Chapter 578
578:
Yet, since it was the middle of the night and it was standard practice for the guards to rest after their rounds, Ethan didn’t think much of it.
“Goodnight,” he said to Brenna.
“Goodnight.”
Brenna and Ethan then disappeared into their rooms.
The faint scent of air freshener lingered in Brenna’s room. She sniffed the air a couple of times and, finding nothing out of the ordinary, assumed that housekeeping had come in to tidy up while she had been out.
After a quick shower, she soon drifted into a deep sleep, probably exhausted from the busy day and evening banquet.
Sometime during the night, every light in her suite flickered out, including the small nightlight she had left by the door.
A fire had started in the utility room on the first floor of the Empire Hotel, and it spread through the ventilation ducts faster than anyone could have imagined. In less than ten minutes, the flames consumed the entire building. Sparks shot through the ducts, landing in rooms and along the hallway carpets.
The tiny sparks were relentless, quickly setting fire to everything they touched—carpets, curtains, blankets, and more.
Wherever the fire spread, it roared into a full-blown blaze, but Brenna stayed deep asleep, completely unaware of it.
Ethan was also deep in sleep.
Not only were the two of them in a deep sleep, but even the choking smoke didn’t wake them. The entire building’s guests were all in a deep slumber, except for the two receptionists.
Inside Brenna’s room, the smoke grew thicker by the minute, so dense that it was impossible to see anything two meters ahead.
In her sleep, Brenna felt the air grow thick and suffocating. She dreamt she was trapped inside a smoke-filled room, frantically searching for a way out, only to find every door and window bolted shut.
𝓣𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓽𝓸 ⲅ𝓪𝓁𝗇𝗈ν𝖊𝗅𝓈⧸𝓬𝓸𝓶
She choked and coughed violently, the smoke clawing at her lungs, making every breath painful. The heat of the flames seemed to lick at her skin, the temperature rising with each passing second.
With a desperate push, she forced herself awake, only to find the nightmare was all too real. Smoke surrounded her, and her blanket was already halfway consumed by flames. She could even feel the heat of the fire.
Without hesitation, she flung the burning blanket aside, clamped a hand over her nose, and sprinted into the bathroom. Luckily, there was still water in the pipes. She soaked a towel, pressed it firmly over her mouth and nose, and headed out.
The hallway was already ablaze, the carpet completely scorched and burned away. Fortunately, during the hotel’s last renovation, Ethan had insisted on using non-flammable materials. If not for that decision, Brenna would have been trapped inside a roaring inferno with no hope of escape.
Chaos ruled the corridor as guests spilled out of their rooms, all stampeding toward the stairwell. Brenna’s heart jumped into her throat when she spotted Ethan’s room’s door still tightly shut. She was just about to pound on his door when it swung open. Ethan stood there, still in his pajamas, a wet towel pressed firmly over his mouth and nose. He grabbed Brenna’s arm and pulled her toward the emergency exit.
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