Filed to story: My Husband Regrets Divorcing Me (Audrey & Cornell)
Yet, life was full of what-ifs…
Drying her tears and gearing up to reply, Audrey suddenly caught the sound of footsteps above. Her senses were on high alert. Her hearing had sharpened significantly since she became pregnant.
She recalled Matteo’s assurance that the building had been cleared out. That was to say only her, Katie, Cornell, and Lorenzo’s crew remained.
The distinct footsteps of what seemed like English brogues meant Lorenzo’s men were likely approaching.
Audrey’s heart pounding, she scanned her surroundings, then darted to the balcony and spotted the open window on the neighboring balcony.
The space between was just enough for an adult to squeeze through.
Recognizing the immediate danger, she quickly clambered across.
Midway, she remembered her luggage. Racing back, she frantically packed her belongings into her suitcase.
Grunting with effort, she dragged the heavy suitcase back to the balcony and pushed it across.
Fortunately, she didn’t have many possessions, which made it easier to throw them, and the carpet on the balcony muffled any sounds.
Audrey crawled into the room across from hers just as the footsteps approached.
Suddenly, a loud bang echoed through the air. The door to the room she had just entered was forcefully opened.
Audrey quickly hid her suitcase and looked around for a hiding spot.
But the open design of the hotel room offered few places to hide.
Next door, Lorenzo was checking the room, believing Katie might have tricked him. Entering an empty room, he paused at the sight of a creased bed sheet. In a seven-star hotel, such wrinkles suggested someone had been here recently, though it wasn’t necessarily the proof of Audrey’s existence.
After searching every nook and cranny, Lorenzo went out onto the balcony. He saw that the window of room 8019 was open, but the one on the neighboring balcony was shut.
With his suspicions growing, Lorenzo felt a surge of adrenaline. He whistled and moved from room 8019 to 8020, breaking in with his usual assertiveness.
His footsteps, purposefully loud, echoed as if trampling on one’s nerves.
“Hello…” Lorenzo whistled nonchalantly while he strolled, visibly content with himself. “Hey there, honey. No need to hide…”
“I’ve missed you, honey…”
Cap?tulo 952:
Despite his soothing voice, an unsettling threat lingered.
The vast room stayed quiet.
Lorenzo continued his search and eventually halted before a wardrobe, certain Audrey was inside. It was the only cabinet slightly open.
He pulled the wardrobe door open. “Honey, we meet again..”
Lorenzo abruptly stopped before he finished his sentence.
The wardrobe was empty. Inside, there were only neatly folded blankets and two pillows.
“Shit!” Loudly, Lorenzo cursed, his frustration escalating as he looked at the tidy blankets. He pulled them out and viciously stomped on them, cursing with every step. “Holy shit! Damn it!”
Lorenzo then grabbed the walkie-talkie, speaking fiercely. “Keep an eye on Katie. I’m going back to cut her tongue out!”
After he uttered those words, he slammed the wardrobe door, which then fell off its hinges, crashing loudly.
In solitude, the darker side of Lorenzo came forth, forgetting any semblance of elegance. He trashed the room thoroughly like a bandit and then paused in front of the mirror to adjust his clothes and hair.
After flashing a menacing smile at his reflection in the mirror, Lorenzo then left the room feeling strangely satisfied.
As Lorenzo’s footsteps receded, Audrey crawled out of the wardrobe.
She was not in room 8020, where Lorenzo suspected, but in her original hiding spot in 8019.
Fortuitously, she managed to scramble back across the balcony as Lorenzo was entering 8020. Returning to 8019, she used a hanger to secure the balcony window, keeping her movements undetected.
Outside, the hallway was silent, with a surreal sense of dread permeating the air as Audrey watched the door of the thrashed room.
She could clearly hear the violent destruction from next door, the soundproofing of the hotel, unable to withstand Lorenzo’s rage.
Fortunately, Lorenzo hadn’t wreaked the same havoc in 8019, or she would surely have been discovered.
