Chapter 334: Remember Me at My Most Beautiful
When Elsa came back, she brought several pairs of unique shoes. Damien Vaughn had helped her unpack her suitcase at the time, so he remembered her distinctive footwear vividly.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t gone out since arriving in Veridia, and he had never once seen her wear them.
Damien Vaughn couldn’t believe his eyes. A park ranger pulled him forward a couple of steps.
"It’s you, right? You’re the family member? Come take a look, is this the person you’re looking for? There was a phone next to her. It seems like this was planned. Why would she choose to come here... Such a nice scenic area, and now she’s gone and done this, I mean, really..."
Now, Damien Vaughn had no choice but to believe it.
Elsa was lying right there in front of him, so tall and straight. But tragically, the vibrant color had drained from her face forever.
A searing pain gripped Damien Vaughn’s heart, and he suddenly, uncontrollably, collapsed.
"What’s wrong? You’ve confirmed it, right? It’s your family member? Don’t do this, you can’t collapse now. You need to take her away! Sir? Sir?"
The crowd erupted in a clamor.
Although Brandon Jacobs didn’t want to believe it was really Elsa lying over there, he had been keeping a close watch on the situation.
When he saw Damien Vaughn’s tall figure disappear, he panicked completely and stumbled over.
The sight of the figure on the ground and Damien Vaughn’s slumped form made his legs go weak, and he collapsed as well.
"What, another one? Come on, you guys! You need to take her away!"
After a chaotic flurry of activity, Elsa’s body was brought back to the park management office.
The police and paramedics arrived, confirmed she had no vital signs, and determined she had ended her own life by taking pills. The case was quickly closed.
Brandon Jacobs and Damien Vaughn sat stunned in the park management office, unable to process what had happened for a long time.
Brandon Jacobs held Elsa’s phone, which was playing the last video she had recorded before her death on a loop.
"Damien, Brandon Jacobs, hello. Don’t be sad for me. Right now, sitting in the desert, looking at the brilliant starry sky above, feeling the cool breeze as I record this for you... I’m very happy. Really. I studied medicine, so I understand better than anyone that death comes for us all. To be able to die while I’m still young and beautiful, while I’m still in control, and to let you remember me at my best forever—that’s a very happy thing."
"These past days since returning to Veridia, especially after getting to know Brandon Jacobs, I’ve felt so much love. I’m very content. To end my life at a time when I can feel love so strongly is far better than wasting away in a hospital bed. I feel my life is complete, and I hope you can sincerely see it that way too."
"I used to always think there was something wrong with me. I felt like my parents didn’t love me, and my first love pursued me only to abandon me. I wondered if I had some serious flaw. For a while, I was filled with self-doubt and fell into a deep depression and anxiety, which led to me developing breast cancer. If I had gotten to know you all sooner, if I had met Brandon Jacobs earlier, maybe things would have been different. But that doesn’t matter anymore."
"This is my life, a path I’ve walked step by step. It’s interesting that it’s different from others, isn’t it? Please don’t tell my mother just yet. I’ll be very happy in heaven. One day, I’ll meet her there, and I’ll tell her myself. Thank you for being so accepting of me all this time. I’m sorry for causing you trouble at the very end. I hope you never doubt yourselves and that you’ll always be happy. Goodbye."
After her fight with Damien Vaughn, Cecelia Archer couldn’t bring herself to go back to the Vaughn residence. She checked into a hotel and had Candy brought over.
It was the first time the two of them had stayed in a top-floor presidential suite.
Standing before the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, they could overlook the entire city’s magnificent nightscape. Candy was excited, but also felt a twinge of regret.
"Why isn’t Daddy back yet? It would be so nice if he could stay with us. We could have a candlelight dinner together, look at the view from the window together, and play games together. I would be so happy. But I’m happy now, too. Daddy said he went to work and he’ll be back to see me soon. We’ll always be a happy family forever, right, Mommy?"
Cecelia Archer was at a loss for words.
She had given Candy a beautiful fantasy, but after just over ten days, it had all become an illusion.
’If Candy finds out I’m going to divorce Damien Vaughn, she’ll have a broken home all over again...’
Looking at her daughter’s innocent face, Cecelia couldn’t bear to tell her the truth.
She stroked her head, ate dinner with her, played some games, told her a bedtime story, and tucked her into bed. Then, she sat alone on the sofa, phone in hand, staring into space.
Damien Vaughn had been so earnest and affectionate in front of her, yet he hadn’t called or even sent a single text.
’How ridiculous.’
The next morning, Annie called and asked Candy to come over and play with her.
Cecelia pretended she had to go to work at the company, dropped Candy off at the Grant residence, and then returned to the hotel.
She lay on the sofa, bored out of her mind. After mulling over the details of the divorce, she felt lost about the future.
Just as her thoughts were running wild, she got a call from Ryan.
"Miss Archer, why didn’t you come to work today? There are documents from several departments that need reviewing and a few meetings to attend. Everyone’s starting to ask about them."
Cecelia was taken aback. "Damien Vaughn didn’t go to work?"
Ryan was also surprised. "No, he didn’t. Didn’t President Vaughn go to handle the financing deal? Miss Archer, you should come in. If the documents aren’t distributed, no one can get any work done. We can’t all just sit here staring at each other, can we?"
Cecelia didn’t want to make things difficult for her subordinates. She didn’t want to disappoint all the people who came to work early, full of confidence and ready to drive performance.
They were all adults. It wasn’t her style to cast aside her work and the entire company’s interests over personal drama.
Besides, Candy was truly Damien Vaughn’s daughter, a true member of the Vaughn family.
If the company profited, a share of it would be Candy’s.
If the company collapsed, they would truly have nothing left.
Cecelia rushed to the company and threw herself back into her work.
The busy morning flew by, and soon it was afternoon.
She skipped her lunch break. Just as she gathered her materials and was about to head into a meeting with Ryan, the second uncle burst into the president’s office, his face a mask of fury.
"What is the meaning of this? Why was my project proposal rejected? What’s wrong with it? On what grounds was it not approved? Damien, explain this to me right now!"
His mistress on the side had just given birth to a healthy baby boy. Being middle-aged, he doted on the child, and the second uncle had recently been completely absorbed in his new little family, leaving all his work to his subordinates.
Normally, things were quiet on his end. But yesterday, his subordinate called to tell him that the new proposal they submitted had been rejected three times in one week. They were at their wit’s end with revisions, but it still wouldn’t get approved.
The second uncle assumed Damien Vaughn was deliberately targeting him, so he had rushed over in a fury right after lunch.
He didn’t see Damien Vaughn, but he did see Cecelia Archer, and his brow furrowed.
"What are you doing here? You still have the face to show up here? Who gave you the nerve? Where’s Damien? What scheme is he pulling now? Tell him to come out and see me!"
Ryan quickly stepped in front of Cecelia Archer.
"Second Master, President Vaughn went to Corvane to discuss the financing and hasn’t returned yet. The work in the President’s Office is temporarily being handled by Miss Linden."
"Miss Linden? Who’s Miss Linden?"