Vincent Hawthorne: [Rhys Lucas is at the hospital, I’m heading over. I’ll be back before midnight.] The second message was a screenshot. It seemed to be proof that he wasn’t lying. Vincent Hawthorne sent over the screenshot of the message from Rhys Lucas. The timestamp was from ten minutes ago. Rhys Lucas: [Come to the hospital.] He included the hospital’s address. Tanya Sinclair felt no ripples in her heart, and naturally, she didn’t respond. She exited WeChat and called Ms. Underwood. "Hello, Ms. Underwood. Sorry to disturb you so late, I’m Joy Hawthorne’s mother from your class." On the other end, Ms. Underwood was still working overtime in the office, and upon hearing the woman’s introduction, she was momentarily stunned. "You are... Joy’s mother?" This voice doesn’t seem right! Ms. Underwood quickly flipped through the family records registered by Joy, noting that in the mother’s column stood the name Cindy Lynn. The records also contained a photo of their family of four. She recalled that at the beginning of this school term, it was indeed Ms. Lynn and President Hawthorne who brought Joy to enroll. Back then, Joy kept calling Cindy her mom; has this changed now? "..." Ms. Underwood, despite having doubts, did not ask further questions. After all, even at this international school where tuition alone reached eighty thousand per semester, the assets of The Hawthorne Family were among the top. In such elite circles, changing mothers for a child seemed to be a routine operation. "Hello Mrs. Hawthorne, is there something I can help you with?" The title ’Mrs. Hawthorne’ made Tanya Sinclair feel a bit uneasy, but she said nothing since her divorce proceedings with Vincent Hawthorne hadn’t commenced. "I wanted to inquire if someone gave Joy something to eat near dismissal time this afternoon." Joy only started having diarrhea after returning home. Which means that the food eaten at noon wasn’t the problem, so it must have been around the school’s dismissal. "Certainly not at school." Ms. Underwood asserted, "President Hawthorne personally instructed at the beginning of term not to let Joy eat anything random, or else there would be repercussions. We can’t shoulder that responsibility. But once she’s out of school, there’s no telling." Joy and Caden are picked up and dropped off by a driver and bodyguard, so it must have been right at the school gate. Tanya Sinclair said: "Ms. Underwood, this number is my WeChat. Could you please check the surveillance from the moment Joy left the school gate until the few minutes she got in the car? Rest assured, I just want to ensure my daughter’s health and safety, and won’t blame the school." Though, even if Ms. Underwood doesn’t provide it, she has a way to obtain it. But tonight she couldn’t get away, and tomorrow morning she needs to go to Westgard Pharmaceuticals; truly, to check the surveillance would have to wait until the afternoon... After a moment’s thought, Ms. Underwood said, "Alright, Mrs. Hawthorne, please patiently wait for me, I’ll check the surveillance at the security office first thing tomorrow." Tanya Sinclair put down her phone and turned around to return to the bedroom. The luxury car sped through the night, heading to the hospital. In the back seat, Vincent Hawthorne relaxed his long legs, his expression indifferent as he watched the scenery blur past the window. He seemed obviously distracted, his peripheral vision fixed on the now sleeping screen of his phone. After a slight hesitation, he finally reached out, unlocking the screen. The brightly lit screen remained on the WeChat chat page. Twenty minutes had passed. The message he sent to Tanya Sinclair still hadn’t been answered. Vincent Hawthorne’s once calm, deep gaze began to reveal threads of irritation. For the first time, he actively reported to her, even providing a screenshot as proof... and humbled himself to this extent, yet she showed no appreciation! Vincent Hawthorne wanted to send another message, but as his fingertips hovered, he felt it was pointless. If he kept yielding, Tanya Sinclair might find the threat of divorce handy and act even more recklessly! Thinking of this, Vincent Hawthorne decisively deleted the entire chat with Tanya Sinclair, better not to see it nor to trouble his mind! Soon, the car arrived at the hospital designated by Rhys Lucas. Vincent Hawthorne got out of the car and, with the hospital room number provided later by Rhys Lucas, enquired at the front desk for a nurse on duty, striding over swiftly. However, upon pushing the door open and seeing the person lying on the hospital bed, Vincent Hawthorne furrowed his brow, slightly surprised. The person lying on the hospital bed, receiving an IV, was not Rhys Lucas, but Cindy Lynn! And the one who urgently summoned him with messages was Rhys Lucas, now sitting on a chair beside the bed, slicing fruit for Cindy Lynn. "Vincent!" When Cindy Lynn saw Vincent Hawthorne’s figure, there was clear delight on her face, but it was quickly suppressed. She looked helplessly at Senior Brother Lucas beside her, her reproach as gentle as ever, "Senior Brother Lucas, didn’t you promise me not to tell Vincent? I’m really fine, contacting Vincent at this hour, Ms. Tanya might not be happy