My Child and I Married a Billionaire

Chapter 187: Chapter 187: Does President Vaughn Have Psychological Problems?

"No, it’s fine. I can walk. I’ll go with you."

Cecelia Archer didn’t want to stay here alone; it was a waste of time, and she didn’t feel safe. She insisted on going with Shane Grant.

Shane Grant saw the sky growing brighter and the obvious unease in her eyes—the only part of her face that was visible. He took her hand again.

"Alright. Take it slow, then."

The two of them descended the stairs and cut across behind a row of hedges toward the parking lot.

They had just rounded the corner of the hedges when they unexpectedly came face-to-face with someone.

A tall, imposing man dressed all in black was carrying a petite woman in his arms. Her hands were clasped around his neck, her face buried in the crook of his neck. They were walking right before them, pressed tightly together in an intimate, tender scene.

Even though the couple wasn’t speaking and she couldn’t see the man’s face, Cecelia Archer recognized Damien Vaughn in an instant from his familiar posture.

’Damien Vaughn!’

’At this hour, he’s at the hospital, too—and with Gwen Morgan.’

’So he ended up with Gwen Morgan after all.’

An uncontrollable chill shot through her, and she froze on the spot.

Although she had long known about their connection and that the marriage alliance between the Vaughn Family and the Morgans was set in stone and inevitable, Damien Vaughn had always given her the illusion that she could depend on him. Cecelia Archer had never truly processed that this would actually happen.

Now that Mrs. Vaughn was dead and she herself was "dead," it was only natural for this to happen...

’Yes, it’s only natural. I shouldn’t be so shocked, so upset.’

But she couldn’t help but remember the times they had been tangled in bed together. Damien Vaughn had always acted so invested, so satisfied. Afterwards, he would do his best to compensate her and be good to Candy. But then, when the incident happened... his disappearance, his heartlessness, his ruthless determination to eradicate her—Cecelia couldn’t control the rush of emotions.

’Just because I don’t have a family background as good as Gwen Morgan’s, my character is considered flawed. When something happened, he didn’t even bother to investigate, just immediately insisted I was the one who did it.’

’Just because I had Candy out of wedlock, I’m not worthy of being cherished? He could force me to stay by his side for his amusement whenever he wanted, and just disappear when he didn’t feel like it?’

’Just because my social status is low, even my daughter doesn’t deserve basic human rights? He could play with her however he pleased when he was bored, and then just sell her off when he was unhappy?’

Seeing him and Gwen Morgan in such a tender, intimate embrace, and then recalling what he had done to her and Candy, Cecelia Archer was filled with regret for her past greed and naivety. She was so disgusted by Damien Vaughn’s sanctimonious hypocrisy that she suddenly felt the urge to vomit.

"Urp—"

A sliver of reason remained. To keep from being discovered, she quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.

Shane Grant had seen the couple ahead and was about to subconsciously pull Cecelia Archer back behind the hedges, but he was caught off guard when she suddenly looked like she was going to be sick.

"What’s wrong?"

He asked her in a hushed, urgent voice.

Cecelia Archer stumbled back several steps, ran to a trash can in front of the outpatient building, and wretched violently, bringing up nothing but sour bile.

"I’m fine..."

Guessing that Damien Vaughn was gone by now, she gave a weak wave of her hand.

"I must have been smelling the disinfectant for too long. It made me nauseous. I’m much better now."

"No one will find out we were at the hospital today, right?"

"They won’t," Shane Grant said gently, helping her wipe her mouth with a tissue and supporting her by the arm.

"I’ve already arranged for it to be handled. Once we leave this place, all the surveillance footage will be erased."

As day broke, an exhausted Damien Vaughn went to the office.

Ryan followed him in to report on the day’s schedule. When he saw the tired look on his face as he rubbed his eyes, he assumed he had pulled another all-nighter.

"President Vaughn, you didn’t get much rest, did you? There’s nothing particularly urgent today. Why don’t we postpone your appointments so you can take the day off?"

