The Abandoned Wife Dumped Him First (Victoria and Elias) novel Chapter 411

He had smelled gunpowder the moment he arrived, but the overwhelming scent of blood and the urgency of the situation had prevented him from thinking too much about it. But now, seeing Henry's eerie smile, Elias's heart sank.

"This is bad, move out! Henry planted a timed bomb, it's going to blow in ten seconds!"

The voice of a colleague crackled through the special ops officer's earpiece, and he yelled for everyone to retreat.

There was no time to think. Hawk grabbed Victoria's wrist. "Miss Sanger, let's go!"

Victoria glanced back at Garnett on the floor, her throat tight. She bit her lip until it bled. "Dad…"

She didn't want to leave Garnett alone.

But she knew that if the bomb went off, she wouldn't just be unable to take Garnett; she would die here, too. She could die, but what about the child in her belly?

Victoria closed her eyes, forcing down the pain.

Just as she turned to leave, Henry suddenly moved.

His fingers, at some point, had closed around Victoria's ankle. The grip wasn't strong, but it was enough to make her stumble unexpectedly, pulling her from Hawk's grasp.

BOOM—

A massive explosion erupted from below, and the entire factory building shook violently.

Victoria had twisted her ankle. Every movement sent a sharp pain through it. She watched as cracks spiderwebbed across the walls, as if the entire structure would collapse at any second.

"You have to go!" she yelled at Hawk.

She couldn't let Hawk die here with her!

"Miss Sanger…"

Victoria's brow tightened as she cut him off. "Go!"

Hawk gritted his teeth, made a hard decision, and turned to run.

Victoria bit her lip, enduring the pain, trying to move faster. But with the building crumbling around her and her injuries, she couldn't move quickly.

Suddenly, a huge concrete pillar broke free from the ceiling and came crashing down right toward Victoria.

"Watch out!"

A figure burst in through the main entrance, lunged at Victoria, and tackled her, rolling them both to the side.

Only then did she notice that Elias's face was nearly translucent, as if he might fade away at any moment.

Elias felt his eyelids grow heavy, his consciousness slowly sinking into darkness. His vision blurred as a thick stream of blood ran down.

"Elias, don't fall asleep…" Absolute panic enveloped Victoria. "Eli—"

"Okay." Hearing her voice, he struggled to answer.

He forced his eyes open. Even though he couldn't see her face clearly, he kept his gaze fixed on her and said in the faintest whisper, "Victoria, I'm sorry… and also…"

"Don't talk, don't talk, Elias. You promised me, you can't sleep."

Elias's lips twitched into a semblance of a smile. He didn't listen. There were things that, if he didn't say them now, he might never get the chance to say.

"And also… I love you."

BOOM—

Another massive explosion. Elias held her tighter. In the final moment before he lost consciousness, he told Victoria, "Don't be afraid, Victoria… you're going to live."

As the words left his lips, the factory collapsed completely, dust filled the air, and flames swallowed everything.