Before stepping out, Audrey steadied her breathing, psyching herself up.
She hesitated at the door for a moment, and then returned to the bathroom to tap three short beats on the pipe as a signal.
Concerned that Cornell might not hear, she quickly repeated the tapping three times, signaling “I’m okay.”
She didn’t wait for a response and quickly found the elevator using Cary’s security map, even though it was her first visit.
However, she stared at the elevator, its metal doors looming ominously, before ultimately opting for the emergency exit, distrustful of the surveillance that might be monitoring the elevator’s use.
Carefully, she descended to the 6th floor, the site of the ongoing wedding.
Crouching at the emergency exit, Audrey slid her phone under the door, activating the video to discreetly record the external activity. Upon retrieving her phone, she scrutinized the footage intently. The area was devoid of guards.
Cap?tulo 953:
Given Lorenzo’s men’s limited numbers, it was impossible for them to cover every exit.
Moreover, with a detonator in his grasp, Lorenzo could trigger explosives at any perceived threat, untroubled by the risks. He was undeterred by potential dangers.
At the adjacent building, with a helicopter and four fully armed men at the ready. Those men were equipped with heavy sniper rifles, powerful enough to take down the strongest tiger or the quickest lion.
Bluntly put, sending an unprepared combat helicopter could result in its destruction and the loss of both machine and crew.
However, Lorenzo and his men harbored a great fear of Ambrosia’s firepower, which was why they didn’t position themselves directly above the banquet center but instead lay in wait for Lorenzo’s next move.
Cary was now directing his subordinates to systematically check their hideouts. They were readying themselves to strike decisively and seal off Lorenzo’s escape routes.
Audrey carefully pushed open the door, striving to be as silent as possible, and then stealthily ran to the floor’s edge.
To reduce the sound of her footsteps, she put her shoes into a trash bin and continued in her socks, the cold floor making her shiver.
Upon reaching her intended spot, Audrey set about locating the small bomb hidden behind the fire hydrant, as laid out in the security map.
This was Audrey’s first encounter with a real bomb. It was markedly different from what she had envisioned. The device was primitive, a stark contrast to the high-tech bombs portrayed on television. It resembled merely a plastic-sealed box with three differently colored wires sticking out. It clearly was a makeshift device.
This was because, under Ambrosia’s tight controls on firearms and explosives, Lorenzo would not have been able to import explosives directly.
Audrey took her phone out and captured detailed photos of the bomb, also documenting the number of people on the floor.
She then cautiously moved to other locations, documenting each bomb with the same level of detail.
Lorenzo had destroyed all the monitoring equipment, fearing it could be hacked by special forces, allowing Audrey to move undetected.
Having completed her task, Audrey waited for a response.
Soon, she received a reassuring message. “You can head to the B2F parking spot. There’s a small door there you can use to exit. We’ll meet you at the exit. Please be very careful.”
Audrey paused. “What about the explosives?”
Lorenzo’s boldness stemmed primarily from his possession of the detonator. Neutralizing the explosives could give the special forces a better opportunity for a stealthy assault from below.
Cary responded, “That’s not your concern. We have our own plans. Please exit safely.”
Looking around the dimly lit building, Audrey realized Cary was right.
She wasn’t a professional, and any reckless moves could only hinder their efforts.
She followed the order and started her evacuation from the sixth floor.
By the time she reached the first underground level, exhaustion had set in, and she sat down to rest.
She had barely rested for a minute when she heard the familiar footsteps. In a panic, she quickly concealed herself behind a large door.
Cap?tulo 954:
Then, she heard someone speaking into a walkie-talkie in a foreign language, roughly translating to, “Almost at the location, with the explosives…”
Audrey gasped, shocked.
As the footsteps receded, Audrey watched the man head toward level B2.
A sinking feeling overwhelmed her. She urgently called Cary, who picked up immediately. “Are you out yet?”
“No, Cary, I just saw someone heading to level B2 with explosives!”