Chapter 55: Chapter 55: Noelle Sutton, Are You in Danger?

When Tristan Lawson saw the message, his dark gaze lingered on the phone screen for a long moment.

"You like it?"

He texted back.

"Yeah, they’re like two little pandas."

Tristan Lawson pursed his lips.

’If Sophie Hughes liked it, he didn’t mind giving it to her.’

’Besides, there were twenty-two others.’

’He’d bought all of them but had only planned on keeping one for himself.’

’The rest were all going to be thrown away.’

’He’d just consider this an extra he was keeping for Sophie Hughes.’

"If you like it, keep it."

「Cygnus.」

Noelle Sutton didn’t dare to sleep. She was curled up in a corner, trembling uncontrollably, her fingernails digging so hard into her palms they nearly broke the skin.

Every clap of thunder was like a hammer pounding relentlessly against her heart.

The thunderstorm had caused a power outage, plunging the hotel room into pitch-black darkness.

The only light came in brief flashes as lightning tore across the sky.

The howling wind and the drumming of rain against the windowpanes seemed to drain all of Noelle Sutton’s courage, leaving her consumed by a deep, internal terror.

Memories from her childhood came flooding back.

It had been an overcast, rainy evening.

Her mother had given her a hundred-yuan bill and sent her to the supermarket at the entrance of their apartment complex to buy a bottle of soy sauce. She’d also told her she could buy any snacks she wanted for herself.

She spent a long time picking out her treats and even bought a slice of cake that her mother loved.

She had been heading back happily, carrying the soy sauce and snacks, when she reached the base of their building. Just then, someone plummeted from above.

The body landed with a sickening THUD, making her jump in shock.

When she gathered her wits, she realized it was her mother.

Her mother’s once-gentle eyes were wide open. Blood pooled from the back of her head, spreading across the ground like creeping vines.

Blood slowly trickled from her mother’s eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Her face was as pale as a sheet of paper, completely devoid of life. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Someone shouted that there had been a jumper.

Soon, a crowd gathered, completely surrounding her mother’s body.

Everything in her hands crashed to the ground.

She ran, pushing her way through the crowd, desperately trying to call out for her mom.

Her lips moved, but not a single sound came out.

And then, the thunder and lightning began.

Her father had rushed home, locked her inside the house alone, and then followed the ambulance to the hospital.

The power was out at home. In the darkness, the horrific image of her mother’s body hitting the ground played over and over in her mind.

The mournful sounds of the wind and rain, punctuated by deafening thunder, relentlessly assaulted her young mind.

’She didn’t know why her mother had jumped.’

’She desperately regretted taking so long to pick out snacks.’

’If only she had come back a little sooner, her mother wouldn’t have jumped...’

Noelle Sutton clenched her jaw, her trembling hands fumbling for her phone.

The light from the screen was blinding in the darkness.

Her lips trembled uncontrollably.

Another massive clap of thunder echoed, and she nearly dropped her phone.

Her chest rose and fell violently. Her breathing grew shallow, and she felt as if she were on the verge of suffocating.

It had been many years since she’d been caught in a thunderstorm this bad.

’Tristan Lawson.’

’The only person she could think of was Tristan Lawson.’

With trembling fingers, she unblocked Tristan Lawson’s number and dialed.

Tristan Lawson had just stepped out of the shower when his phone rang.

Noelle Sutton’s name flashed on the screen.

His thin lips pressed into a hard line.

’So she finally remembered how to unblock my number!’

’She had no idea how much trouble she’d caused him lately.’

’She’d made him rush back from Cygnus, weary from travel, only for him to have to turn around and hurry back again.’

’If it weren’t for the severe weather over Cygnus, he’d still be on the road right now!’

Tristan Lawson irritably set his phone down.

A moment later, he snatched it back up.

He swiped to answer, his voice cold and heavy. "So you do know how to call me."

Noelle Sutton frantically tapped against her phone.

TAP TAP TAP... TAP—TAP—TAP... TAP TAP TAP.

Her heart was in chaos, but the taps had a distinct rhythm.

Tristan Lawson’s brow furrowed. "What are you tappi—"

Before he could finish, his expression darkened. "Noelle Sutton," he said urgently, "are you in danger?"

Hearing that he understood, Noelle Sutton breathed a sigh of relief.

"Noelle?"

A blinding flash of lightning seemed to crack the sky open, followed by a deafening roar.

Noelle Sutton couldn’t take it anymore and passed out.

The phone slipped from her grasp and clattered away.

"Noelle? Noelle!"

Tristan Lawson grabbed his jacket and rushed out the door, still shouting her name.

On the other end of the line, there was nothing but the sound of thunder.

Tristan Lawson’s normally hardened heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand.

TAP TAP TAP... TAP—TAP—TAP... TAP TAP TAP.

The rhythm Noelle Sutton had tapped out was the international distress signal: SOS!

’She must be in terrible danger.’

Tristan Lawson hailed a cab to his private helipad.

On the way, he tried calling the hotel where Noelle Sutton was staying.

But the line wouldn’t connect.

He tried calling Noelle Sutton’s phone again, with the same result—unreachable.

His only option was to dial the Cygnus police and report the situation at Noelle Sutton’s hotel.

Arriving at the helipad, he boarded his helicopter and immediately checked the weather situation around Cygnus on his phone.

The thunderstorm was concentrated over downtown Cygnus, with extremely heavy rainfall. The city was already beginning to flood.

He quickly identified the closest possible landing spot to downtown Cygnus.

Then he called Secretary Shaw.

Secretary Shaw was woken from a deep sleep by the call.

"CEO Lawson."

"I’m heading to Cygnus. My wife might be in danger. I need you to get to the hospital right now and watch Joshua for me."

Hearing that Mrs. Lawson was in danger, Secretary Shaw shot out of bed.

"Do you want me to come with you? I can arrange for someone else to look after the young master."

"There’s no time. I’m leaving now. I’m hanging up."

Tristan Lawson hung up and immediately started the helicopter’s engine.

An hour later, he landed safely.

He was in a small, third-tier city about a hundred kilometers from the metropolitan area.

It was pouring rain here as well.

Tristan Lawson hailed a taxi and directed it toward downtown Cygnus.

The driver told Tristan Lawson the city was flooded and the furthest he could get was the outer ring road.

The city center was still a good twenty kilometers from the outer ring.

Tristan couldn’t worry about that. He told the driver to just take him as far as the roads would allow.

An hour had already passed since Noelle Sutton’s distress call.

No matter what, he had to find a way to get to her.

His heart, which hadn’t pounded so fiercely in a long time, was throbbing in his chest, defying his formidable self-control.

He had no idea what Noelle Sutton was going through.

He didn’t even know if he would be able to make it in time.

He sat in the back of the taxi, his fists clenched tight.

Half an hour later, as they approached Cygnus, the downpour grew even more intense.

Thunder, lightning, wind, and rain clashed in a relentless symphony, and the oppressive gloom of the weather was too thick for even the dark night to conceal.

The driver told Tristan that they could only go another kilometer or two before the road became impassable due to barricades.

Twenty kilometers. Even for someone like him who exercised regularly, navigating twenty kilometers of deeply flooded roads on foot would likely take around three hours.

While still in the car, Tristan Lawson tried calling Noelle Sutton and the hotel again. The calls still wouldn’t go through.

Thankfully, he then received a call from the police.