Chapter 287: Daddy Was in Pain

The wooden beam was instantly ignited.

The windows and doors were locked, so the smoke clogged the house, constantly emitting a pungent smell.

Horton pulled Halle and said, “Halle, hurry up and go out. Emily is not here.”

There seemed to be no one here. With wooden furniture everywhere, the fire spread very quickly.

The room was so narrow that the fire, smoke, and ashes would soon trap them here.

But Halle shook off Horton’s hand and kept searching around.

“Emily, where are you? Mommy is here. Don’t scare me. Let’s play hide-and-seek after we get back home, okay? Emily, where are you?”

Halle cried as she shouted Emily’s name. She searched in the ashes madly.

The smell around became worse and worse.

Her hand was burnt, but the pain on her hand couldn’t compare with the pain in her heart.

Horton pulled her arm again to stop her from hurting herself, “There’s no one here. Emily is not here. Halle, let’s go.”

“No, this is Emily’s clothes. She must be around.”

Halle grasped Emily’s socks and didn’t intend to give up.

“Emily, where are you? Mom is here!”

“Halle, you’re injured. We need to go out first.”

In the meanwhile, many villagers saw the fire and came to help.

This house had been long-abandoned, with lots of deadwood and dried leaves in the courtyard.

Therefore, the fire soon spread to the yard which caused a huge smoke. Villagers rushed here after seeing the smoke.

“I’m not leaving without Emily!”

Halle ignored Horton’s words and movement. With the fire occupied her sight and Emily occupied her mind, she couldn’t and didn’t want to see or hear anything.

There was only one thought left in her mind which was to bring Emily home safely.

In the burning house, there was a crackling sound of flames exploding.

Horton took off his coat and covered Halle with it. He pulled her into his arms and protected Halle with his body.

But Halle couldn’t appreciate his action with her current mental state.

The bed was soon burned down by the great fire, and the wood shavings pierced through Horton’s calves. With a sharp pain, Horton felt that he was bleeding.

But he just groaned in a low voice and hugged Halle even tighter.

Being unable to persuade Halle, he could only forcefully pull her up. “Emily is not here, Halle. Let’s hurry out. I’m sure Emily is waiting for you outside.”

Hearing that, Halle finally looked up at him.

She saw his face was stained by dust and one of his glasses was broken.

She could see the firmness and seriousness in his eyes which were different from the impression of gentleness he left on her.

His eyes reminded her of Emily’s, which were so alike.

Halle finally broke down and burst into tears.

She used to be afraid that Emily would look more and more like Horton.

Sometimes, she would be surprised at how much they resembled each other.

Although Horton wanted to be responsible for what happened that night, she knew that it was her fault.

She was the one who was drunk and seduced him. She was the only one to blame for her pregnancy.

She regarded Emily as her life, but she never cared about him more than an ordinary acquaintance.

She had thought that Horton’s feeling for her was no more than heat for three minutes, or that he just pursued her because of the unwillingness of being rejected.

…

But now, Halle saw distress, nervousness, and concern in his eyes which were never seen in Titus’s eyes before.

The roof beam kept falling.

Almost everything was crackling and there were crowds of people shouting as they tried to put out the fire.

Noisy and scary may the situation be, he hugged her tightly and comforted her, “Don’t be afraid!”

“Is Emily really alive? Is she really out there?”

Without any reason, Halle believed in Horton’s words. She believed that Emily was not here and that Emily was waiting for her outside.

Horton looked down at her and smiled at her gently.

“Yes!”

“Emily must survive. Our daughter must survive.”

Halle muttered to herself as she clutched Horton’s clothes and buried her tearful face into his arms.

However, her voice was too small, and there were too many noises around them. Therefore, Horton didn’t hear her words. He just held Halle in his arms as a comfort to her.

She felt the warmness and firmness of his hands and heard his lively and steady heartbeat.

Suddenly, Halle was not so afraid. His embrace felt like a shelter to her where she could find tranquility.

Before she realized it, she was already brought out. With a deafening sound, the windows were all exploded.

She heard the huge sound of glass shattering into pieces. Horton held her in his arms to protect her.

Those glass pieces with flames flashed past her eyes, but none hurt her.

She looked up at Horton and saw the sweat on his jaw.

She heard him comfort her in the gentlest tone, “Don’t be afraid, we will see Emily soon!”

Strangely, Halle found that she was okay with him being on her side when Horton claimed him and her as a “we”.

Gradually, she came back to her senses and the fire was put down bit by bit.

To save some space for the firefighting villagers, Halle was brought out of the courtyard and made sit down on the stone step aside.

It was not until then did she find that Horton’s leg was bleeding.

His trousers were soaked into the blood and were stained to dark red, and his blood kept dripping down on the ground.

She also saw a long piece of crack wood pierced in his leg.

Halle was stunned. Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes.

She was seized by pain, both for her wound and for the pity to Horton.

Halle stretched out her hand and grabbed his clothes.

Not looking up at him, she asked in a low voice, “Horton, does that hurt?”

…

Halle looked at the blood on Horton’s legs. The red liquid stung her eyes. She subconsciously wanted to reach out, but Horton held her wrist.

“Don’t move. Your hand is injured!”

The man’s low voice sounded above her head. His well-defined fingers were stained with black dust, but his exposed skin was even fairer.

The man did not care about his injuries at all. He only grabbed her injured hand in his palm, but he only grabbed her wrist in the end, afraid of hurting her.