again..." Whenever Rhys Lucas thought of Tanya Sinclair, he was filled with fury. He scoffed coldly, "Why care about her? That crazy woman never held back when bullying you!" Since he was already here, Vincent Hawthorne didn’t have a reason to turn around and leave. He walked in and closed the door of the hospital room behind him. Vincent Hawthorne walked to the foot of the bed, looking at Cindy Lynn’s pale face on the hospital bed, he furrowed his brow gently, "What’s wrong?" Cindy Lynn: "Nothing..." "What do you mean nothing?" Rhys Lucas’s tone was unfriendly, his voice raised a few degrees, "This is the lingering ailment you got during college for Vincent... Now it’s relapsed, you passed out by the roadside, if I hadn’t happened to be passing by!" Rhys Lucas felt a lingering fear as he looked at Cindy Lynn’s pale complexion and her hands unconsciously clutching the sheet, but ultimately couldn’t bring himself to tear open her old scars. Vincent Hawthorne: "..." Read full story at novel{f}ire.net Back then, he owed Cindy Lynn for that incident. "How are you feeling now?" His tone softened slightly. "Really nothing, don’t listen to Senior Brother Lucas." Cindy Lynn smiled at Vincent, "Thanks to the medicine Ms. Tanya prepared during those two years, it was very effective." Vincent Hawthorne lowered his head and rubbed his nose, feeling unexpectedly guilty. In college, he had Tanya Sinclair prepare medication for two consecutive years, but he did not tell her about Cindy Lynn’s existence, instead finding another excuse... "Vincent, once this IV bottle finishes, I can leave. Don’t listen to Senior Brother Lucas, it’s just a little low blood sugar, it won’t delay the cooperation talk with Westgard Pharmaceuticals tomorrow morning." Cindy Lynn said considerately, "Vincent, you don’t have to stay with me, go home early so that Ms. Tanya won’t be upset." Before Vincent could speak, Rhys Lucas set down the fruit knife and spoke coldly, "She’s shamelessly occupying the position of Mrs. Hawthorne. Now it’s just about Vincent spending a night to take care of a friend, what right does that country bumpkin Tanya have to be unhappy?" "Rhys!" Vincent Hawthorne frowned at him, a warning in his tone, "Tanya is my wife, you should respect her slightly." His gaze suddenly stopped, noticing Rhys Lucas’s bruised face. Rhys Lucas felt speechless. "A maniac drove at me at the intersection when I was off duty and nearly hit me." As he said this, Rhys Lucas felt oddly guilty, but seeing Vincent had no reaction, it seemed Tanya Sinclair hadn’t complained about nearly being hit by himself at noon. Nonetheless, Rhys Lucas thought, even if Tanya had complained, so what? Vincent would never turn against him, a brother of many years, for that kind of woman! Vincent Hawthorne saw that Rhys Lucas just had scrapes, so he didn’t take it too seriously. He glanced at his wristwatch and then at Cindy Lynn’s IV bottle, estimating that there was about an hour left... If he waited for Cindy Lynn to finish her IV and then took her home, it would be impossible to make it home before midnight. He had promised Tanya Sinclair. "I’ll sit for a while longer and then leave." Vincent Hawthorne pondered before speaking, "Joy doesn’t feel well tonight, I must be back before midnight." Upon hearing this, Cindy Lynn’s gaze dimmed, and Rhys Lucas was the first to notice. Before he could finish, he received a call from Old Master Lucas. Why would Old Master Lucas call at this hour? Rhys Lucas felt puzzled and answered immediately. As soon as he spoke, Old Master Lucas on the other end of the phone yelled at him furiously. "Don’t call me Dad, from now on you’re my dad! You dare provoke anyone while outside, hurry back to see me! If you don’t show up within an hour, don’t bother coming back!" Old Master Lucas finished shouting and angrily hung up without giving Rhys Lucas a chance to ask further. Rhys Lucas frowned, thinking about it, the only person he could think of was the scoundrel Zion Monroe whose car he had crashed. Not to mention Zion Monroe crashed into his car, even if he crashed into Zion, the Monroe Family wouldn’t make such a big deal over this scoundrel. After all, whom he offended wasn’t the current heir of The Monroe Family, Jasper Monroe! But Old Master Lucas hadn’t been this furious with him in years... "What happened?" Vincent Hawthorne asked. He couldn’t hear what Old Master Lucas was saying, but the tone didn’t feel good. "There’s an urgent matter at home, I need to go." Rhys Lucas reluctantly told Vincent, and instructed, "Cindy is entrusted to you." As he walked a few steps out of the hospital room, he turned around and, through the glass pane on the door, saw Vincent Hawthorne sitting in the chair he had just occupied, picking up the fruit knife he had set down, and slicing the fruit he’d peeled for Cindy Lynn into pieces. While Cindy Lynn’s face was full of tender affection, it was different from the gentleness she showed him... Rhys Lucas suppressed the sourness in his heart, finally raising his phone to take a photo through the glass pane. While walking out, he sent the photo to Tanya Sinclair. He wanted that shameless country bumpkin to see clearly what a perfect match really looked like!