Chapter 539 I Am Always Here
"Hang on tight!" George yelled as he scooped Emma into his arms, frantically searching for a way out of the inferno.
His eyes had just recovered and were still adjusting to the thick smoke and blinding light, but he instinctively moved towards where the air seemed fresher.
When they finally burst out of the burning building, it collapsed behind them with a deafening crash. George shielded Emma with his body, and the force of the explosion threw them to the ground.
They tumbled into a safe zone, battered and bruised, but clinging to each other tightly.
Paramedics rushed to their aid. Emma's consciousness was fading, yet she clung to George's shirt with all her might.
"Don't be scared," George whispered, kissing her sweat-soaked forehead. "I'm here, always."
As the stretcher was about to be loaded into the ambulance, Emma suddenly panicked. "George, where's George?"
"I'm right here," George said, immediately grabbing her hand and jumping into the ambulance with her. "I'm not going anywhere."
The paramedics tried to separate them to treat their wounds, but George stubbornly shook his head. "Let us stay together." He turned to the unconscious Emma, his voice incredibly tender. "This time, I'll be the one watching over you."
The ambulance sped into the hospital's emergency entrance, the screeching brakes piercing the night. Medical staff rushed the two stretchers into the ER, George and Emma's hands still tightly clasped until the operating room doors forcibly separated them.
"Family members, please wait outside!" A nurse blocked Scarlett, who was trying to follow them in.
George staggered back a few steps, his wrinkled hands clutching his shirt. His cloudy eyes were fixed on the "Surgery in Progress" sign, muttering, "God, please, let these two kids be safe."
Suddenly, the sound of hurried high heels echoed down the hallway.
Sophia, in a dark green gown with her hair in a loose bun, had clearly rushed over. Her meticulously applied makeup was smeared with tears, and her eyes blazed with fury as she spotted Scarlett.
"Scarlett!" Sophia's voice was so sharp it nearly pierced the air. "It's you again! Three years ago, you almost got Emma killed, and now..."
She lunged forward, her raised hand slapping Scarlett hard across the face. The sharp sound echoed as Scarlett's head snapped to the side, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth, but she stood still.
"That slap was for Emma!" Sophia's voice trembled as she raised her hand again.
Scarlett closed her eyes, her frail fingers gripping her prayer beads tightly, allowing the second slap to land on her face. Her face quickly swelled, but she stood tall, as if enduring a long-overdue judgment.
"Enough!" Henry rushed over, grabbing Sophia's wrist. "Sophia, this is a hospital!"
"Let go of me!" Sophia struggled hysterically. "If it weren't for this witch, Emma wouldn't have gone to that place! Look at her now..." She pointed towards the operating room, her voice choking, "Emma is covered in blood."
Scarlett slowly knelt.
The once high-and-mighty Scarlett of the Russell family now knelt like a sinner. Her forehead touched the cold floor tiles, her voice hoarse. "Hit me, kill me, as long as Emma gets better."
Sophia froze, then lunged at her even more furiously. "You think this makes up for anything?" She grabbed Scarlett's collar, her nails digging into her flesh. "Three years ago, you treated Emma like dirt! Now you wanna play the hero?"
Scarlett's hair was a mess, her expensive gown torn, but she didn't fight back. Her tears mixed with the blood on the floor.
"I was blind, I was foolish," she trembled, pulling out a cross from her pocket. "I got this from the church, to protect Emma."
Sophia slapped the cross away. "Stop pretending!" She raised her heel, stomping on Scarlett's hand. "Emma risked her life to save you, and now she's fighting for hers! You..."
"Sophia!" Henry forcibly pulled Sophia away. "If you keep hitting her, you'll kill her!"
Charles arrived in a wheelchair, seeing Scarlett's bloodied face without a flicker of emotion. He stood silently by.
"Charles, even you can't stop me!"
Charles watched Scarlett being beaten, sighing deeply. "She deserves this." He looked at the operating room. "As long as the kids are safe, I'd kneel and admit my mistakes."
Sophia suddenly collapsed, as if all her strength had been drained. Her elegant gown was covered in dust, her hairpins lost, her hair cascading over her shoulders. The usually graceful lady now cried like a helpless child.
"My Emma has suffered so much," Sophia sobbed. "She's so good... and now..."
Henry, his eyes red, held Sophia close. He looked at Scarlett, his voice heavy. "Mrs. Russell, do you know why Emma risked her life to save you?"
Scarlett struggled to lift her head, her blood-streaked face filled with regret.
"Because Emma always saw you as a mother," Henry's voice choked. "Even after everything, she wrote in her diary, 'Mrs. Russell just loves George too much. One day, she'll accept me.'"
This sentence was the final blow, breaking Scarlett completely. She collapsed, wailing like a wounded animal. "I deserve to die, I truly deserve to die."
Time ticked by, the surgery light still on. Sophia gradually calmed, occasionally letting out suppressed sobs.
Scarlett curled up, her eyes never leaving the surgery light.
Inside the operating room, under the harsh white light, medical staff worked urgently on their injuries. The lead surgeon frowned at the fluctuating numbers on the monitor. "Blood pressure's too low, prepare for a transfusion!"
"We can't, their hands are too tightly clasped!" A nurse anxiously tried to separate George and Emma's hands. "We can't operate on both at the same time like this!"
The surgeon approached, observing that even under full anesthesia, their fingers were locked together as if welded. George's hand, veins bulging, seemed to be using all his strength to hold on.
"We'll operate like this," the surgeon sighed. "Push the two operating tables together, we'll manage."
In her anesthesia-induced dream, Emma found herself in a terrifying landscape of blood-red wasteland. In the distance, George stood with his back to her, his white shirt soaked in blood.
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