Halle was stunned, only then did she see that her hand was covered with a black gel. Because of the burn, the entire back of her hand became a little ugly.

She felt pain, but she did not pull her hand back.

She just said in a daze, “Horton, you are injured. Your legs are bleeding.”

Those bloodstains on his pants were dark red. Halle felt sad. She did not know whether it was because her hand hurt or because she was sorry to see these.

Halle did not speak. She only saw the man before squat down.

“It doesn’t matter. It will stop bleeding in a while.”

Horton did not check his wound but looked at Halle’s burned hand with heartache.

He looked up at her and asked, “Does it hurt?”

Halle wanted to say it didn’t hurt, but she unexpectedly nodded and replied, “It hurts.”

She was in pain, really in pain. Halle was not a hypocritical woman, but for a moment, she hoped that the man before her could love her, comfort her, and cherish her!

One of her hands was still holding on to the socks there had been half burned. “Hold on for a while. I’ll go get the medicine box in the car.”

Horton looked around the yard. Those villagers were only in a hurry to put out the fire. They did not notice them running out of the fire.

He did not see Bruce, so he could only go himself.

Halle wanted to hold him back, but she was late. Watching Horton’s strange posture, Halle subconsciously tightened her hand.

A sharp pain made her come back to her senses. She looked down at the two bright red cherries on the children’s socks in her hand. Halle’s heart was suddenly tightened.

Emily was definitely alive!

The fire was very big, and it was obvious that the water brought by the villagers couldn’t extinguish it.

Halle looked at the house that was swallowed by the fire in a daze. The heatwave that came from the front made her face a little numb.

She came back to her senses only when she felt a chill and pain. Then she saw that Horton come back with an open medicine box.

His legs were still dripping with blood, and it seemed that he didn’t feel that piece of wood.

Halle bit her lip and looked at Horton who was treating her wound.

“The burn can’t be easily cured. Let’s deal with it first. When we return to River City, we can go to the hospital for a thorough examination. Be careful of infection.”

Horton sounded like he was dealing with an ordinary patient. Halle did not speak.

But when Horton raised his head, he found that Halle’s face was full of tears.

He suddenly panicked and put down the cotton swab. He wanted to reach out and wipe away the tears on her face, but his fingers stopped in the air. He seemed to have thought of something and finally put down his hand awkwardly.

“Don’t worry, I just checked inside. Emily isn’t in the room. Emily should have been taken to other places by the kidnappers. There will be news of Emily soon.”

Horton felt that Halle was so sad because she was too worried about Emily.

He couldn’t help but comfort her, but in the next second, Halle threw herself into his arms. Horton was shocked and fell to the ground.

“Thank you!”

Halle’s choked voice sounded in Horton’s ear. Horton was stunned. He could no longer feel the pain in his leg.

For a moment, he did not know where to place his hands.

It wasn’t the first time Halle had expressed her gratitude to him, but only this time made Horton feel different.

Was she … trying to get his comfort?

Horton’s mind was in a mess. He knew that now was not the time to think about these things, but Halle was in his arms. He could not help but be confused.

“Halle, you don’t have to thank me. Originally, Emily’s matter was related to me.”

The people were kidnapped by the Hutt family, and the reason why Claus did this was also because of him.

He was relieved that Halle did not blame him for causing Emily to be in danger.

“Don’t worry. I will definitely bring Emily back.”

Horton raised his arm, and he could feel that the clothes on his shoulder were

wettened by Halle’s tears.

A warm and humid sensation spread over his shoulders, and his heart began to beat irregularly.

Horton pursed his lips to calm himself down.

Halle was only grateful to him. He was the one who saved her from the fire. It was normal for Halle to have this kind of performance.

He should not have other thoughts. Halle just wanted to thank him, nothing else.

Horton gradually calmed himself down. Although he was a little disappointed, he could still make himself clear.

“You must bring Emily back!”

Halle tightly grabbed the clothes on Horton’s chest and repeatedly said.

After saying that, she seemed to have thought of something and was about to speak.

A child’s crisp voice shocked Halle.

“Mom!”

Halle subconsciously raised her head. Through Horton’s shoulder, she saw Bruce standing not far away on the side of the road, holding a small figure in his arms.

The familiar girl was looking around with joy, holding a few lollipops and a bunch of snacks, as if she had just finished shopping.

It was just that both of the little girl’s feet were bare, which swayed in the air.

Emily was very happy to see Halle. She reached out for a hug.

“Emily!”

Halle rushed out in the next second.

She hugged Emily tightly in her arms and her tears fell uncontrollably on Emily’s little face.

Halle’s tears poured out. The girl was still alive. She could feel Emily’s warmth.

Emily finally returned safe and sound.

“Lollipops. He … bought…”

The little girl took out one lollipop and placed it next to Halle’s mouth. She looked at Bruce with her black eyes.

She wanted to say something, but she couldn’t pronounce it clearly. Bruce softened his eyes when he saw Emily like this.

Halle controlled her tears and looked at the lively Emily in front of her. She was relieved that Emily was not injured at all.

Just as she was about to say something, she saw Bruce quickly walk in front of her.

Halle turned her head, and in the next second, her face became ugly again.

Emily, who was in his arms, saw the blood on Horton. She covered her face and suddenly cried, “Dad is bleeding and in pain. He is so pitiful!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep