Chapter 195
Chapter 195
Angeline didn’t dare to turn on the lights. Using the dim moonlight, she approached the child to take a closer look. What she saw made her stumble back in shock, and tears sprang to her eyes.
The scrawny child was sprawled out on a stone bed, on the verge of death.
He had injuries all over his face and body. His lips were so dry that the skin was falling off, and there were even traces of wet blood on them.
Even Jonathan wasn’t having any of it. He furrowed his brows deeply and spat angrily, “All of them are monsters! Don’t they know that neglecting a child is illegal?”
“I’m going to sue them!” Angeline exclaimed agitatedly, hatred burning strongly in her eyes.
“We can talk about that later. Hold on to my phone for me. I’ll carry the child out of here.”
Angeline took the phone from Jonathan. However, she suddenly noticed that the burning smell she had detected earlier was getting stronger.
Before she could tell Jonathan about it, a woman’s scream could be heard from the neighboring house.
“Help! Fire! Someone, please help!”
Angeline turned to look and saw the large house go up in flames. The fire was burning so intensely that the crackling sound echoed through the night.
“Ahh! Help!”
The alcoholic father and his wife ran out of the house haphazardly without even getting dressed properly.
The raging fire was spreading very quickly, and it didn’t take long for the furniture in the living room to fall victim to it. There was a loud boom, and a wooden beam crashed through the roof.
Angeline was scared out of her wits, and tears streamed down her face. NôvelDrama.Org owns all © content.
“Why is this happening? Why did a fire suddenly break out?”
“There’s no time to think about that! Let’s get out of here!”
Feeling that there was imminent danger, Jonathan immediately grabbed Angeline’s hand. They bent down, avoiding the areas where the fire was burning, and managed to escape in the nick of time.
The alcoholic father and his wife stood in the yard and gazed at their house, which was being swallowed up by the flames. The two of them slapped their thighs and cried in agony.
“Oh my god! Our house! Our business!”
“Ahh! I left my money in the cabinet!”
Their screams had woken up all their neighbors in the surrounding area. When they saw the flames, all of them went to fetch water from a well to put out the fire.
At that moment, Jonathan was supporting Angeline as they walked out of the house. The villagers were stunned to see strangers there.
After a long while of silence, the alcoholic’s face twisted in anger.
He marched up to them and yelled furiously, “I’ve seen you two before! You were sneaking around my house back then and even said that you were my wife’s relatives. I did a check later on and found out you were lying. What on earth are you trying to do? You guys were the ones who started the fire, weren’t you?”
Hearing that, Angeline frowned. “We didn’t—”
Before she could finish her sentence, the man grabbed a nearby broom and swung it at them.
“Beat them to death!” the villagers shouted, egging the man on.
Their cheers boosted the alcoholic’s confidence, and he swung the broom at Angeline and Jonathan with all his might.
Fortunately, Jonathan grabbed Angeline’s waist and dodged the attack swiftly.
He glared at the villagers coldly and yelled, “Do any of you know what the law is? This alcoholic man abused his child and will be thrown in jail for his crimes. If you help him, you will be charged as his accomplices!”
The villagers were all hard laborers, so the only thing they knew was farming. The moment they heard that this matter would escalate into a court case, they fell dead silent.
Angeline turned to see that there was nothing in Jonathan’s arms. Then, she rushed toward the house while muttering, “Where’s the child? Oh no! He’s still in there!”
“Are you crazy?”
Jonathan grabbed her arm and glared at her with a dark expression.
“We don’t even know how the fire started. And can’t you see how fiercely the fire is burning?”
With determination burning in her eyes, she screamed at Jonathan almost hysterically, “I don’t care! If he really is my child, I’m going to do everything in my power to not lose him again!”
She shook free of his grasp and ran into the house with no regard for her own safety. It didn’t take long for her to disappear into the flames.
As Jonathan’s face contorted with rage, he gritted his teeth and cursed, “That crazy woman!”
He instinctively took a step forward, intending to chase after her. However, when he looked at how intense the fire was, he stopped in his tracks, not daring to take another step forward.
At that crucial moment, a tall man appeared from behind him. He exuded an imposing aura that was enough to intimidate anyone who saw him and didn’t appear to be a villager.
As the man approached the burning house, he shrugged off his blazer and glanced at Jonathan coldly, ordering him in a deep voice, “If anything happens to me, please contact Sylas on my behalf. He will deal with my affairs.”
This was the second time Jonathan had interacted with Evander. As usual, the confidence in his eyes and his bravery and intelligence left Jonathan in awe.
Although he had outsmarted many people, a rare sense of inferiority arose within him when he was in Evander’s presence.
“Be careful.”
Evander did not respond. With an icy expression on his face, he strode directly into the fire.
Meanwhile, Angeline rushed into the fire and picked the child up from the bed. The boy wasn’t in the right state of mind due to smoke inhalation, and his lips were moving as if he was trying to say something.
However, Angeline couldn’t understand a single word he was saying.
Angeline held the child tightly in her arms and ran toward the front door. However, she suddenly heard a loud bang, and a large block of wood came crashing toward them.
“Ahh!”
Angeline screamed in terror. While she wasn’t hurt, the flaming block of wood was blocking her way out.
If she were to cross over just like that, she would easily succumb to the raging flames.
Regardless, if she were to just stay there, she wouldn’t be able to survive the smoke.
Not knowing what else to do, Angeline could only squat on the floor. She gazed at the child in her arms. No matter how much Angeline tried to wake him, his eyes remained firmly shut. She was unsure if the child was alive or not.
Angeline started to descend into despair. The smoke was making it harder to breathe by the second. She coughed violently, unable to catch her breath.
Looking at the doorway, she yelled helplessly, “Help! Is someone out there? Please come and save us!”
Despite screaming for quite some time, no one responded to her pleas. Her strength was depleting by the second.
She kneeled on the ground with the child in her arms. Her head was spinning, and she could no longer hear anything. Her vision started growing blurry.
Angeline never expected to be trapped in the middle of a fire.
Am I really going to die here today?
Right before she was about to pass out, she turned her gaze toward the door in a daze.
Her eyelids were so heavy that all she wanted to do was close her eyes.
However, she vaguely saw a tall silhouette walking toward her.