Chapter 192 Exposing Anna Live (3)
"I... I..."
Anna was still reeling from the shock that Vaughn was alive when she realized every eye in the room was fixed on her.
How could this be? The hitman had told her Vaughn had been pushed into the ocean. How the hell did he survive?
And the way Vaughn was looking at her now... did he already know? Did he know she had hired someone to kill him?
Had Michael told him?
Her gaze darted to Michael standing just behind Vaughn. His expression was stone-cold, unreadable. But in the next heartbeat, she dismissed the thought. Michael would never tell Vaughn. His grandmother's life depended entirely on the medicine in Anna's hands. He was on her side. If her involvement in the hit came out and the police took her away, who would save his grandmother then?
Under no circumstances could she admit it. If the public learned she had ordered a hit on her own grandfather, her life would be over.
"Grandpa... what are you talking about? How would I know what happened?"
Anna's eyes brimmed with tears. "Grandpa, I searched for you with the police and the salvage team for three whole days at sea. We couldn't find a single trace of you."
"So you're really unharmed? Thank God... I thought... I thought you..." Her voice cracked. "Grandpa, it's such a relief that you're alive!"
She kept speaking, tears streaming down her face, painting herself as a granddaughter overwhelmed with joy. But the more sincere she appeared, the colder Vaughn's eyes became.
"Even now you're still performing," Vaughn said, his voice like ice. "Anna, you've let me down.
"I chose to appear here today because I decided that even if it shames the Williams family, I will make sure you remember that you must pay for what you've done."
Anna froze, forgetting to wipe her tears, as Vaughn turned to the reporters.
"Friends in the press, I am here today to set things straight. This may be a scandal for the Williams family, but I am not afraid for you to report it.
"The will my granddaughter announced on that screen was never written by me. She bribed my lawyer to forge it.
"My fall into the ocean was no accident — it was a hit. Someone hired a killer to push me off the cruise ship.
"And the person who hired that killer was my own granddaughter — Anna."
The room fell silent, then erupted with audible gasps.
What? The will was fake, and Anna had ordered the hit?
Vaughn turned to Amelia beside him, speaking her name.
In the next moment, Amelia pulled a remote from her pocket and pressed a button aimed at the big screen. The will vanished, replaced by two images.
On the left was a screenshot of a chat conversation. On the right, a bank transfer of one million dollars.
The chat had only four lines.
[The old man is in the VIP lounge on the second deck. Find a chance to push him overboard. Make it look like an accident.]
[Don't worry. If there's no chance, I'll make one.]
[The old man has been pushed. No way he survives.]
[One million transferred. Disappear after docking. Don't get caught.]
Oh God — was this a conversation with the hitman?
Every head turned to the right side of the screen. The transfer amount was indeed one million dollars.
Amelia pressed the remote again. The screen showed the IP trace of the transfer account, ending with the overseas account holder's name: Anna.
So it was true — Anna had hired someone to kill Vaughn, staging it as an accidental fall.
Which meant every word she had spoken earlier was a lie. Every tear, every tremor in her voice, had been an act.
Anna's mouth hung open. She could feel the shock and disgust in the eyes around her. Her gaze snapped to Amelia, the remote still in her hand, and she nearly screamed.
"No! That's not what happened!
"Grandpa, you've been misled by Amelia! I never hired a killer, I don't even have that overseas account!
"Grandpa, you know she hates me. At my birthday party she humiliated me in front of everyone.
"She's trying to drive a wedge between us, faking these images to stir you up, to make you think I'm behind this..."
"Shut your mouth!"
Vaughn didn't let her finish. His cane struck the floor with a sharp crack, his face dark.
"Even now you refuse to admit it, and you dare claim Amelia framed you?
"If Amelia hadn't worried for my safety and placed a chip in my ring to track my location and monitor my vitals, and if she hadn't flown out by helicopter to pull me from the shore, I'd be dead!"
Anna's eyes widened. Amelia had saved Vaughn?
It was her again — this damn Amelia ruining everything.
Hatred flashed in Anna's eyes. But the next second she was crying again, her voice trembling. "Grandpa, you'd rather believe an outsider than your own granddaughter? She saved you — couldn't it be that she planned all this just to swoop in and rescue you, to make herself your savior and get her hands on the Williams family fortune?
"With two doctored images she wants to pin this on me? I will never admit it!"
"Ms. Williams, do you think everyone is like you, seeing only money?"
Amelia, who had been watching her with cold detachment, finally spoke.
"And who told you these two images are all the evidence I have?"
"What did you say?" Her pupils constricted.
Amelia pressed the remote again.
The big screen lit up with a video — Anna's face, her voice filling the hall.
[It was me. I paid a million to hire a killer for my grandfather. The cruise was my setup. I had the killer board his ship, wait for the right moment, and push him overboard. He succeeded on the first try. No one saw it. It looked exactly like an accident.]
Hearing her own voice echo through the speakers, Anna stumbled back, nearly collapsing to the floor.