Chapter 123: Nathaniel Sloan Quietly Waits by Her Bedside

Chapter 123: Chapter 123: Nathaniel Sloan Quietly Waits by Her Bedside

There was no sign of Estelle Lockwood anywhere, and her phone went unanswered. Nathaniel Sloan’s chest heaved with panic. The wail of fire engines approached, accompanied by the complaints of bystanders. "How did a fire break out? What terrible luck today!"

"Are you hurt? My god, a fire at the fabric market! With all that cloth, the flames won’t die down anytime soon... What on earth happened?"

"I heard it was arson! Someone was supposedly pushed to the brink and tried to commit suicide."

"What a psycho! If they want to die, couldn’t they find a quiet place to do it?!"

Nathaniel clenched his fists. As the flames devoured everything, it felt as though time had reversed to five years ago. He hadn’t been able to find Estelle then, either. His wife had been trapped in the fire, while he was helplessly held back outside. Back then, all he could hear were the complaints of doctors, nurses, and patients’ families.

"What exactly is going on with the patient in Room 204..."

"Rumor has it she was jealous of the superstar Noelle Lockwood and decided to end her life."

"Could she have picked somewhere else to commit suicide? This is a hospital!"

"Apparently, that pregnant woman who killed herself... her husband never even visited her. He stayed by Noelle Lockwood’s side the whole time."

"If you ask me, she had it coming..."

Nathaniel snapped his eyes open. He had missed his chance once; he absolutely would not miss it a second time! The deeper he went, the fiercer the blaze became. Nathaniel pushed forward, step by step. He remembered that the room where Estelle was meeting her client was just ahead. As long as he—

"Nathaniel, is that you?" A figure rushed out. Noelle Lockwood’s face was streaked with tears, weeping piteously. "Nathaniel, you came to save me... I knew you would. Let’s get out of here, hurry." She had already arranged for reporters to be waiting outside. The moment Nathaniel carried her out of the burning building, the trending topics would explode. Then, everyone would know that Yara Lockwood had trapped her in the fire, and Nathaniel had disregarded his own safety to rush in and rescue her!

Nathaniel’s expression darkened. He roughly shoved her aside and continued walking deeper into the flames.

"Nathaniel!" Noelle grabbed his sleeve, her eyes brimming with tears. "It’s so hot in here, I can barely breathe. Take me with you. There’s no one else inside...

"Nathaniel, don’t go any further, it’s too dangerous! I just came from over there; there’s really no one left, I promise. Let’s leave now, you can’t get hurt..."

"Shut up!" Nathaniel snapped coldly.

Noelle trembled all over, tears streaming down her face. "Nathaniel, you won’t save me? Do you want to watch me die?"

"Where is Yara?" Nathaniel demanded, his tone dripping with hostility as he enunciated every word. When he heard about the fire, knew Estelle was trapped, and then saw Noelle at the scene, the memories of five years ago had flooded back! But time was of the essence. Without waiting for Noelle’s answer, he turned and marched straight in.

"Nathaniel, Nathaniel! How can you be so cruel? Why don’t you care if I live or die? If you go save Yara, what about me?!

"We’re childhood sweethearts! If you don’t save me, I’ll die right here! Nathaniel, if I die, do you have any idea how the public will crucify Yara?!"

At that moment, Nathaniel’s disgust for Noelle reached its absolute peak. He tapped his phone twice, and soon after, firefighters rushed in to drag Noelle away. Then, amidst the ruins, he saw Estelle lying on the ground. Her eyes were tightly shut, and she lay completely motionless.

Nathaniel’s heart leaped into his throat. Moving faster than his mind could process, he vaulted over the obstacles without a second thought and pulled the woman he loved most into his arms, giving her a hug that was five years overdue. Without pausing for even a single second, Nathaniel scooped her up and swiftly carried her out.

Meanwhile, social media trends, national news outlets, and major platforms blew up instantly. An intentionally set fire sent shockwaves across the internet. Coupled with the fact that superstar Noelle Lockwood was among the injured, public opinion spiraled into a frenzy, keeping the topic pinned at the top of the trending lists.

[The arsonist is completely heartless! Severely punish the perpetrator!]

[If the fire department hadn’t arrived in time, I shudder to think what the casualty count would be!]

[Starting a fire in a fabric market? Do they have any conscience at all?]

These comments were relatively normal, but from then on, anything involving Noelle sent her fans into a rabid frenzy.

[Noelle is hurt! Which goddamn bitch did this?! Go to hell, go to hell, go to hell!]

[I heard someone tried to commit suicide and trapped Noelle before doing it, wanting Noelle to die with her!]

[A few fans were with Noelle at the time. The woman who started the fire is named Yara Lockwood!]

[I’m going to doxx her!]

[Isn’t Yara some kind of psychologist? How can a person like that be a doctor? Why didn’t that bitch just die sooner?! If she wanted to die, why couldn’t she just hang herself? Why did she have to drag Noelle down with her? What was her motive?!]

[Our Noelle is so noble! One of her lives is worth ten of Yara’s worthless ones! How dare she! Lowlife! Peasant! The Lockwood Group needs to blacklist Yara immediately!]

[It reminds me of five years ago. Another bitch set a fire to kill herself and dragged Noelle into it. Can’t all these bitches just go to hell?]

[If the police do nothing and don’t sentence Yara to prison, I’ll commit suicide along with my entire family!]

[Me too! I’m a teacher. If Yara doesn’t get prison time, I’ll kill all my students first and then we can all go together!]

Occasionally, random passersby would leave quiet comments.

[Noelle Lockwood’s fans, calm down. Didn’t the authorities say they’re still investigating the cause of the fire? That Yara woman is still in a coma, and the police haven’t even said she was the one who started it. Don’t go cursing out the wrong person.]

[You’re using your lives, as well as the lives of your families and students, to threaten the police into a conviction? Are you insane? What if it really wasn’t Yara? This is the definition of a witch hunt.]

Very quickly, the passerby’s comments were swarmed by Noelle’s fans. Many even sent abusive private messages, cursing him to die.

[How can you empathize with an arsonist? Are you an arsonist too? Despicable, despicable! Go to hell, go to hell, go to hell!]

[Anyone who hurts Noelle deserves to die! Who the hell are you to compare yourself to Noelle? The lives of everyone in the world combined aren’t as important as Noelle’s!]

[It was Yara! It was Yara! Whoever speaks up for her, I curse them to burn to death too! Burn in the lowest level of hell!]

The passerby received over eighteen thousand hateful replies and a flood of private messages. He had no choice but to silently delete his posts.

But... he had been right. If Yara really had started the fire, the police would have announced the results immediately. Instead, even after investigating her, they continued to state that the cause of the fire was currently undetermined and under investigation. However, there was no reasoning with the rabid fans of a trending celebrity.

Estelle’s studio faced a massive boycott. Noelle’s fans repeated their old tricks—slander, verbal abuse, sending people to block the entrance, and splashing paint on the doors. As a result, the studio’s employees couldn’t commute safely, plunging Star Group into turmoil once again. Henry Kendrick had no choice but to give all the employees a few days off.

The online abuse never ceased; in fact, it only escalated. Even the hospital where Yara was admitted was besieged by fans, disrupting the patients’ normal treatments and rest.

Two days later, Estelle still remained unconscious. Nathaniel sat quietly by her bed, keeping watch. Worried that she would see the online vitriol when she woke up, he had removed all phones, laptops, and similar devices from the room. But after two days of waiting, she showed no signs of waking up.