Deceiving Her Ears: Ignoring Your Call-Chapter 39: The First

Natalie Kendall still didn’t react at all.

Isaac Vaughn’s heart sank, and he reached out to touch her forehead—sure enough, it was burning hot.

Damn it!

He cursed under his breath and reached out to pick her up.

"Stop."

A cold woman’s voice came from the doorway.

Isaac Vaughn turned his head.

It was Cynthia Kendall.

He straightened up, forced down his fury, and politely greeted her: "Auntie Kendall."

Cynthia Kendall said coldly, "Is this the kind of upbringing you Vaughns have? Just barging into other people’s homes and destroying things?"

Isaac Vaughn gritted his teeth: "I’ll compensate you tenfold for your loss."

"Do you think my Beckett family cares about your money?" Cynthia’s voice carried anger. "You’re not welcome here; get out, now!"

"I’ll leave, but I’m taking her with me," Isaac said, referring to Natalie on the bed.

"And what gives you the right?" Cynthia looked as if she’d heard a joke.

Isaac didn’t have time to waste—he bent down, slid one arm behind Natalie’s neck, the other beneath her knees, and lifted her up in his arms.

He’d held her like this many times before; he remembered how it felt to hold her.

So when he picked her up this time, he could tell instantly that she’d lost a lot of weight.

Five days. Just five damn days.

What on earth happened to her during that time?

Isaac looked down at the woman in his arms, eyes deep and serious. But now wasn’t the time for questions. The urgent thing was to get her to a hospital.

"Isaac Vaughn! Put her down!"

Cynthia hadn’t expected him to actually try to take Natalie away right in front of her.

Isaac ignored her, holding Natalie as he forced his way past Cynthia, who was blocking the doorway, quickly heading downstairs.

"Isaac Vaughn! Stop right there!"

Cynthia, furious, rushed after him and blocked him in the living room.

She glared at Isaac, rage making her words sharp and clear: "You can leave; she can’t!"

Two maids joined Cynthia, standing with her to block Isaac’s path.

Isaac held Natalie tighter, his gaze cold on them.

Did they really think they could stop him, just like that?

Tension crackled in the air; just then, Julian Beckett arrived.

"Mom."

He strode over to Cynthia, holding her arm and, at the same time, glanced at Natalie in Isaac’s embrace, his brows drawn together.

The situation was worse than he’d expected.

Cynthia felt emboldened now that her son had arrived; her expression grew even harder.

But she never imagined that her son would say, "Mom, I asked him to come. Let him take Nat away."

Cynthia stared at her son in disbelief.

Julian looked at Isaac: "Go."

Without a word, Isaac carried Natalie out.

Cynthia’s face froze in cold anger. She yanked her arm out of her son’s grip and stormed upstairs without another word.

"Mom."

Julian called after her retreating figure: "No matter what, Nat is innocent."

"She’s innocent?"

Cynthia suddenly turned on the staircase, her agitation making her stumble—she had to grab the banister to steady herself.

"Mom!"

Julian started forward to help, but Cynthia pointed at him, voice shaking with fury: "And what about my Annie? What did she do wrong? She..."

Cynthia’s body shook, tears streaming down her face, the hatred in her eyes cutting deep.

Julian opened his mouth, but in the end, he said nothing—afraid to push her any further.

——

"Mmm..."

Natalie murmured softly.

But Isaac, sitting by her bedside, heard it and reached out to hold her hand.

Natalie, dazed with fever, slowly opened her eyes—her first sight was a pair of flirtatious eyes.

Was she dreaming?

She blinked.

Why did she feel like she was seeing Isaac?

Isaac pinched her fingers, then loosened his grip, and signed: Not a dream. I’m really here.

Natalie stared at him without blinking, a little out of it.

Isaac sighed, kept signing: How do you feel? Any pain anywhere? You slept for a whole day—are you a pig?

Natalie licked her lips, surprised to find they weren’t dry anymore.

She saw a cup on the nightstand, and a damp cotton swab beside it.

He must have wiped her lips while she was out.

She slowly raised her hand to let him know she was fine.

Isaac signed again: Your hearing aid’s busted. When you’re better, we’ll get it checked out and pick up a new one. Don’t worry.

Natalie nodded, letting him know she wasn’t afraid.

Isaac didn’t rush to ask about the past few days—he wasn’t going to let it go, but he decided to wait until she’d recovered.

The next day after her checkup, once the new hearing aid arrived, Natalie asked for a laptop—she actually wanted to work on assignments.

Isaac was speechless at this fragile college kid—she was "damn hard to kill."

Her body was in shambles, and she still cared about homework.

Did assignments save her life in a past life or something?

But in the end, he still brought her the laptop.

Once Natalie booted up, she got right to work, tapping intently at the keyboard, looking utterly focused.

Isaac watched her for a while, torn between amusement and exasperation, until his phone suddenly rang.

He glanced at the caller; his expression shifted slightly, and he stepped out to take the call.

"Isaac Vaughn, it’s me."

"Yeah. I know. What is it?"

On the other end, Vivienne Jordan’s voice sounded apologetic: "About what happened the other day...I feel I should apologize. If it wasn’t you sending me back to the hotel, no one would’ve gotten that picture."

When the scandal first broke, Vivienne still had some hopes in her heart.

She hadn’t expected Issac’s reaction afterwards to completely crush those hopes.

"Just clarify things. I’m a guy, I don’t care, but you’re a woman—people’s assumptions aren’t fair to you."

Hearing him say this, Vivienne gripped her phone tighter, but felt no happiness at all.

She wanted to say she didn’t care about being misunderstood—she wanted the misunderstanding to be real.

Vivienne drew in a breath, then gathered her courage to ask, "Isaac, do you have a girlfriend now..."

"Sorry, something came up, need to hang up."

Before she could finish, Isaac hung up on her.

Isaac ruffled the hair of Kiki, who’d suddenly run over to hug him, planting a doting kiss on her head, then looked at the approaching Sylvia Vaughn.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Brought Kiki for the doctor. She’s down with a cold."

"What did the doctor say?" Isaac picked Kiki up, his brows pinching together.

Sylvia: "Nothing serious, just some meds."

After a pause, she asked, "I saw Natalie in the sickroom earlier. What happened to her? Her face looked hurt."

Isaac’s eyes dimmed as he put Kiki down, "I’ll tell you later."

Sylvia eyed him, wanting to say something, but in the end left with Kiki without another word.

Isaac went back to the hospital room, noticing the door was half open.

He was about to go in when he suddenly heard his own voice coming from inside.

He shoved the door open—inside, Natalie was clutching a doll in her hospital bed.

It was Kiki’s doll.

Kiki had once said she wanted to give the doll to Natalie.

And now, his voice was coming from inside the doll.

It was a recording doll!

The doll was playing a conversation between him and his aunt in the room that day!

"Isaac, what are you really after?"

"She holds ten percent of Beckett Group’s shares."

"Just for that?"

"Of course not. My grandpa and uncle think too small—they’re satisfied with just a few shares. They have no clue she’s worth far more than that..."

Isaac met Natalie’s eyes—for the first time feeling truly at a loss.