Chapter 76 Life and Death
Crest Corporation headquarters.
In the conference room.
Alexander raised his hand, signaling for the meeting to pause.
He gripped his phone, hearing only the sound of howling wind from the other end, Grace's voice coming through broken and intermittent, impossible to make out clearly.
"What are you saying?" Alexander said. "I can't hear you clearly."
"Alexander... you... save..." Grace's fragmented voice came through again.
Then came only the sound of tearing wind, followed by a "bang" and the busy tone of a disconnected call.
Alexander stared at his phone's black screen, confusion flickering in his eyes.
"Mr. Hayes, should we continue the meeting?" The meeting assistant stood nearby, trembling with fear.
Alexander casually picked up the project proposal, lifting his gaze to bore into the man's face with a cold stare. "Bringing me this kind of proposal—are you wasting my time?"
He violently swept the proposal off the table.
The bound document immediately fell apart, white paper sheets flying like snowflakes and scattering across every corner of the conference room.
Alexander stood up. "Use your brains for once. This kind of proposal should go straight into the trash, not waste my time! I'll say it again—I don't keep deadweight on my payroll. Anyone who can't cut it can get out!"
With that, he strode out of the conference room.
The spacious room filled with sharp intakes of breath.
Everyone sat frozen in place, not daring to move.
Jeremy cleared his throat and announced, "Meeting adjourned."
He rushed out of the conference room, chasing after Alexander.
Alexander's pace slowed as he tried calling Grace back, but got a message that the phone was unreachable.
Jeremy asked, "Mr. Hayes, was that Ms. Foster who called just now?"
Alexander replied, "Can't get through. Her phone's dead."
Jeremy frowned.
"During the meeting, I received a call saying there was an incident at the Horizon Group building. Someone's threatening to jump from a high floor. There are videos being shared online. Apparently, one of the two people is Amelia..."
Alexander's gaze sharpened. Making the connection, he immediately said to Jeremy, "Get the car ready—now!"
Jeremy hadn't caught up yet, acting on pure instinct as he reached for his phone to contact the driver.
"No time." Alexander held out his hand. "Keys."
"Car keys!" Alexander barked impatiently.
Jeremy immediately pulled out a set of car keys and handed them over.
Alexander grabbed the keys and strode decisively toward the elevator.
"Mr. Hayes!"
Jeremy snapped to attention and gave chase, reaching the elevator doors just as Alexander stepped inside. The doors closed and the elevator descended.
...
The Aston Martin tore through the streets, running over a dozen red lights without stopping.
Alexander gripped the steering wheel, staring dead ahead, his entire being radiating an icy aura.
The excessive speed made the engine roar loud enough to split eardrums.
The moment the car reached Horizon Group Tower, Alexander parked and threw open the door without even turning off the engine.
Below the building, a yellow safety airbag was being inflated.
The fire department had set up a police barrier and was evacuating the crowd, but plenty of people still gathered below, craning their necks to look up at the high-rise.
The moment Alexander looked up, he saw two figures standing on a narrow window ledge twenty-some floors up.
The crowd buzzed with speculation.
"What could have driven Amelia to drag an employee up there to jump?"
"This morning I saw Amelia beaten black and blue, even her facial implants were knocked crooked. She seemed frantic, desperately looking for someone named Grace."
"Domestic violence? Amelia and Mr. Thomas have always seemed so in love. How could there be abuse?"
"Word is, Mr. Thomas has been having an affair and wants a divorce. He doesn't even want their son! Amelia's always been so glamorous, and now she's being thrown out like discarded trash. She probably couldn't handle it..."
Suddenly the crowd erupted in screams.
From the window ledge twenty-some floors up, a person had fallen, seeming to be caught by something and now dangling precariously from the window.
"Someone's about to fall!"
"From the twenty-third floor—that height would be fatal!"
"God! That's a half-open window. The rescue will be incredibly difficult with two people on that ledge. The fire department can barely deploy their equipment."
Alexander clenched his fists and started to rush toward the building.
Just as he turned, the crowd behind him erupted in ear-splitting screams.
"Someone fell!"
"Ahhhh—!"
Accompanied by wave after wave of horrified shrieks from the crowd, a heavy object plummeted down and crashed into the safety airbag, creating a deep depression.
Grace!
Alexander's pupils contracted sharply as he immediately broke through the police barrier and charged toward the airbag.
"Sir, you can't go over there..."
Fire department personnel immediately blocked his path.
Alexander roughly shoved them aside and rushed to the airbag, where he saw a person lying in the center, arms and legs twisted at unnatural angles.
Behind him, the crowd murmured fearfully, "Even with the safety airbag, falling from that height is incredibly dangerous."
"The airbag can only do so much. I've seen people jump from just ten floors and still end up mangled because the airbag wasn't inflated enough."
Some of the more squeamish onlookers had already covered their eyes, unable to watch.
Alexander's breathing became erratic.
He climbed onto the airbag and gripped the woman's shoulders, turning her over. She had been knocked unconscious from the impact.
When Alexander saw her face clearly, his breath caught.
Amelia...
Alexander released his grip. Nearby, the fire department was already shouting.
"There's still someone up there! Quick, we need to get them down!"
Twenty-third floor.
Grace watched in horror as Amelia plummeted to the ground below, still in shock.
Just minutes earlier, her hand had been locked in handcuffs with Amelia's.
Under Grace's persuasion, Amelia had gradually calmed down from her emotional breakdown, no longer so impulsively ready to jump. Perhaps everyone has an instinctive fear of death—when it came time to actually jump, Amelia had second thoughts.
But just as the two of them were trying to figure out how to climb back inside, Amelia had missed her footing and accidentally fell.
Grace had nearly been pulled down with her, saved only by her desperate grip on the window frame.
But she couldn't possibly support Amelia's full weight.
For a terrifying moment, Grace felt like she couldn't hold on any longer. Just when fear was overwhelming her, the handcuff suddenly slipped off her wrist.
She was too thin—the cuff had scraped off a layer of skin as it slid past her wrist bone.
Amelia lost her anchor and plummeted toward the ground below!
"Give me your hand!"
A hand reached out from inside the window.
A firefighter leaned halfway out and pulled her back to safety.
Grace's arm had been dislocated, sending waves of cold sweat through her from the pain.
"Grace..." Through the chaotic voices, an unmistakably familiar voice called from above.
Grace looked up to see Alexander standing before her, his face ashen.