Chapter 652
I felt completely unburned after repaying William in the best way I could. Plus, with my latest research now wrapped up and no new direction set yet, I decided to take a proper break and take the kids on vacation.
However, accidents always happened when one least expected them.
When an earthquake hit, everyone’s immediate instinct was to run outside. That included the bodyguards and nannies who were with me.
Normally, they were excellent. They were attentive, dedicated, and responsible. But in a life–or–death situation, people’s first instinct was always to save themselves. Only Irvin, who had originally been outside, ran desperately into the house when he felt the tremors.
When I felt the ground begin to shake, I immediately realized it was an earthquake and knew I had to get outside. But by the time I had picked up my daughter and grabbed my son–who had been left behind by the nanny–it was already too late.
The massive tremors instantly brought down the reinforced roof. With no time to escape, I instinctively enveloped the twins beneath me and used my body to shield them.
When the steel beam above came crashing down, I honestly had been prepared to die. Closing my eyes, tears of reluctance slipped from them as I grieved the thought of leaving my children behind.
Yet, just as the beam was about to fall on me, I felt no pain. Instead, I heard a muffled grunt.
It had been many years since Irvin and I first met, so I knew him far too well. My eyes were still closed, and I was still frozen in terror. Even so, I instinctively knew from the sound of the grunt alone that it was him.
Before I could react or look up and say anything to him, he whisked us up in a powerful embrace and carried us out. We had just made it outside. Then, in the very next second, the entire villa collapsed behind us.
The deafening sound it made terrified the twins so much that they burst into wailing sobs.
I instinctively pulled them closer and wanted to comfort them. But before I could utter a word, I heard Irvin say, “It’s okay, my babies. It’s okay now.”
He was holding us tightly. I could feel his body trembling violently. Yet, his hands were incredibly gentle as he patted the two children in my arms. As soon as our daughter heard his voice, she immediately reached out and wanted I hold her.
During the final phase of my research this past year, Irvid had spent far more time with the kids than I had. All their time together had made her naturally turn to him when she was scared.
Just as Irvin was about to release me and hold her, his body could no longer take it, and he collapsed with a thud.
When we had renovated the villa, we had used only the best and most genuine materials. No one had expected that doing so would be life–threatening.
That steel beam was dense and heavy. When I saw it falling, I had been mentally prepared to die. So, I could only imagine what it meant for the full force of it to crash down on Irvin.
He should’ve collapsed on the spot. But somehow, he summoned an inhuman strength from who knew where. Not only had he stayed on his feet, but he had even swiftly carried us out of the collapsing building.
The twins had wanted Irvin to comfort them. To them , he had always been their mighty , strong, and invincible father.
But as they watched him collapse to the ground while bleeding profusely, they were so shocked that they forgot to cry. Only after a long pause did they break down in gut–wrenching sobs.
“Daddy! Daddy!” they cried over and over.