CHAPTER 924: CHAPTER 924: THE ULTIMATE PRIZE

At this moment, Ann Vaughn and Cyrus Hawthorne walked side by side into the dining room, seeing Little Dumpling being held in Julian Ford’s arms with a face full of despair, their eyes immediately lit up with delight.

They were actually in the dining room!

"Kenny."

"Mommy!" As soon as Little Dumpling saw Ann Vaughn, his eyes lit up, "Did you solve the puzzle, mommy?"

Under the watchful death stare from behind him, Julian Ford quickly put Little Dumpling back in place, muttering.

"Even someone as smart as me couldn’t solve it, these two were so busy flirting they probably forgot about the puzzle."

Just as he finished muttering, Ann Vaughn smiled and said, "Well, your daddy seems to have solved it."

Julian Ford: ...

Doesn’t he care about face?

"Wait a minute!" Evan Sawyer immediately spoke up, "The murderer is the father, because among these people, once the male explorers died, only he remained, capable of killing the others."

Julian Ford looked shocked, "Are you sure about what the hell you’re saying?"

"It’s better than giving up outright, did you forget the bet’s stakes?" Evan Sawyer rolled his eyes, "I wouldn’t want to give up my good whiskey."

After the teams were formed, the two blockheads quietly came to an agreement with Cyrus Hawthorne.

The losing side had to surrender all the wine from their own cellar to the winner.

The two blockheads had been eyeing Cyrus Hawthorne’s wine cellar for a long time, so they weren’t about to let this rare opportunity slip away.

Julian Ford was heartbroken for a second, and decisively said to Kenny, "I guess the murderer is the daughter! Everyone’s dead, and the last one standing is most suspicious!"

Were these two afraid they wouldn’t guess right?

Ann Vaughn was moved by their strong competitive spirit, this was how you played a game seriously.

She had been busy scaring herself...

Little Dumpling leisurely said, "Are you sure? You only get one chance, you know."

"Absolutely sure!"

"Sorry, you guessed wrong." Little Dumpling looked at his daddy suspiciously and asked, "Did you guess it, daddy?"

He had seen everything on the monitor!

The Archfiend’s gaze almost never left his mommy!

Even glue wouldn’t stick as much!

Cyrus Hawthorne, however, looked at Ann Vaughn, his voice gentle, "You should have already guessed the answer, why don’t you say it?"

Ann Vaughn’s eyes shone as she nodded her head, saying, "The first clue card we found showed a scene of a family of three having dinner with an explorer."

She placed the card on the table for them to see.

"It shouldn’t be hard to notice that apart from the left-handed explorer, everyone else was right-handed. Also, there’s this piece of stationery, the bloodstain spreads to the right, indicating the writer was left-handed."

"The murderer wasn’t the father, because the father died first, and the later father was the explorer in disguise. When the explorer was about to kill the daughter, the mother discovered it, and during the struggle, she tore off a button from the explorer’s bear toy."

"The daughter who survived in the end was also murdered, because the content on the stationery was written when the father initially died, but by then it was too late."

After finishing, Ann Vaughn couldn’t help but glance at Cyrus Hawthorne.

Seeing the slight smile on his thin lips and the faint admiration in his narrow eyes, Ann Vaughn’s mind suddenly felt like fireworks going off, quietly bursting with joy.

Before she said it, she was worried she might have guessed wrong, but it seemed her guess was mostly right.

Next to her, Julian Ford and Evan Sawyer were completely stunned.

Once they realized, they got goosebumps all over.

Who the hell came up with this game? Are they afraid it won’t scare them to death??

"Correct answer!" Little Dumpling announced with a little hammer, "I declare the team of mommy and daddy the winners, and the correct-answer mommy will receive the final prize!"

"What prize?" Ann Vaughn eagerly rubbed her hands.

Little Dumpling’s eyes rolled around, then pointed the little hammer in his hand at Cyrus Hawthorne, "My daddy!"

...Who?!

Ann Vaughn almost couldn’t process that, looked at Cyrus Hawthorne, then at Kenny, her mind instantly went blank.

Did she hear wrong?!

Cyrus Hawthorne’s expression remained indifferent, but the smile in his narrow eyes deepened slightly, as he turned to Ann Vaughn.

"Just wondering if Miss Vaughn is willing to accept me as the prize?"

Ann Vaughn’s cheeks and earlobes quickly turned crimson, hot enough to fry an egg.

Now she regretted it.

Could she swallow back the words she just blurted out?

Waiting online, quite urgent.

...

After eating birthday cake and making wishes, the dining room remained lively until midnight, then finally returned to silence.

Little Dumpling was probably the most satisfied, having practically gifted his daddy (not really), and he also had, for the first time in his life, a birthday celebrated together with his parents.

Even in his sleep, his mouth was still curved in a smile.

After returning to her room, Ann Vaughn didn’t rush to rest. She poured a small bucket of seashells onto the table, contemplated for a while, and just as she was about to start, a knocking sound came at the door.

She stood up to open the door, and upon seeing the person outside, her pupils shrank slightly.

There stood Cyrus Hawthorne, his black hair slightly wet, and his white shirt also wet in several places, sticking to his chest, making his robust lines visible.

Ann Vaughn’s gaze involuntarily dropped to his collar, where two sexy collarbones and a slightly moving Adam’s apple could be vaguely seen.

His aloof, unapproachable air was somewhat diminished, replaced with a hint of sensuality.

Ann Vaughn’s gaze was momentarily dazed.

So the word beauty isn’t reserved only for women.

"The water pipe in my bathroom is broken, would it be convenient to borrow your bathroom for a moment?" Cyrus Hawthorne asked softly.

Ann Vaughn was supposed to refuse, but seeing his wet hair and clothes, she couldn’t bear to.

"Sure, go ahead."

"Thank you."

After Cyrus Hawthorne entered the bathroom, Ann Vaughn returned to the table. As the sound of water began to flow from the bathroom, her attention, which had been on the shells, started to drift away.

"Just wondering if Miss Vaughn is willing to accept me as the prize?"

Thinking about what Cyrus Hawthorne had said not long ago, Ann Vaughn’s heart began to beat uncontrollably and intensely, as if bewitched by something...

Ahh!

Ann Vaughn reached out to give herself a little punch, forcing herself to dismiss the dangerous thoughts in her head and to calm down.

After a while, Ann Vaughn finally picked up the small shell beside her and began carefully gluing them together.

Before she knew it, the bathroom door quietly opened.

Cyrus Hawthorne stepped out, his narrow eyes scanning the room and landing directly on Ann Vaughn struggling with a pile of shells.

After fiddling for quite a while, she barely managed to construct a base out of small shells, her right hand aching so much it started to disobey her commands.

Furrowing her brows in frustration, Ann Vaughn used her left hand to stabilize one side of the base and was about to reach for another shell when a distinctly defined hand beat her to it.

He picked up the shell and accurately placed it in the spot she had in mind.