CHAPTER 49
Thomas honestly told Matthew everything that he had knowledge of.
Hearing Thomas’ words caused Matthew’s heart to palpitate as he felt his breathing slowing down. The strange feeling made him uncomfortable. “Immediately call the fire department!”
“I’ll do it now.”
After hanging up, Matthew put the pedal to the metal. As the car screeched, what followed thereafter was a vehicle that sped as fast as lightning, dodging and cutting off other drivers as they voiced their anger.
He couldn’t care less about this, though.
After ten minutes, he had finally arrived at Regalia Condominium.
It was the dead of night and everyone was asleep except for the community of the condominium where people had gathered under it.
The residents in the second block where Veronica lived were all woken up by the commotion as a lot of people fled down the stairs. Some even shouted, “There’s a fire. A fire has broken out. Quickly go and save the ones who are still trapped inside.”
“Call 911.”
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“I’ve already called the emergency services, but since the people are on the eighth floor, there will be some difficulty in saving them.”
“If there’s anyone, please quickly head up to the eighth floor and evacuate any remaining residents.”
“Someone’s shouting.”
All the security guards in the community had rushed to the second block to evacuate the residents after activating the fire alarm.
Yet, there were still no signs of the fire truck after a long time.
Standing outside, Matthew looked at the blazing fire on the eighth floor as his heart
started to race in nervousness.
Then, he dashed toward the second block.
However, the security guard stationed at the ground floor suddenly stopped him. “Sir, there’s a fire in there. You cannot go in right now.”
As he didn’t want to waste any words on the guard, Matthew pushed him aside and dashed up the stairwell.
The elevators had been shut down by the management due to the fire while the fire escape was full of the affected residents, who were all madly rushing down for safety.
This made Matthew’s ascend a bit difficult.
“Escape now.”
“The fire’s too big. The eighth floor is bearing the worst of it.”
“This is all too terrifying. Run, run!”
“Sob... Mommy. I’m scared. Sob...”
The blazing fire had terrified the residents as they were either screaming or crying as they ran down.
Squeezing through the crowd, Matthew finally reached the eighth floor after three long minutes.
Yet, the door to Veronica’s home already had a big fire spreading as the flame licked at the edges of the door as it continued to burn.
Standing at the door, Xavier kicked the door with all of his might, but it still did not budge after two tries.
As the doorknob outside couldn’t be turned and the door itself was burning hot, he could only repeatedly knock on the door while shouting. However, there was no response after he screamed for a long time, so he could only call the fire department, all the while trying to kick the front door down.
Seeing Matthew, Xavier removed his jacket as he walked toward him with a fierce glare. He suddenly took a heavy swing at Matthew!
“You f*ck, if anything happens to Veronica, I won’t let you off the hook that easily!”
Xavier, who knew why Veronica had fallen into her current predicament in the first place, only had an increasing hatred toward Matthew.
However, even though he had fast hands, he was no faster than Matthew.
A simple block from him was enough for him to easily catch Xavier’s fist.
Peering at him, Matthew bellowed, “What are you doing right now?”
He was only worried about Veronica’s safety at the moment and didn’t have any time to waste on bickering with Xavier.
After pushing Xavier aside, Matthew then walked to the front door before removing his suit jacket and heavily stomped on the door.
Standing at the side, Xavier had his hands tied in anxiousness. “Stop kicking it; it’s of no use.”
Taking out a cigarette from his pocket, Xavier lit it before deeply inhaling it. “I’ve already informed the fire department. This door can only be opened once they have arrived.”
“What do you mean?” Matthew coldly looked at Xavier.
“What do I mean? Hmph.” Smiling in anger, Xavier took a shot at Matthew again while the cigarette was still in his mouth. “If it weren’t for the goddamn incident regarding Veronica last time, why would I need to add a reinforced door for her? It was all because of you f*cks!”
After Veronica’s pregnancy was terminated, Matthew had guessed that she could have ingested the medicine that caused the miscarriage, which was why he rushed to the condominium with Thomas.
He had knocked on the door, but nobody came to open it. So, he then proceeded to kick the door down.
That was when he found Veronica lying in a pool of her own blood.
Everybody vacated the house after that incident. It was only the day after that fateful day when Xavier rushed over and noticed the broken door lock on Veronica’s front door.
Thinking of her safety, he had people install a specially reinforced door.
However, who knew that this door now stood in their way of saving Veronica?
Beside his rage was endless self-blaming. So, now that Xavier faced Matthew, he could only vent all his emotions on Matthew.
His strike, although fast, still could not land on Matthew.
Catching the man’s fist yet again, Matthew warned in a low tone, “I don’t want to talk to you right now, so scram!”
Right as he said those words, the firefighters arrived at that exact moment.
“What’s this?”
Now that they had their fire protective gears on them, the firefighters asked upon seeing the two men standing at the entrance,
“The door. It can’t be opened.”
The appearance of the firefighters stopped Xavier from further arguing with Matthew as saving a life was more important. “Do you guys have a chainsaw?”
“Riddick, bring these two downstairs first. I’ll save the person inside,” the team leader of the firefighters said to his subordinate behind.
Then, after being cued, that firefighter immediately approached Matthew and Xavier and advised, “Please leave quickly; it’s extremely dangerous here.”
The eighth floor was already in a precarious situation because of the blazing fire. So, the first thing was to evacuate both men to safety.
“No need!”
Refusing flatly, Matthew replied, “Saving the person inside comes first!”
Standing with a straight posture and a dignified appearance, he exuded a royal-like aura, which pressured everyone there.
Even though he was under the constant persuasion of the firefighters, not only did he completely ignore them, he even found an ax inside the cabinet of the fire extinguisher and wanted to force the door open with it.
Admitting defeat, the firefighters were being extra cautious even though they wanted to break the door in the shortest amount of time. They were afraid of the explosion that might occur once the fire came into contact with the oxygen.
After five minutes, the door to the living room was finally opened.
At that time, the hellfire from within rushed out with its fierce blaze reaching out like a claw, threatening to swallow everybody in its wake.
The heat from the flames surrounded them like a blanket and the melting temperature had reached an almost unbearable standard.
Inside the huge fire were only sounds of crackling, with no signs of Veronica.
The frowning Xavier could not stop his slumping body from leaning against the wall as he lost all control of his body. “Veronica, you fool!”
He did not know what else to do except to scold her because he clearly knew that she could not possibly survive in a fire of this scale!
“Please, you guys should quickly leave! The fire here is out of control!”
The firefighters ordered them again.
Yet, moments after those words were spoken, Matthew ran inside the adjacent room, only to appear drenched after ten seconds. After grabbing a safety helmet belonging to one of the firefighters standing by the door, he rushed into the midst of the blaze.
“You can’t go in there! It’s too dangerous!”
Reaching out, the firefighter wanted to stop Matthew, but only managed to catch the corner of his clothes.
Now that Matthew rushed in with a dripping wet suit and a safety helmet, he would be alright for a short period of time.