was the chairman of Imperial Glory, colluding with Brooke Ryan to seize control.

Ann Vaughn, watching this scene unfold with a hint of a smile, looked coldly at Flynn Murray.

"Uncle Murray, it was you after all."

At this point, further concealment was meaningless. Flynn Murray gave a bitter smile, though not out of guilt, "I didn’t expect your scheming to be deeper than I thought."

Ann Vaughn’s face remained indifferent, "It was Ian Vaughn who told me."

"It’s true Ian was in a coma recently. There’s no mistake about that." Flynn Murray frowned, unable to understand where he had gone wrong.

"Indeed," Ann Vaughn’s lips curved into a mocking smile, "I initially trusted you a lot because he trusted you so much that he even told you where the safe was."

Upon hearing this, Flynn Murray was somewhat stunned, but Ann Vaughn continued, "Your mistake was in letting me go to the safe to find the transfer documents."

"Inside the safe were two seemingly identical yet one authentic and one fake set of transfer documents," Ann Vaughn stated, "When I saw those two sets of documents, I understood my uncle’s intention, so the first time, I pretended to hesitate and turned you down."

"The second time, I deliberately left the fake documents on the desk and didn’t wipe the fingerprints off the study door lock, giving you the chance to sneak in and steal the documents, and you carried out your plan."

"I just didn’t expect you to choose to stay hidden, using Brooke Ryan as a pawn to suppress me, causing me damage and ruining my reputation... Let me guess, what was your intention in doing this?"

Flynn Murray remained silent, his sharp eyes fixated on her.

Ann Vaughn chuckled gently, "You like someone, but that person died because of me. You hate me, but you don’t want to harm Ian Vaughn and his parents. So you wanted to pin the loss of the transfer documents on me, both emotionally and rationally. Am I right?"

The guess was... spot on.

Flynn Murray’s gaze gradually became complicated, "Every time I see you, I can’t help but think, if it weren’t for you, the person standing here today would be her."

"Every time that thought arises, your presence becomes increasingly annoying, like a thorn in my eye, constantly pricking me, causing pain I can’t ignore. As long as you’re in Marinia, this thorn will never go away."

Flynn Murray offered no excuses or explanations for his scheming and plotting.

After he and Brooke Ryan were arrested by the officers on charges of theft and escorted towards the elevator, Ann Vaughn, having snapped out of her thoughts, turned around and spoke to Flynn Murray’s back: "I have a question for you."

Flynn Murray stopped and looked back at her.

"Since you’re so unwilling to see me, why not simply gouge out your own eyes and cut off your ears while you’re at it?" Ann Vaughn smiled at him, her eyes curved like the moon. "Wouldn’t that be more straightforward and efficient, more aligned with your core standards?"

Flynn Murray: ?

Shareholder: ???

They wondered where she learned such a unique way of understanding texts, expressing a desire to also gain some training!

A defeated look washed over Brooke Ryan’s face as she gasped, feeling a chill run down her spine.

She had long said this woman was surely a madwoman!

...

Coming out of Vaughn Headquarters, Ann Vaughn dived into the black Maybach parked not far ahead, enveloped instantly in warmth.

Cyrus Hawthorne looked down at her, not hesitating as she slipped into his coat for warmth, and gently brushed the snow from her hair and shoulders, "How did it go?"

"Dealing with Brooke Ryan was rather amusing, seeing her hate me but powerless against me." Ann Vaughn buried her face in his warm chest for warmth, "But Uncle Murray, no, Flynn Murray was a bit strange."

"Oh?"

"He’s helped the Vaughn Family manage Imperial Glory and The Vaughn Group for so many years, it doesn’t make sense for him to have such limited means. And no one knew about him stealing the transfer documents and supporting Brooke Ryan’s rise. He could’ve easily pinned everything on Brooke Ryan and escaped himself."

But he didn’t.

Not only didn’t he, but he seemed to find even struggling a waste of effort.

Cyrus Hawthorne casually rested his hand on her nape, explaining to her in a deep voice: "He hates you because of your mother, because of your face, which means your mother has long become an indelible mark in his memory."

"Huh?" Ann Vaughn lifted her head to look at him, "So, he hates me for my mother, yet also goes easy on me because of her?"

"Yes."

Ann Vaughn bit her lower lip, remembering the intense yet complicated look Flynn Murray had shown before, her eyes involuntarily revealed some clarity.

"Quinn, did my mom really die because of me?"

She had seen documents indicating her mother and Flynn Murray were childhood sweethearts from her uncle’s safe, which led her to suspect Flynn Murray had feelings for her mother.

Later, she deduced, from Flynn Murray targeting only her and not Eli Sheridan and Wilder Sheridan, that it had something to do with her mother’s death.

The statement "someone died because of me" was really Ann Vaughn’s half-guess, aimed to provoke him.

It was the only explanation that best clarified why Flynn Murray treated the Vaughn Family and Sheridan Family well but held hatred for her.

"Don’t overthink it, your uncle is still in the hospital waiting for you." Cyrus’s eyes narrowed, lightly pinching her delicate cheek, "Do you want to worry him with your unsettled state?"

Ann Vaughn immediately shook her head, pushing the previous thoughts aside.

But... she couldn’t shake the feeling that the timing of her uncle waking seemed a bit too coincidental?