CHAPTER 683: CHAPTER 683: YOUR LEVERAGE

Imperial Glory Branch.

When Ann Vaughn had just stepped into the elevator, a familiar figure slipped in just as the doors were about to close.

Accidentally locking gazes with those light blue eyes, Ann was stunned for two seconds before pressing the floor buttons and asking, "Which floor are you heading to?"

"Seventeen." Elias Hawthorne lowered his eyes, staring intently at the shadow on the floor, "Did you just get back from Marinia?"

Ann gave a low hum, a thoughtful look passing through her bright eyes, "You seem very interested in my whereabouts?"

Not just interested, but he has a firm grasp on them...

"Jane Sheridan asked me to keep an eye on you."

Cough, cough—

Ann nearly thought she was hearing things, staring at Elias’ calm face in disbelief.

This doesn’t fit the usual logic??

Not knowing what to say for a moment, it took her a while to finally squeeze out, "Jane asked you to watch me, and you just told me that?"

But Elias looked at her in confusion, not saying a word, yet the meaning was clearly written in those light blue eyes.

—What does Jane wanting me to monitor you have to do with me telling you this?

Ann: "..."

Is this guy’s brain really so straightforward,

Suppressing the urge to grumble, Ann tentatively asked, "Then why does Jane want you to keep an eye on me?"

Elias lowered his eyes and said nothing.

Ann glided two steps closer to him, her tone gentle as she asked, "Did she ever tell you not to let me know these things?"

Elias paused, then shook his head, "No."

"Well, there you have it. Since she didn’t say, it means you can, right? Besides, right now it’s just the two of us here, as long as I don’t blab, how would she know you told me?"

Ann spoke quickly, her words logical and orderly, leaving Elias ’Straightforward’ Hawthorne with no room to refute.

A hint of confusion surfaced on his face, which lasted for almost half a minute before he finally conceded.

"Your vulnerability."

Ann nodded in sudden realization, "So she wants you to find my weakness to hold over me, is that it?" Then, she looked at Elias with a reproachful gaze, "That’s where you went wrong."

Elias: "?"

"Think about it, in terms of relationships, we’re real family, you should be calling me sister-in-law. Yet here you are, helping an outsider spy on me... Ask yourself, are you doing right by our ancestors and your conscience?"

Elias’s confusion deepened, with hints of struggle flickering in his eyes, his face even turning a bit red: "...you’re not my sister-in-law, you two got divorced."

That comment hit a nerve.

Only a handful of people knew that Ann Vaughn and Cyrus Hawthorne weren’t actually divorced.

But four years ago, reports of their divorce flooded everywhere, sensationalized and known by everyone.

Moreover, they never clarified this point to the media or the public.

Which is probably why Laura Quinn was so blunt in asking her to leave Cyrus.

Ann’s gaze froze briefly, but when the elevator doors opened, she suddenly snapped back to reality, and her look at Elias turned very pained.

"You’re done for, wait till I get back and tell your brother about you, you brat."

With that, she was the first to step out of the elevator.

Elias: ?

In those brief three minutes, he first wronged his ancestors and conscience and now was being threatened?

Could it be that this was actually some kind of death trap elevator she took him on??

Once out of the elevator, Ann Vaughn found her guardedness towards Elias inexplicably lessened.

Especially after reviewing the documents and proposals he had revised over the days, as well as the follow-up project aspects on the aromatherapy balls, she couldn’t find a single fault in his work ethic.

During her absence from The Imperial Capital, it was the perfect time for Elias to sabotage anything, and even if something really went wrong then, she would be powerless to reach back.

Yet he did nothing like that, instead informing her about Jane’s surveillance...

Is this person genuinely straightforward, or is there another scheme at play?

Ann pondered over her suspicions and shared them with her assistant.

"President Vaughn, actually, I think Manager Hawthorne probably doesn’t have any ulterior motives. If there is anything, it’s likely just the relentless overworking and regularly asking about your whereabouts," the assistant consoled. "Why not try trusting him for once?"

The saying goes that when you employ someone, you shouldn’t doubt them, and if you doubt them, you shouldn’t employ them.

Ann fully understood this principle.

But the timing and opportunities concerning Elias being here were too suspicious, making her unable to lower her guard easily.

However, as it appears now, the chances of him causing trouble for her work-wise were low.

"That’s fine too," slowly snapping out of her thoughts, Ann looked up and said to her assistant, "Delegate the collaboration with Kressiel to him, treat it as his final test."

"Understood."

...

The sun gradually slanted westward.

After sending Cyrus Hawthorne a message explaining she wouldn’t be home for dinner, Ann hailed a cab to the mall where she’d agreed to meet Bella Hawthorne.

"Why did you suddenly decide to buy a gown?" Ann asked as she sat on the matcha-colored sofa in the haute couture dress store, resting her cheek on one hand, watching Bella move back and forth among the clothing racks.

Bella held up a white gown against Ann’s body, surprised to hear her question, "Don’t you know next Wednesday is Hawthorne Group’s anniversary celebration?"

"Anniversary celebration?" Ann was momentarily stunned.

Seeing she seemed unaware, Bella dragged her up and pushed her towards the fitting room, "I figured you probably didn’t know about this, that’s why I hurriedly got you out to pick a dress."

Indeed, Ann was unaware of the anniversary celebration.

But before she could make sense of it all, Bella had already pushed several dresses into the fitting room with her.

Gazing at the different shades of gowns on the rack, Ann sighed softly, suddenly recalling something and called out, "Bella, what about you?"

"Me? I don’t like crowded events." Bella hesitated briefly, softly saying, "Besides, I’ve been studying abroad, I don’t really have any friends here, it wouldn’t mean much to go."

She wanted to climb up step by step without relying on her family’s background connections, using a pseudonym for work, so no one knew she was the eldest miss of the Hawthorne Family.

Ann was silent for a while, although she well knew that wasn’t the real reason Bella didn’t want to go, sometimes speaking too plainly could indeed hurt more.

Since Bella didn’t want to say, she pretended not to know.

"Sister-in-law, I’m going to the restroom first, change and wait for me outside, I’ll take some pictures of you!" Soon, Bella’s lively voice drifted away.