Chapter 55 Liam's in Trouble
Max's fist connected with the boy's face.
The other students in the classroom froze in shock.
No one had expected Max to suddenly explode like that.
He'd delivered a fierce punch in retaliation, completely stunning the little boy.
"Watch your mouth!" Max said. "Who are you calling a bastard?"
He glared fiercely at the boy.
Liam stood beside Max, seeing the sharp gleam in his eyes—a firm determination that brooked no violation. For a moment, he caught a glimpse of Alexander's shadow in Max.
The boy covered his reddened cheekbone, feeling utterly humiliated. He gritted his teeth, tears threatening to spill from his eyes, but his pride wouldn't let them fall.
"The teacher's coming!"
Someone called out a warning.
Max and Liam returned to their seats.
The boy also went back to his desk, using his textbook to hide his face while shooting venomous glares at Max.
This kid dared to hit him?
He'd show him what he was capable of!
After school.
The class was organizing their weekly cleanup duty, while other children were dismissed on time.
Max finished mopping the classroom and headed toward the supply closet with the mop.
As he reached the closet door and opened it, he sensed someone had been following him.
Just as he turned around, a pair of hands shoved him hard from behind. "Go to hell!"
Max was pushed into the supply closet, knocking over standing brooms and mops. The door slammed shut and was locked from the outside.
"You little gutter rat, stay in there and rot!" The boy's voice came through the door.
Max recognized it—this was Mason Thomas, the boy he'd had the conflict with today.
Earlier, during study hall, Mason had humiliated him and Liam, and Max had punched him. Was this his revenge?
Max got up and pounded on the door. "Let me out!"
But the empty classroom offered no response.
...
Max and Liam were missing!
Lily returned to the classroom and searched everywhere, but couldn't find them.
"Max?"
"Liam?"
She called out their names anxiously, over and over.
Grace and Alexander had come together to pick up Max and Liam. When they couldn't find them at the school gate, they entered the school and walked to the classroom, where they encountered a frantic-looking Lily. Grace's heart skipped a beat, sensing something terrible had happened.
"Where are Max and Liam? Aren't they in the classroom?" Grace asked nervously.
Ms. Lily nodded. "Max and Liam had cleaning duty today. I escorted the other children to the school gate, then came back to get them, but they weren't in the classroom."
"Where could they have gone?" Grace asked.
Windsor Academy was enormous.
Just the main academic building had seven floors.
Grace looked worriedly at the windows, even fearing that Max and Liam might have been playing and fallen out.
But the second floor and above, including the second-floor corridors, were all equipped with safety nets to prevent children from accidentally falling from heights.
"The building has security cameras. I'll check the footage," Alexander said.
Ms. Lily nodded. "Mr. Hayes, I'll come with you!"
Alexander looked at Grace.
"You go ahead. I'll stay here and keep searching," Grace said.
She watched Alexander and Lily head toward the security office, then turned to search more carefully around the classroom area.
She was passing by the storage room when she suddenly heard a banging noise coming from inside.Grace looked suspiciously at the closet. "What's that noise?"
The sounds from inside suddenly stopped, then Max's somewhat weak voice came through, "Mommy?"
"Max?"
Grace was horrified.
She never would have imagined that Max was locked in this supply closet.
She'd thought Max had been pranked by other classmates. She quickly went over and found the door was locked from the outside.
Grace hurriedly unlocked the door. Inside the dark, airless closet, dust swirled everywhere.
Max's uniform was covered with various kinds of dust, his face was dirty, and from pounding on the door, his elbows and knees were bruised.
"Max!" Grace reached out to hug him in distress.
But Max said urgently, "Liam's in trouble!"
This single sentence made Grace's heart leap to her throat again. "Where's Liam?"
"I don't... I don't know," Max said. Somehow, as if by telepathic connection, he could sense that something had happened to Liam. His eyes reddened with anxiety.
"Alexander's already checking the security footage. We'll find Liam soon!"
"There's no time!"
Max suddenly ran out.
Grace didn't have time to think and chased after him.
Second floor of the gymnasium.
Max ran all the way to the swimming center entrance. Looking at the locked main door, Max pointed frantically. "Liam's in there!"
Grace was somewhat surprised that Max knew so clearly that Liam was inside.
But she trusted Max's words without reservation and didn't question him much. Unable to find a key, she suddenly charged at the door.
Perhaps in emergency situations, people can exceed their limits. Grace never thought she could exert such force. She managed to break the door lock with her impact, smashing through the door and stumbling inside. Wearing high heels, she twisted her ankle.
"Mommy..." Max looked at her injured ankle with concern.
"Let's find Liam first," Grace said.
"Okay." Max rushed into the swimming center, calling out loudly, "Liam! Liam?"
He didn't know why, but he had a strong sixth sense that Liam was here.
The swimming area was vast. Windsor Academy served students from elementary through high school, spanning fifteen grade levels. Based on students' development and training needs, it was divided into children's area, shallow water section, and deep water section.
When Max reached the deep water section, he was gasping for breath. Looking into the pool water, he vaguely saw a dark figure submerged in the pool.
"Liam?" Max immediately recognized the child drowning in the water, wearing the school uniform, with a build that looked very much like Liam.
"Mommy! Mommy, Liam's here!" Thinking Liam had drowned, Max's face flushed red with fear as he began crying loudly.
Grace rushed over without hesitation. Following Max's pointing direction, she immediately saw the figure in the water. The child was floating motionlessly, showing no signs of struggle—clearly drowning.
"Liam!"
Grace kicked off her high heels and jumped into the water, swimming toward Liam.
Underwater, she could see clearly that the figure was indeed Liam. He was being carried helplessly by the water, his hands spread limply, eyes tightly closed.
Grace swam hard to reach him, grabbed him, and lifted him to the surface, holding his shoulder with one hand while swimming toward the pool edge with the other.