Chapter169 Clifton Arrives
Outside the door, Zron lifted his foot and stepped over the door board into the room.
Seeing the empty room, rage rose in his heart.
"Fuck! Where is she!"
Rewinding time to the second before the door and cabinet fell.
The last stubborn nail on the window finally couldn't withstand the tremendous leverage force and flew off.
The last board came loose.
The opening just large enough for one person was finally exposed to the air.
Miranda didn't hesitate. She didn't even have time to see what was outside the window. She dropped the rebar, braced her hands on the windowsill, and leaped out.
Whether she'd break her leg, Miranda didn't think about it. As long as she could escape, that would be lucky enough.
The expected hard impact with the ground didn't come.
Neither did the excruciating pain of broken bones.
"Whoosh..."
A rush of wind.
Miranda felt like she'd crashed into a solid yet elastic wall of flesh.
Immediately after, a pair of powerful arms, like iron clamps, steadily caught her falling body.
The impact made the person catching her grunt, stepping back half a pace, but never loosening his grip.
A familiar scent.
Miranda's eyes snapped open.
The sunlight was somewhat blinding. Backlit, she couldn't see the person's face clearly.
But that bone-deep sense of security made her nerves, tensed to the extreme, instantly relax.
"Are you hurt?"
A deep, magnetic voice, carrying a trace of barely perceptible trembling, sounded above her head.
Miranda blinked her dry eyes, her vision finally focusing.
What came into view was Clifton's sharply defined handsome face.
His usually immaculate hair was now somewhat disheveled, sweat beading on his forehead. Those eyes, usually deep and detached, now held a trace of anxiety.
It really was him.
Not a hallucination.
"Clif... Clifton?"
Miranda's voice was terribly hoarse, carrying disbelief and trembling. "You came to save me?"
She even felt like she was dreaming.
How could she have been struggling in hell one second, then fallen into this man's arms the next?
Clifton looked at the disheveled woman in his arms.
Her elegant business suit was covered in dust. Her wrists bore a circle of shocking bruises and rope marks. Her palms were bloody and raw.
And that face, pale without a trace of blood, the terror in her eyes not yet completely gone.
Clifton's heart felt like someone had gripped it hard, the pain making breathing difficult.
He nodded, tightening his arms around her.
"It's me."
"I received your emergency alert."
He freed one hand to gently wipe away a smudge of dust on Miranda's cheek.
The security system in Miranda's phone was still in beta testing. Clifton had personally given her the highest level access.
As soon as she triggered the alarm keywords, Clifton would immediately receive the location and live audio.
"I'm sorry. I came too late."
That last sentence he said extremely softly, yet carried deep self-reproach.
If he'd been faster on the road, even one minute faster, wouldn't she have been spared this suffering?
Hearing these words, the last breath Miranda had been holding finally completely dispersed.
That bittersweet feeling of surviving disaster, mixed with grievance and fear, instantly flooded her like a tide.
Tears poured out without warning.
"I thought... I thought I was going to die in there..."
Miranda didn't care about appearances. She clutched Clifton's shirt tightly with both hands and buried her face in the crook of his neck.
She had truly been afraid.
Clifton felt the trembling body in his arms, warm tears soaking through his shirt, burning his heart.
He steadied Miranda with one hand while the other gently stroked her back, over and over, comforting her.
"It's okay now. It's okay."
"I'm here. No one can hurt you again."
His voice was impossibly gentle, but when he raised his head to look at the abandoned clinic, his eyes instantly frosted over with ice, murderous intent sharp.
From inside the clinic room, Zron's furious roaring could still faintly be heard.
"Fuck, she's really not in this room."
Zron stood in the dust-filled room, looking at the empty window, his mind buzzing.
When he kicked the door open and charged in, he'd clearly heard movement.
How could she have disappeared in the blink of an eye?
"Did I get the wrong room?"
Zron clutched his still-bleeding head, waves of dizziness making him unsteady on his feet.
"That bitch must be hiding in another room... Right, another room..."
He muttered neurotically, refusing to believe someone could escape right under his nose. He turned and stumbled out of the room to kick down the next door.
Outside the window.
Clifton held Miranda, his cold, sharp eyes narrowing slightly.
He turned his head and jerked his chin at several team members nearby.
Just an extremely simple gesture, yet it contained absolute authority.
The team members immediately understood.
They made no sound, moving agilely as they rushed into the abandoned clinic building.
Anyone who dared kidnap the captain's wife, their Ma'am... that kidnapper wouldn't be walking out today.
"Don't be afraid."
Clifton withdrew his gaze and lowered his head to place a light kiss on Miranda's hair, his voice returning to gentleness. "Leave the rest to them. I'll take you home."
Miranda curled up in his arms, listening to his strong heartbeat. That heart suspended in midair finally settled back where it belonged.
"Wait, I have a competition to attend."
She gripped Clifton's sleeve tightly. "It's very important. Can you take me directly to the competition venue?"
Clifton's hand, which had been checking her injuries, suddenly paused.
He looked down, his brow furrowing. "Your injuries?"
His tone carried dissatisfaction.
Miranda struggled slightly. The movement pulled at her wounds, making her gasp in pain, but she wouldn't back down one step.
"Clifton, my team and I prepared for this competition for a long time. I'm the only one missing. If I go now, I might still make it."
Her eyes were full of stubbornness. "There should be a first aid kit in the car, right? These are just surface wounds. Just apply medicine and bandage them."
Clifton looked at that flame in her eyes that couldn't be extinguished no matter what. His heart ached densely, yet he felt Miranda like this was very admirable.
In the end, all his words turned into a helpless sigh.
He said nothing more, just floored the gas pedal. The speedometer needle climbed rapidly.
Convention and Exhibition Center, main venue.
Under the huge dome, spotlights illuminated center stage. The atmosphere was tense to the extreme.
Backstage lounge area.
Lisa kept checking her watch. Two members of their team had already taken the stage.
Twenty minutes at most remained.
She looked down at her phone. The screen still showed no response.
She took a deep breath, thinking that if Miranda still couldn't make it back, she'd have to go on stage herself.
Although her presentation skills weren't as good as Miranda's, she absolutely couldn't let the company forfeit at this critical juncture.
Not far away in the seating area.
Ariana elegantly crossed her legs, holding an expensive coffee, her gaze looking through the edge of her sunglasses, leisurely enjoying Lisa's frantic appearance.
"Heh."
The corner of her mouth curved into a mocking arc, triumph almost overflowing from her eyes.
Though that father she refused to acknowledge was greedy, his efficiency was decent.
Miranda, oh Miranda, was probably already a cold corpse by now.
Fight with her?
What did Miranda have besides her background?
Ariana withdrew her gaze, unhurriedly smoothing her skirt.
Her project team this time had been vetted through her uncle. She would definitely take first place in the project and make Harrison see her differently.
Her eyes behind the sunglasses narrowed slightly.
Whether at Lancaster Corporation or in Harrison's heart, she would replace Miranda's position.