Instantly after saying these words, the fire inside the kitchen abruptly became more vigorous. Not
bothering how dangerous the situation was, Hayden rushed in and the people at the door
subconsciously tried to stop her but they failed.
“Ms. Downey…”
The thick smoke had filled the air. Hayden shouted in the kitchen, “Stella…”
The scene in the kitchen was chaotic. The pots and pans were smashed all over the floor. The place
where the fire initially formed was the storeroom. At this moment, the fire had spread to the spice rack
in the middle of the two rows of stoves. Smoke and sparks were whirling in all directions and this made
Hayden choked and coughed continuously.
With vigorous flame in the middle, Hayden saw that a pink figure was lying in the corner. Without even
thinking about it, she rushed over, took off her jacket and wrapped Stella firmly. She then carried her in
her arms and ran in the direction of going out.
The fire was getting more vigorous. The tongue of flame that suddenly formed almost engulfed people.
Hayden felt that her face was burning and slightly painful due to the flame.
The moment she ran out of the kitchen, she felt like she had a narrow escape from death.
The voices outside were filtered by Hayden in her mind.
“She has come out.”
“Ms. Downey, the ambulance has arrived.”
While carrying Stella in her arms, without saying anything else, she hurriedly headed to the direction
pointed by a waiter in the crowd who reminded her of the ambulance. As she walked, she glanced at a
familiar figure standing in the crowd. The person looked terrified and was cowering, who was totally
unlike the appearance she had seen earlier.
She did not have time to think about it and rushed to the hospital with Stella.
After waiting anxiously for a long time, the doctor in charge came out of the emergency room and
comforted her.
“There is nothing serious. The smoke has choked her inside her nose and throat. She’ll need to be
hospitalized for a few days for observations.”
Hayden heaved a sigh of relief, “Thank you, doctor.”
“Go in and see the child. She’s awake now.”
“Okay.”
After watching the doctor leaving, Hayden hurriedly pulled the partition curtain of the emergency room.
The tiny figure was lying inside the white sheet and she only revealed her face. Her face was grey like
a little tabby kitten and she was looking at her with a bewildered face.
“Mommy…”
When she saw Hayden, her eyes became clearer. But, her voice was very hoarse and she coughed as
soon as she spoke.
“Mommy is here. The doctor says that you need to take a rest, don’t talk if you find it difficult.”
Hayden hurriedly sat at the bedside and held Stella’s hand.
Stella nodded. She glanced at the place behind Hayden and after hesitating for a moment, she said
difficultly in a muffled tone.
“Where is Noah?”
“He’s in the hotel. The head waiter says that Noah has gone to the washroom. Mommy didn’t have time
to inform him before I sent you to the hospital.”
Hearing this, Stella’s eyes suddenly widened as if she wanted to say something but she coughed
violently.
“What’s wrong?”
Stella was a little panicky. Hayden hurriedly patted her shoulder, “Don’t be anxious, Stella.”
“Mommy…ahem, ahem, ahem…” Stella spoke intermittently, “Noah, Noah, cough cough…Noah…in
the kitchen, the fire is very vigorous…”
“What do you say? Where is Noah?”
Hayden’s brain immensely exploded, “In the kitchen?”
Stella nodded and was on the verge of tears. She pushed Hayden, “Mommy, go to save Noah…”
Hayden almost went crazy. It had been almost two hours since she rescued Stella from the fire. She
did not dare to imagine what would be the situation now if Noah had been in the kitchen all along and
had not been discovered.
After getting out of the cab, she ran all the way back to the hotel. The fire engine was already doing the
finishing work. A large number of customers and hotel staff were standing in front of the hotel. When
she saw Jeff from afar, she ran over to grab his arm.
“Where is Noah?”
Jeff was startled upon seeing Hayden’s look of going out of control. He froze for quite a while before he
regained his presence of mind. He stammered.
“He…he has been sent to the hospital.”
“Which hospital?” Hayden’s tears trickled down. Her wretched appearance attracted the attention of the
people in the surrounding. In full view of everyone, her image was totally ruined as she grabbed Jeff’s
arm and kept asking him like a crazy woman.
Stunned, Jeff explained in a panic.
“Boss, take it easy. He’s fine. Little Noah has hidden in the cold store of the kitchen. The reason he was
sent to the hospital was to do a check-up. Just now, I…I called you but you didn’t pick up. Just after you
carried Stella in your arms and left, Vivian suddenly rushed to the fire scene and brought out Little
Noah.”
Vivian?
Hayden instantly remembered the panicky figure in the crowd when she left while carrying Stella in her
arms.
“Boss, I’m sure that Little Noah is fine.”
Jeff thought Hayden was enormously frightened so he kept stressing the situation when he saw Noah
come out of the kitchen, “There is nothing wrong with him except that his hands and feet are cold.
Worrying that he might get a fever or catch a cold, he was then sent to the hospital.”
A weight had finally been lifted off Hayden’s shoulders. Her legs went weak and her entire person
almost collapsed. She barely maintained her balance by relying on her very last energy.
After settling down, she heard Jeff saying about the situation of the handling of the fire.
Fortunately, it was discovered early so there was no injury and death.
But the subsequent handling of public opinion would probably have big trouble. After all, the safety and
hazard problem would cause a lot of speculation.
“Manager Duncan has gone to the headquarters to report. What do we do next?”
Hayden wrinkled her brow.
“Find a way to control the news and public opinions online first. Call a meeting with the public relations
department.”
The meeting had been carried out for the whole afternoon. A preliminary public opinion control and
guidance were set. It was already dark when the meeting ended.
“Let’s arrange for everyone to have a meal first. Work harder at night to suppress the public opinions
first, I’ll go out.”
Hayden closed her notebook, took her bag and went to the hospital.
Alayna had already gone to help her taking care of Stella. The person she worried about was Noah.
Even though Jeff repeatedly mentioned that Noah was fine, she was still uneasy if she did not see with
her own eyes.
“It’s the second ward after you turn right.”
After asking about the ward number at the information desk, Hayden hurriedly walked towards the
ward.
Just when she reached the door of the ward, someone inside opened the door and came out. After
seeing the person who opened the door inside, Hayden was stunned, “How come you come back?”
Joseph’s tall figure blocked most of the sunlight behind him. Like a huge sculpture, his shadow could
inexplicably make others felt that he was icy-cold.
“I should be the one asking you, why do you come here?”
Hayden’s face stiffened, “I’ve just finished dealing with the hotel matter and I come to see Noah, what’s
wrong with you?”
After asking, she could roughly see another slim and weak figure inside the ward. She vaguely thought
of something but she was unwilling to believe. She secretly clenched her fists.
Joseph sneered.
“Where were you when Noah was inside the fire scene?”
“I didn’t know Noah was inside there.” Hayden wrinkled her eyebrows and her voice was with
forbearance.
Perhaps before she came, Addison had already described everything upside down. As Joseph was
preconceived and due to his love for his son, it was not strange that he had such a reaction.
“Calm down. If I knew Noah was inside, how would I not save him, I…”
“Don’t need to say anything else anymore,” Joseph interrupted her. His attitude was cold and
indifferent.
“You’re Stella’s biological mother so it’s your natural instinct to save her in such a situation. But, you
shouldn’t have left Noah behind. I’ve apparently made a wrong decision before. Now, it seems that you
aren’t suitable to be Noah’s mother.
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