My Child and I Married a Billionaire

Chapter 175: Chapter 175: Cecelia Archer’s Deliberate Murder

Cecelia Archer didn’t know why Mrs. Vaughn had suddenly taken an interest in Candy.

’She likes her? Wants to keep her as the Vaughn family’s precious daughter? Take her abroad? Give her a bright future?’

Although she made it sound wonderful, to Cecelia, it was all absurd.

Mrs. Vaughn looked down on her so much that she’d been cruel to the child right in front of her. God only knew what she was truly planning to do once mother and daughter were separated.

Cecelia knew she wasn’t particularly capable. With her, Candy would most likely live a life of obscurity.

But she was her mother, and she would always put her child’s health and happiness first! As long as Candy was safe and happy, that was enough. She had no desire for her daughter to be fabulously wealthy.

So, the moment Mrs. Vaughn finished speaking, Cecelia answered without a second of hesitation.

"Ma’am, even if I were so poor I had to beg on the streets, I would never hand my child over to someone else to raise. Don’t worry. I promised you I would leave after Candy’s surgery, and I will keep my word. You don’t need to go to all this trouble just to get rid of me."

"Did you call me up here just to tell me this? Now that you’ve said your piece and I’ve given you my answer, can I go back down?"

Mrs. Vaughn was very disappointed by her reaction.

She considered her offer incredibly tempting. Cecelia Archer was truly ungrateful!

"Are you saying I’m not offering enough?"

Alright, she admitted it. Twenty million wasn’t much for the Vaughn Family. Besides, with housing prices so high, a gold digger like Cecelia had probably had her standards—and her appetite—inflated by Damien Vaughn long ago.

’Every man has his price.’ As long as her offer was generous enough, she refused to believe the woman wouldn’t be tempted.

She withdrew the card for twenty million and started to negotiate with Cecelia again.

"Fine, I’ll add more. Fifty million, and I won’t ask for your brother’s apartment back. Cecelia Archer, that should be enough to satisfy you, right?"

"Seventy million. Someone with your background wouldn’t earn that in eight lifetimes. Now you’re getting it all so easily, just for one child. You’re quite the success story."

Cecelia’s brow furrowed deeper. She didn’t know what had gotten into Mrs. Vaughn to make her willing to spend so much money just to keep Candy.

’Does she hate me that much? Is she that desperate to tear us apart?’

Cecelia sighed, repeating her stance one last time with weary finality.

"Say what you will, think what you will, but I won’t take a single cent, and Candy will not be going with you. Ma’am, I’ve said everything I need to say. You should get back to whatever you were doing. I’m going downstairs."

As she spoke, Cecelia turned to leave, but Mrs. Vaughn’s angry voice stopped her.

"Stop!"

"Cecelia Archer, I have already given you such a generous offer! I’ve shown you my utmost sincerity, and you’re still putting on this holier-than-thou act for me. Do you find this amusing?"

"Don’t make me do this the hard way! Before I lose my temper, I’m asking you one last time: do you agree or not?"

’I’ve already made it perfectly clear I won’t sell my daughter for money, but Mrs. Vaughn keeps pushing. Does she think I have to agree just to make her stop?’

’What kind of robber’s logic is this?’

’Just because she has more money than I do, I’m not even allowed basic human dignity in front of her?’

Cecelia was getting angry too. "What do you mean, ’do this the hard way’? Ma’am, if I don’t agree, what are you going to do?"

Mrs. Vaughn replied, "I have ten thousand ways to make you kneel and beg me to let you go. I’m only holding back for Candy’s sake."

"Let me be honest with you, Cecelia. I’m taking Candy. Whether you agree or not is completely irrelevant to me."

Cecelia understood now. Mrs. Vaughn was giving her an ultimatum.

Even if she didn’t agree to leave Candy behind, the woman would find some unscrupulous way to force them apart.

’Why on earth is she so dead set on getting Candy?’

If she weren’t Damien’s mother, Cecelia would have already called the police on her for being so unreasonable!

"Ma’am, do you really think Damien won’t find it strange if I suddenly disappear and leave Candy with you? You think he’ll tolerate what you’re doing?"

Mrs. Vaughn found her to be utterly stubborn and foul.

She couldn’t be bothered to say any more to her.

"That’s between him and me. It’s none of your concern. Since you refuse to walk the sunny path I’ve offered, then you’d better prepare to be a maggot in the gutter. All right, I’m done. You can go now."

Cecelia was trembling with rage.

She’d met unreasonable people before, but never anyone this unreasonable.

’Just because I won’t give her my daughter, she’s going to destroy me?’

Cecelia would not surrender without a fight.

She had to call Damien Vaughn. She had to take Candy and leave immediately!

Cecelia’s footsteps hammered as she flew down the stairs.

Back in the hospital room, she pulled out her phone, found Damien Vaughn’s number, and dialed, but his phone was off.

’No wonder Mrs. Vaughn was so brazen, so confident in telling me to get lost. She knew I wouldn’t be able to contact Damien!’

’This is fine, too.’

Cecelia thought for a moment. ’We were going to have to part ways sooner or later. Leaving like this will save a lot of unnecessary trouble.’

Pulling the IV needle from Candy’s hand, Cecelia started dressing her, preparing to leave.

But she had just finished dressing her and had barely lifted Candy into her arms when the attending physician burst into the room with a group of security guards, surrounding them.

"Stop! Where do you think you’re going? You think you can just leave after committing a murder? In your dreams! I’ve already called the police! You’re not going anywhere!"

Cecelia was completely baffled.

’Has Mrs. Vaughn already made her move? Murder? Who did I kill?’

Seeing her play dumb, the attending physician pointed out the window.

"A few minutes ago, everyone saw you go up to the rooftop with Mrs. Vaughn. You had just come down when she fell from the building. If it wasn’t you, then who was it? There are witnesses. Are you still going to deny it?"

A roar filled Cecelia’s ears as her mind went blank.

She wondered if she was hallucinating.

’Mrs. Vaughn fell from the building? How is that possible?!’

Cecelia placed Candy back on the hospital bed and bolted for the balcony.

Everyone thought she was about to do something rash and rushed after her.

Cecelia leaned over the balcony railing, looking down into the courtyard. A large crowd had gathered below, chattering as they formed a circle. No one dared to get close, only pointing at the person lying in a pool of blood on the ground.

Candy’s room was on the third floor. Although she couldn’t clearly make out if the person in the pool of blood was Mrs. Vaughn from this angle, the diamond bracelet glinting with a rainbow of colors still made Cecelia’s eyes ache.

Just minutes ago, Mrs. Vaughn had used that same hand, the one wearing the diamond bracelet, to offer her the card.

It was too surreal.

Cecelia suspected she must be hallucinating from her sheer anger at Mrs. Vaughn.

’I didn’t touch her. I didn’t even get close to her. It was just the two of us up there. How could she have fallen?’

Soon, medical personnel pushed through the crowd, rushed into the circle, and lifted Mrs. Vaughn onto a gurney.

Cecelia turned back, trembling, and looked at the attending physician with disbelief in her eyes.

"Are you sure it’s Mrs. Vaughn? Is she... Is she..."

"That was the eighth floor! A fall from that height, even if it doesn’t kill you, will leave you in a vegetative state! To do something so outrageous in broad daylight and then try to play dumb? You lot, tie her up!"