"She is in a coma, Andrew. Her legs are affected too. Andrea said they are not broken but I don't know, man. She… Let me call you back."
Maxwell disconnected the call and waited for the young lady rushing towards him.
"Victoria," he said in greeting.
"Where is Rey? Why couldn't anyone give her the phone?" She asked hurriedly as she made to dash past him.
Maxwell shifted subtly, blocking her path without making it obvious.
"She is in good hands. I just need you to calm down, okay?"
"Calm down? Why the hell should I calm down for anything? Where is my sister?" Toria snapped with teary eyes.
She swiped at her face, looked around, and looked back at Maxwell.
"Sorry about that, okay? I just need to see her. Will you take me to her?" She asked in a shaky tone.
"Come with me," Maxwell said, then led her to the ICU.
The nurses stationed in the waiting room had been informed to do everything he wanted for him without hesitation.
So when he requested that they let Toria into the highly sterilised room where Reyona was hooked to machines, they immediately sprang to action and garbed her up.
Maxwell stayed back.
He didn't want to have to see her like that again.
The cut he had seen earlier had not just been on her head.
She must have smashed the window of the room she jumped out of in desperation.
That desperation must have also been why she did not think twice that shards of broken glasses would be waiting for her upon her descent.
A rose bush close to the back of the house had caught the sheet wrapped around her feet in its grip.
With nothing else to hold her, she flailed in the air for a moment before the sheets ripped off and she landed with her head and forearms on the shards of glass.
Her flailing legs had been twisted from the sudden pull before they fell hard against the floor.
At least that was what Andrea and her team thought.
With what Maxwell could provide according to how he had met her, they figured their assumptions were right.
Though her forearms, head, and upper body took the brunt of the glass cuts, the impact nonetheless affected her legs.
As Andrea took him through every single detail while showing the images in graphics on the films the nurse had handed her, Maxwell's hand fisted in anger, and he knew he would cause a lot of damage if his thoughts turned out to be correct.
As he stared intently at the glass door as if expecting her to walk out anytime, Maxwell thought back to what he had learned about the incident.
He had been going home after a day of trying so hard not to think about her when Andrews called him.
Celia was hysterical.
They had heard that Reyona's house was on fire and the reporter believed that she was still inside since her car could be seen outside the house.
Maxwell didn't wait to hear his friend's last statement before he tossed his phone aside and drove like a madman to the scene.
He had never felt such fear grip his heart before, as much as he did when he saw the flames from her place two streets away.
He parked haphazardly and almost knocked a reporter out of his way as he went over to one of the firefighters barricading the area.
"Have you seen her?"
"Seen who? Get back, man! Everyone, get back!"
Maxwell swung the man around, held him by his collar and asked urgently.
"Have you seen the owner of this place? A chestnut-haired woman about this height?" he asked as he raised his hand to describe Reyona's height.
"No, no. We think she is still inside. Our men will get her out. You need to let me go, man."
Maxwell let go of the man and automatically bent to pass beneath the iron-rung barricade.
"No, sir. No, sir, you can't go in." Two more firemen turned to Maxwell. "Sir, you can't go in. It is too dangerous."
"I don't care how dangerous it is. My woman is in there!" Maxwell blurted out without thought.
"She is in there and I am not waiting out here to see who you take your sweet time with!"
"We will get her out," another fireman said. "We will get her out, sir. You can't go in there. It is too dangerous, sir."
Apart from those who were currently spraying the flaming front door of the house, three more firemen turned to face Maxwell. When he saw that they were determined to stop him, he nodded as he backed away.
"Okay, okay. I would just stay over there. Get her out, please!"
"We will," the man talking to him vowed before he turned away again.
Maxwell had not turned away because he was afraid of a showdown but because he knew every moment used in arguing with them would affect the hands and time that could save her.
So he backed away with a plan in mind.
The sounds of footsteps jolted Maxwell out of his thoughts.
It was Celia running towards Maxwell while her husband followed her while imploring her to slow down.
"How is she, Maxie? Where is she?" Celia asked urgently as Maxwell closed up the distance between them.
Andrew looked at him gratefully as he opened a water flask he had with him and asked Celia to drink.
She ignored him and looked at Maxwell.
Maxwell held her hand and said, "She is in there."
Celia was already turning in that direction when he added, "Her sister is with her."
"Oh," Celia said as she turned back towards them. "I shouldn't intrude, right?"
"I shouldn't intrude," she answered herself before either of the men could respond.
"Are you sure she would be fine? I saw it on the news when they were taking her away. She doesn't look fine. She looked…Why is she in the ICU if she is fine? She was going to attend the christening today, you know. She was going to come."
"Celia, you shouldn't excite yourself like this. I am sure she will..."
"Drew, I think we should get our doctors here. She needs the best and..."
"Celia. This is Saintwell," Andrew said meaningfully.
She looked from him to Maxwell. "I am sorry. I know you would have…she just…she looked so…"
Her husband already had her in his arms before the floodgates burst open.
"She was so... so alive just yesterday. What could have happened?" She cried into his arms as Andrews led her to one of the couches in the waiting room.
"Good question," Maxwell thought angrily.
Maxwell had spoken with the fire chief that morning.
The firemen were done already and the investigation would start immediately.
Maxwell demanded pictures of the house as it stood.
What remained of the building was nothing to write home about.
Maxwell knew it would break her heart to see what used to be a gorgeous masterpiece reduced to a shell of its former self.
The anger that welled in him at the thought of her hard-earned money going up in flames brought to mind the conviction he had had earlier
A conviction that this could be the work of a certain someone.
"He would wish he had never been born if it were really so," Maxwell vowed as he turned to watch Toria come out of the ICU.