Mr. Hawthorne, Your Wife Wants a Divorce Again-Chapter 863: You Are My Muse

But Miyi Yates didn’t use anything; she just stared into her eyes, causing her to lose consciousness, and it took nearly nine hours for her to wake up.

What was more frightening was that Ann Vaughn couldn’t remember what she had done during this time or how she came to be here.

Miyi Yates has been forbidden from leaving the country, so it couldn’t have been her.

Then, who could her accomplice be?

"Knock, knock, knock."

The sudden knocking interrupted Ann Vaughn’s thoughts. Hugo Sullivan stood outside the door calling her, "Miss Vaughn, dinner is ready, come down and eat."

"Ah, okay." Ann Vaughn responded, dragging her leaden legs toward the door.

As she reached the door, Ann Vaughn suddenly paused.

Hugo Sullivan had helped her a lot; rationally she shouldn’t suspect him, but... what if?

Dinner was prepared sumptuously, but Ann Vaughn, burdened with worries, had no appetite and ate little.

Just thinking about Cyrus Hawthorne and Kenny worrying anxiously about her, she couldn’t focus on savoring the food.

Moreover... she couldn’t determine whether Hugo Sullivan’s presence here was purely coincidental or intentional.

"I had someone send over some seasonal fruits from here. If you get hungry at night, you can have some fruit." Hugo Sullivan walked over with a plate of freshly washed fruits and placed it near Ann Vaughn.

"Thanks." Ann Vaughn snapped back to reality, smiled awkwardly while pressing her lips, "Dinner was delicious, it’s just that I didn’t have much appetite. Thank you for preparing it."

Hugo Sullivan’s fair and gentle face turned slightly red, "You don’t really have to be so restrained."

He seemed particularly prone to blushing, and under the glasses, his eyes appeared steady, yet always revealed a shy sparkle.

Like a bashful big boy.

Ann Vaughn’s tightly furrowed delicate brows relaxed slightly. Maybe she was overthinking it?

"By the way," Hugo Sullivan added, "when you sleep tonight, be sure to lock your doors and windows tightly. No matter what sounds you hear, don’t leave your room or open any windows."

Listening to his words, Ann Vaughn asked in surprise, "Isn’t this town safe?"

"It’s fine in the daytime, but once night falls, there’s no place that’s entirely safe," Hugo replied, glancing out the window, his eyes narrowing under his glasses, "However, as long as you don’t leave this villa, you are safe."

Ann Vaughn nodded solemnly, "Don’t worry, I won’t cause you any trouble."

Just as Hugo Sullivan said, once nightfall descended, this town shed its peaceful disguise, exposing all its ugliness and evil under the moonlight.

Ann Vaughn, exhausted from the day, was worn to the point of collapse, but the tension in her mind prevented her from falling asleep.

"Ah—"

The third scream of the night came from outside the window.

Ann Vaughn immediately opened her eyes, exhaled while staring at the ceiling, her palms sweaty from clenching them too tightly, making the edges of her blanket damp.

As she was about to calm her thoughts and close her eyes to rest, a faint sound of a baby’s cry suddenly came from outside the window.

Connecting it with the earlier screams, Ann Vaughn sat up, threw the blanket aside, and walked to the window.

However, before her hand touched the curtain, Hugo Sullivan’s words suddenly flashed through her mind.

Ann Vaughn quickly retracted her hand, stepped back a few paces, and tried to ignore the weak and pitiful cries, turning back to bed.

She tucked herself under the blanket, covered her ears with her hands, trying to block out those sounds.

She was already struggling to protect herself and didn’t want to play the meddlesome fish.

Whether self-hypnosis worked or not, Ann Vaughn gradually felt the onset of sleepiness, and before long, she closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

Next morning.

Due to not sleeping well the night before, Ann Vaughn was slow to wake when Hugo Sullivan’s female assistant came knocking at her door, her mind in a haze.

"Miss Vaughn, I estimated your size and picked out a few sets of clothes for you to change into. However, I may not have chosen the right size for items like underwear. I hope you’ll forgive me." The female assistant placed the items on the table, beaming at Ann Vaughn.

Ann Vaughn’s cheeks immediately flushed pink, embarrassed as she lowered her eyes slightly, "Thank you."

"You’re welcome, it’s my duty," the smiling assistant said before leaving the room.

Carrying the bag, Ann Vaughn went into the bathroom to freshen up, taking out the clothes the assistant had brought.

The clothes chosen for her were in a medieval court style, in three colors. Although not overly complex in design, they still appeared a bit too luxurious.

But given the lack of other options, Ann Vaughn chose a slightly simpler cream apricot long dress to wear.

Downstairs.

As Ann Vaughn was about to enter the dining room, she noticed Hugo Sullivan sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, painting.

The living room on the first floor faced the garden outside; once the window was opened, the garden scene came fully into view.

A canvas was set up by the window, with Hugo seated in front of it, holding a palette in one hand and a brush in the other, applying paint to the paper.

Ann Vaughn quietly approached without making a sound.

Hugo was painting the current scene in the garden, bright as flame rows of roses, with clear thorns, less delicate, more wild.

But if you didn’t look closely, it was hard to discern which was the painting and which was the scenery.

It seemed, however, that the painting was missing something...

"Good morning, Miss Vaughn," Hugo greeted her with a smile as Ann Vaughn was lost in thought. "Did you sleep well last night?"

"To be honest, not very well," Ann Vaughn said, smiling faintly, "There was a constant sound of a baby crying outside the window. Did someone lose their baby?"

"The sound of a crying baby?" Hugo’s face changed slightly, "In this town, it’s common for villains to use the sound of a crying baby to lure people out of their houses, murder them, and then take over their houses. The sound you heard last night was probably a deliberate ruse."

Lured out to kill?!

Ann Vaughn’s eyes tightened, and her hands at her sides clenched hard.

She couldn’t imagine the consequences if she had opened the window or left the villa last night.

"Thanks to your warning last night, I feel like I owe you once again," Ann Vaughn pressed her lips, the string in her mind stretched almost to breaking point.

Until leaving here and returning to her country, she couldn’t rest peacefully.

Hugo opened his mouth, paused for a few seconds, and with his ears reddening, asked, "If you really want to thank me, could you do me a favor?"

"Just say it, as long as it’s within my ability."