"What are you doing?" Ann Vaughn pushed against his broad chest, her cheeks faintly warm, "If you’re going to sleep, go back to your own place. Why are you hogging my couch?" "Are you willing to come back with me?" A low, slow voice skimmed past her ear. Ann Vaughn felt her ears tingle, the tremor traveling from her fingertips to her heart. She barely managed to suppress it before she answered, "I’m quite comfortable living here." "Staying at someone else’s place is still not as convenient as living in your own home," the man pondered for two seconds before speaking. "Who said this is someone else’s place? I just bought it a few days ago, and Susie Sommers is next door, which is especially convenient." Ann, the little rich lady, tilted her chin up proudly. Cyrus Hawthorne: "..." Seeing he didn’t respond, Ann Vaughn looked up, "Why aren’t you saying anything..." Before she could finish, Cyrus pressed her small head back into his embrace, "Don’t move, go to sleep." How could she sleep in this position!! Ann Vaughn woke up in her bed, Cyrus Hawthorne already gone, leaving only a note with bold handwriting on the table. ——Something came up, can’t accompany you, breakfast is on the table. After reading the note, Ann Vaughn puffed her cheeks and muttered softly, "Who said I wanted you to stay anyway?" However, the smile creeping from her eyes seemed like it could melt the cold wind outside the window. After finishing her breakfast, Ann Vaughn was about to continue practicing that piece when she received a call for help from Evan Sawyer. Maplewood, underground training ground. The cold hostility in this area made one shiver. The one who felt it the most was Julian Ford, right in the eye of the storm. Because he was the one currently getting beaten up!! "Bro, bro, we can talk this out—ow!" "I swear I didn’t leak anything, bro, you gotta believe me! I’m innocent, I swear—" "I swear it wasn’t me! Drunk me is not the same as sober me, they’re not the same person—ow! Don’t hit my face, bro!!" The continuous pleas and the sound of his body hitting the ground echoed without interruption. Standing below, Evan Sawyer clicked his tongue and shook his head, knowing he couldn’t beat Cian, and yet foolishly provoking him. No wonder he’s called The Third Ford, with IQ barely above single digits. "Bro—," Julian Ford lay on the ground after being thrown yet again a meter away, gasping for air, and decided not to get up, "I surrender, I quit. If you keep hitting me, my grandpa will have no grandson left—" "Losing me isn’t important, but my grandpa is innocent!!" Evan Sawyer almost died laughing, "Third Ford, when will you ever stop running your mouth?" Julian Ford ignored him, but as he saw the upright figure slowly approaching him, his scalp went numb. One more hit and he might actually drop dead on the spot! The man looked down, calm and composed, "Get up." Before Julian Ford could beg, the training room door suddenly opened, and a small figure dashed in. Upon seeing Julian Ford lying on the ground, gasping, and Cyrus Hawthorne standing calmly beside him, Ann Vaughn froze for several seconds. "What are you guys... doing?" Julian Ford noticeably felt the cold hostility from Cyrus easing a little, and while letting out a sigh of relief inside, he also shed a tear of relief. If only she’d come earlier, his world-class handsome face would have suffered a bit less. "Sis-in-law, we were just sparring. You came at the wrong time; we just finished sparring." Julian Ford, adept at turning things around, stood up, patted the dust off his hands, and grinned. "Really?" Ann Vaughn looked at the injuries on his face that were hard to witness, then at the emotionless face of Cyrus Hawthorne, and suddenly understood. ... It was because of her. "I’ve yet to thank you for telling me about Cian’s infection. If it weren’t for you, I might have already lost him," Ann Vaughn smiled gently. Though she knew deep down that Julian Ford faced Cyrus’s pressure to tell her these things because she saved his grandfather. But without his words, Ann Vaughn might have cluelessly missed Cyrus forever. And such a miss would be an unbridgeable gap for a lifetime. Cyrus Hawthorne’s furrowed brows suddenly eased as he looked at Ann Vaughn’s earnest and grateful bright eyes, feeling a gentle yet itchy nudge in his heart. She could have lost him... It turns out, she was equally afraid of losing him. Upon hearing Ann Vaughn’s gratitude, Julian Ford scratched his head, a bit embarrassed, "Sis-in-law, don’t thank me. I was drunk that day and didn’t know what nonsense I was talking about." Betraying his brother’s trust first, if he didn’t use drunkenness as an excuse to cover it up a bit, he’d fear his brother might really beat him to death... Unexpectedly, Cyrus Hawthorne said, "The complete collection’s ship model you wanted, come by tomorrow to pick it up." Julian Ford almost thought he misheard, jerked his head up, "You’re giving it to me?!" He had pestered his brother for over half a year, couldn’t even touch the edge of that ship model, yet now he says he’ll give it to him— Could possibly a better thing happen in this world?! Evan Sawyer, who just arrived, heard this and almost turned into a jealous lemon spirit, "Damn, the world’s one and only collectible model ship, how did it fall into this idiot’s hands??" Not only Julian Ford, but even he and many of the young masters in the circle were eagerly desiring it. Follow current novels on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵⁂𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⁂𝓷𝓮𝓽 But the item was in Cyrus Hawthorne’s hands, and they could only dream of it. But now Evan Sawyer felt like he wanted to choke Julian Ford to death and inherit that model ship. As Evan Sawyer and Julian Ford started a spat again, Ann Vaughn whispered in Cyrus Hawthorne’s ear, "Isn’t this called hitting and then giving a treat?" "Hmm?" Cyrus cast her a sideways glance. Ann Vaughn immediately zipped her lips, looked aside, and pretended nothing had happened. After finishing their meal at Maplewood, Cyrus Hawthorne drove Ann Vaughn to the film set. Quinn had been waiting for her for a long time, and spotting from which car she got off, couldn’t help but tease, "Finally patched things up? Those media speculating on your breakup should really take a good look." Ann Vaughn’s face burned with embarrassment, "Sister Bellamy, stop teasing me. Let’s go inside quickly." "Look at you, just a few words and your face is all red." Quinn jested while pulling her along to meet the director. Quinn had a prominent status in the entertainment industry, top-tier resources, and extensive connections. Thus, when she said she had found a replacement musician, the director didn’t worry about it. But seeing Ann Vaughn walking alongside Quinn, the director’s script rolled up in his hand fell to the ground, and he stood up in shock. "This, this, this... Best Actress Bellamy, the replacement musician you mentioned couldn’t be Miss Vaughn, could it?!"