Chapter 291: You’re Injured
He was in the middle of questioning the man he had pinned to the ground when two beams of bright light suddenly flashed over.
Caught off guard, Damien Vaughn’s eyes stung from the glare, and he quickly turned his head away.
The next moment, a group of men leaped out of a vehicle.
In the ensuing chaos, Damien Vaughn was outnumbered, and they snatched the man away.
Damien Vaughn grabbed the corner of the man’s clothes and refused to let go, hoping to leave behind some shred of evidence. He never expected them to be so audacious; they immediately pulled out even longer and sharper machetes.
Although his reflexes were sharp and he managed to pull his hand back in time, his right forearm still took a vicious slash.
SLAM!
VROOM!
The van door was slammed shut, and the vehicle sped off in a flash.
Cecelia Archer, who had been tossed into a flowerbed, scrambled out and rushed to Damien Vaughn’s side.
"It’s really you? President Vaughn, are you all right?"
Damien Vaughn hadn’t had an appetite for dinner. Seeing the beautiful afterglow of the sunset, he’d decided to go for a walk, never expecting to run into something like this.
He’d initially thought the attackers were after him and that he had only imagined hearing Cecelia Archer’s voice...
Looking at Cecelia Archer’s dirt-streaked face, he frowned deeply.
"I’m fine. What exactly happened?"
Cecelia Archer shook her head. "I don’t know either. I was heading to the parking lot and had just reached this spot when I was grabbed. This is a surveillance blind spot. They must have cased the joint; it was premeditated. I don’t know if they were specifically after me or..."
"Do you have your phone with you?"
Damien Vaughn held out his hand to her. "If we call security right now, they might still be able to stop them."
’Who would have expected something like this to happen in such an upscale, legitimate place?’
Cecelia Archer said in frustration, "I didn’t bring it. I just came down to get... Ah! You’re injured!"
Cecelia Archer’s gaze followed the arm he had extended for the phone, and only then did she notice he was injured.
His right forearm was sliced open with a gash a good ten centimeters long. The flesh was peeled back, and it was bleeding profusely.
Blood had even dripped onto the back of his hand and the pavement at his feet.
Alarm bells went off in her head, and she immediately took off her cardigan.
She bit through a thread to start a tear, ripped off the sleeve, and began wrapping his wound while asking frantically.
"Why were you so reckless? You shouldn’t have fought with people like that! Why didn’t you tell me immediately? It didn’t hit an artery, did it? Hurry, I’m taking you to the hospital!"
Damien Vaughn watched her brow furrow, her features twisted in worry for him, her slender, pale fingers dancing over his arm. He didn’t feel any pain at all. In fact, he felt a sense of comfort spread through his chest.
The gloom that had plagued him for days seemed to vanish into thin air at that moment.
"Don’t make such a fuss. My grandfather is here, too. It wouldn’t be good if he found out."
Cecelia Archer finished bandaging the wound and looked up at him.
"Your grandfather’s here, too? What’s wrong with him? Is he..."
Fearing she would overthink it, Damien Vaughn said, "It’s nothing. Just the same as always."
Only after she asked did Cecelia Archer realize she had spoken out of turn, that she had overstepped.
’What did it matter to me whether he was doing well or not?’
"Don’t worry, I won’t run and tell him. You need to get to a hospital right now."
Damien Vaughn pulled his arm back, looking at the piece of her sweater.
"It’s not that serious. Besides, aren’t you a doctor?"
Cecelia Archer was taken aback by his question.
"Me? I don’t have a license, and I don’t have any equipment..."
"Then go find some equipment."
Damien Vaughn was as calm as if it were merely a paper cut. After saying his piece, he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the main lobby.
The hotel staff was quickly informed of the attack, and the security team was immediately dispatched to intercept the suspicious vehicle.
The security chief escorted him to the surveillance room.
The assailants had clearly come prepared. They were all dressed in baggy black clothes and wore silicone masks, obscuring their builds and faces. Furthermore, while the van was caught on camera during the fight, it had no license plate, so there was nothing to trace.
That such a serious incident could occur at the hotel revealed a massive lapse in their management. The security chief was terrified.
He braced himself for Damien Vaughn to fly into a rage, but luckily, Damien Vaughn was in no condition to bother with him.
"Send a doctor to my room."
The hotel’s wellness department had a doctor on staff, who went to his room with medical supplies.
But upon seeing how deep the wound was, the doctor didn’t dare to proceed.
"President Vaughn, we really should go to the hospital. The medical facilities here are limited and meant only for emergencies; surgery carries risks. Besides, even if I were bold enough to stitch you up, I couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t leave a scar..."
’Leaving a scar that long on President Vaughn’s arm? That would be my neck!’
But Damien Vaughn simply refused to go to the hospital.
’Perhaps he really was afraid of his grandfather finding out and worrying.’
"I never said you had to stitch it. If you don’t have the guts, then get out of the way. She’ll do it."
Cecelia Archer was speechless.
"I only studied clinical medicine for a few years. Most of my knowledge is from textbooks. The most I’ve ever done is give injections to lab rats, and it’s been so long..."
Damien Vaughn lay on the sofa with his eyes closed.
"I said you’ll do it, so do it. Enough with the nonsense. If you don’t start soon, I’m going to bleed out. Can you take responsibility for my death?"
’He was right. If she didn’t stop the bleeding soon, the consequences would be unthinkable.’
Since he refused to go to the hospital, Cecelia Archer had no choice but to bite the bullet and try.
Fortunately, she had been an excellent student in all respects and still remembered the suturing and knot-tying methods for cosmetic stitches.
You could have heard a pin drop in the room. Cecelia Archer held her breath, completely focused. After working for over twenty minutes, she finally snipped the thread.
"There. It’s a good thing it’s just a superficial wound; it didn’t damage any muscles or bones. We’ll start an anti-inflammatory drip, you should take some anti-inflammatory pills, and the stitches can be removed in a week."
The doctor withdrew, and the hotel owner, having heard the news, came hurrying in.
He saw President Vaughn, shirtless, his muscular arm wrapped in white gauze that was faintly stained with blood. A woman was at his side, inserting a needle to prepare an IV drip. The sight made him break out in a nervous sweat.
"President Vaughn, I know I’ve done you a great wrong by letting this happen. No matter what I say or do, I can’t undo the harm you’ve suffered. But, for the sake of our many years of acquaintance, I’m begging you to be the bigger person and let this go. Please, let me off the hook!"
"As long as you don’t call the police or publicize this, I’ll spend the rest of my life working like a horse to repay you if I have to!"
"Sigh... It’s all because the real estate business is so tough these days. It took me over four years just to acquire the land and build this resort. All of my capital is tied up in it. If I can’t get operations up and running soon, not only will my own family go hungry, but everyone at my company will be left with nothing. I know our preparations were insufficient and that our operational flaws led to this situation, but..."
Damien recalled this man. He had previously approached Vaughn Properties seeking a partnership to raise startup capital for the resort. Damien Vaughn himself had personally rejected the project.
He did, however, admire the man’s boldness, persistence, and innovative spirit.
Seeing the man look so pitiful and speak with such sincerity, Damien Vaughn knew that if he were to press the issue, it would undoubtedly deal a devastating blow to the man’s newly opened resort.
’Sometimes, leaving an out for someone else is leaving one for yourself.’
He gently interrupted the resort owner.
"I hope you weren’t just paying lip service when you talked about fixing your management flaws. I’m tired. You can go now."