’Nothing important?’

Damien Vaughn couldn’t help but think about last night, about the woman who might have been Cecelia Archer.

He paused for two seconds, then stood up. "Alright."

"But I’m not going home. Get us a car from someone. You’re coming with me."

The two men arrived at the gated community where Shane Grant lived. After setting up a pair of binoculars, Damien Vaughn crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"Keep your eyes on that gate. If you see anything unusual, wake me immediately."

Ryan was speechless.

The Vaughn Group was currently competing with Grant Properties over the new international airport project. Ryan knew how important this project was to the group and how much President Vaughn valued it, but there was no need to come here and surveil the man, was there?

Besides, their bid and the Grant Group’s didn’t even focus on the same plot of land. Even if they did, what could possibly be gained by monitoring their every move?

’President Vaughn is such a proud, self-assured man. He’s never done anything this ridiculous before, no matter how big or important the project. But today...’

’It seems the deaths of his mother and Miss Archer really hit him hard.’

Cecelia Archer’s old injuries hadn’t fully healed yet, and now she’d also just had an abortion. She was completely and utterly drained.

Worried something might happen to her, Shane Grant had no mind for work and stayed home with her the entire day.

Ryan was going stir-crazy sitting in the car. His eyes were about to go blind from staring, but he hadn’t spotted anything out of the ordinary.

But Damien Vaughn refused to give up. "Starting tomorrow, switch out the car and the personnel every day. If any woman who even remotely resembles Cecelia Archer appears, report to me immediately."

Again, Ryan was speechless.

’So he was here to stake out a spot for Miss Archer!’

’My God, she’s been dead for almost forty days... This is...’

’Should I get a psychologist for President Vaughn?’

For ten days straight, they found nothing unusual.

Ryan was being pulled in too many directions—keeping an eye on Shane Grant, managing the search for Candy, and handling his actual job. He was completely at his wit’s end and asked Damien Vaughn if they could pull the team off surveillance at the Grant residence.

Shane Grant’s routine was ridiculously predictable: he went to the office, and he came home. Other than a housekeeper who occasionally went out for groceries, no one entered or left the house. There was no point in continuing the stakeout.

But Damien Vaughn’s sharp senses picked up on an anomaly in Ryan’s report.

’Besides the housekeeper occasionally going out for groceries, no one enters or leaves? Not even his son?’

Annie was school-aged. If he wasn’t going to school, then a tutor had to be coming to the house.

’Since no one is going in and the boy isn’t coming out, isn’t that very strange?’

"Alright."

After pulling the team off the stakeout, Damien Vaughn called Zeke Walton, whom he hadn’t contacted in a long time.

Zeke Walton had been sick lately.

Ever since he ran into Cecelia Archer that day and learned about the harrowing ordeal she’d gone through with the Vaughn Family—not to mention that Candy had nearly been sold—his entire worldview had been turned upside down.

He had followed Damien Vaughn since they were young, always looking up to him as an idol. He’d believed that despite his cold and aloof demeanor, Damien was more clear-headed and intelligent than anyone. He never imagined that when faced with such a crucial matter of right and wrong, Damien could act so absurdly.

Even he, an outsider, couldn’t believe Cecelia Archer would do something like that. Yet Damien, who prided himself on his deep feelings and had been with Cecelia for so long, had actually suspected her and backed her into such a corner. Zeke was beginning to doubt his own ability to judge character.

But that wasn’t the main reason he was sick. The main reason was that, through the time he had spent with Shane Grant recently, he had fallen deeply in love with him.

Although Shane Grant hadn’t expressed or confirmed anything, Zeke Walton could sense that Shane liked him, too.

Looking at the perfect, gentle Shane Grant, he sometimes thought it would be better not to break the unspoken tension between them and just remain friends for life.

As long as Shane Grant wasn’t with anyone else, and as long as Shane needed him.

But Cecelia Archer’s misfortune and Shane Grant’s frantic worry over her had shattered his dream into a million pieces.