30 Days Till I Divorce My Husband novel Chapter 357

As Drew's voice trailed off, Jason turned his back to the steel door, pivoted, and delivered a powerful kick to the hefty warehouse door. It didn't budge an inch.

After his failed attempt, Jason glanced at the keypad. "Can we try cracking the code?" he asked.

Drew shook his head. They’d already tried countless times, and every attempt had ended in failure.

Frustration etched on Jason's face, Estrella took a deep breath and said, "Let's give it a shot ourselves."

Seeing their efforts were getting them nowhere, Korey and Holly quickly called Catrina for the code, but her phone was unreachable.

While the staff used their professional tools on the door, Estrella focused on the keypad, trying different codes. Years ago, she had helped Korey with a dispute involving some former Deckard Corporation employees. Those conversations might hold a clue to the password—maybe something linked to her dad, Cole.

Sweat trickled down her forehead as she racked her brain, recalling details from the factory office. She tried several codes, but none worked.

"Try my dad's birthday, and..." Estrella muttered, inputting key dates.

"1992, 93..." Jason also tried to remember significant dates related to Deckard Corporation, while Holly mumbled her grandparents' important dates by her side.

But no matter how many times they tried, the sturdy steel door remained shut.

Estrella's hands trembled at the thought of Isaac possibly being trapped in such a cold place. Her fear grew with each passing second. She'd rather be the one locked inside than Isaac.

"1994, Deckard Corporation..." Jason mentioned the dates when Cole was hired and when Catrina was appointed as the executive assistant. Estrella aligned the passwords, and finally, the lock clicked.

They heard the door's bolts retracting, and the heavy steel door slowly swung open.

Seeing the door open, Cole was amazed. Despite his efforts to remember, Jason and Estrella had outpaced him with their knowledge of Ravenwood and other significant enterprises, even those remembered only for their past glory.

These kids approached their work with more seriousness and dedication than their forebears.

As the heavy door opened, a blast of cold air hit them. Catrina was indeed sitting at her desk, as if transported back three decades.

Seeing the door unlocked, Catrina was initially stunned, then slowly smiled. "Cole, you're back!"

She thought Cole had cracked the code, but Cole said, "It was Jason and Estrella. They know a lot about Deckard Corporation, remembering your and my first days."

Catrina's expression darkened slightly. "Cole, don't you remember? That was the day we first met!"

Cole admitted, "I forgot."

Meanwhile, Jason and Estrella were too preoccupied to dwell on this, rushing into the storage room.

Korey, sitting opposite Estrella and Jason, felt a pang of guilt. He had failed to keep a close watch on his mother, too trusting in her promises, giving her the opportunity to act.

He had always believed the fire seven years ago was a scheme orchestrated by Holly, thereby barring her from returning to Ravenwood. It was only after a confrontation with her that Holly revealed the fire was set by his mother and that Serene had been driven to a corner by her actions, prompting him to investigate anew.

What he hadn't anticipated was that his sister had shouldered all the blame for those events.

When they brought her back from prison, she declared she was tired, that it all ended there, and her mother agreed. Yet, in the end, promises were broken.

"Sweetie, you gotta promise Mommy, okay?" Estrella clung to Isaac's small hand, tears swirling in her eyes, but she bravely kept them from falling. "Honey, are you mad at Mommy? Are you upset because I have to work every day and can't spend time with you?"

Holding Isaac's hand tightly, Estrella pleaded, "Sweetie, Mommy promises you, if you can just wake up, if you can just talk to me, I'll quit my job. I'll stay home with you."

"Can you give Mommy a sign? Just agree, okay?"

The more she called out for Isaac, the more agonizing it felt. Having brought him out from the cold room for so long, why wasn’t his body warming up? Why hadn’t he woken up yet?

Had she known bringing him back would mean going through all this, they would have never returned.

Jason held Estrella's hand tightly, comforting her, "Estrella, Isaac is going to be okay." In comforting Estrella, he was also comforting himself.