Chapter 466 – Her Sudden Departure: A Tale of Love and Redemption (Lucian & Roxanne)

The truth was that Madilyn could not stop worrying about the two little ones.

Roxanne, too, was relieved to see her best friend at her house, and following that was a burst of emotions.

“Aunt Madilyn,” greeted the boys, puzzled by the woman’s appearance since they had no idea what had happened.

With a serious face, Madilyn lowered herself so she could look the boys in the eye. “Let me see if you’re okay.”

Only after confirming that the children were not injured in any way did Madilyn start scolding them. “Do you know how worried you made your mother and me this afternoon? You’re not to run off again without telling us. Do you understand? If you must, at least inform your mother.”

The boys did not know their mother had asked Madilyn to help search for them until they heard that, so they quickly lowered their heads and apologized, “We’re sorry, Aunt Madilyn. We will do that next time.”

Glaring reproachfully at the two children, Madilyn uttered, “It’s a good thing you had those watches on you. Remember to keep them on always, okay?”

To that, the kids quickly nodded.

Only after scolding the children did Madilyn rise to look at her friend, whom she could not help worrying about when she saw how exhausted the woman was. “What happened? Are you and Mr. Farwell…”

Madilyn wanted to ask if Roxanne and Lucian had a fight but stopped because she suddenly remembered the two boys were beside her.

Knowing what her friend wanted to ask, Roxanne smiled and pretended as if everything was okay. “No. I’m just really tired today.”

Madilyn then gave Roxanne a suspicious look but decided not to overthink the situation.

After all, searching for and worrying about two lost kids was a taxing affair.

Even though Madilyn had no idea what had happened at the Farwell residence, she was sure it took a lot out of Roxanne.

Still, Madilyn did not ask about it in the end, and since it was already late, she decided to take her leave.

Roxanne was drained, so she went to bed early that night.

The next morning, Roxanne was woken up by her ringing phone.

She then forced her eyes open to check the time and realized there were ten minutes left before her alarm went off at seven.

Wondering what the phone call was about, Roxanne sat up to wake herself further before answering the call. “What’s up, Dr. Galloway?”

“The research institute is on fire!” exclaimed Colby nervously.

Roxanne was completely awake the moment she heard that. “I’ll be right over!”

“Hear me out first. I’ve already contacted the fire department, so the firefighters are on their way,” added Colby.

However, Roxanne did not hear that because she had already hung up. After washing up, she rushed to the institute without even putting any makeup on.

Roxanne would hate for anything to happen to the medicinal herbs she had just placed there the day before.

Now that Herbscape Group has been seized, it’ll be difficult to find a medicinal herb supplier again if I lose those medicinal herbs. With that thought in mind, Roxanne anxiously sped up her car.

The firefighters were already doing their best to put out the fire when she arrived at the scene.

“You’re here,” greeted Colby, who hurried over to Roxanne as soon as he saw her.

After nodding in response, Roxanne had her eyes fixed on the location on fire. “What’s the situation now? Did they find out what caused the fire?”

Not only was the institute filled with many medicinal herbs, but it also had numerous flammable materials.

Hence, those working there had always been vigilant with fire prevention efforts.

Roxanne had never heard of any fire incident involving the institute, so she wondered how the fire could have started.

Colby had a strange look in his eyes before he quickly put his thoughts aside and pretended to be collected. “We haven’t got the time to investigate yet. I came in early today and was surprised to smell something burning inside when I was unlocking the door. The fire was already burning vigorously when I got in, so I quickly called the fire department before calling you.”

After the explanation, Colby ventured a guess with furrowed eyebrows. “It’s probably caused by a misplaced item. I should’ve checked everything before leaving yesterday.”

When Roxanne saw how Colby blamed himself for the incident, she suppressed her anxiousness to comfort him. “It wasn’t your fault. After all, nobody could’ve seen this coming.”

The fire captain walked out after he and the other firefighters managed to de-escalate the situation, so Roxanne hurriedly approached him.

Colby still had more to say, but the woman before him was already gone.

Staring blankly at where Roxanne stood, Colby seemed somewhat displeased with his face hardening.

“Hi! Is the situation serious? Do you know what caused the fire?” questioned Roxanne anxiously, standing before the captain.

After wiping the sweat off his face, the captain frowned while shaking his head. “We can’t tell just yet. It won’t be easy to find the cause since institutes like yours are usually filled with flammable materials.”

To make things worse, the materials mentioned were already reduced to ashes.

Roxanne was disappointed when she heard the reply but thanked the captain anyway. “Thank you for your help.”

To that, the captain nodded indifferently. “It’s our duty.”

After confirming that the fire was put out and getting the green light from the firemen, Roxanne was finally able to get near the research institute that was engulfed in an inferno.

Her heart sank the moment she managed to get a closer look. She had been worried sick all morning, overcome by the apprehension that the medicinal herbs that she had just retrieved the day before were all gone.

Alas, her worst nightmare came true. The very store that caught on fire was the one where the medicinal herbs were stored.

Not only were the medicinal herbs the batch that they had just retrieved the day before destroyed, but the other medicinal herbs they previously stocked up were also burned to ashes.

Fortunately, Colby had managed to call for help in time and managed to stop the fire from spreading to other areas.

“This…” Standing beside Roxanne, Colby found himself to be at a loss for words as he stared at the shambles before them.

Roxanne let out a soft sigh. “Well, luckily no one was hurt, and the fire didn’t spread to other areas of the research institute.”

Colby sighed and said in a defeated manner, “There goes the hard work you guys did yesterday.”

It took them the whole morning to move all the herbs into the store. Moreover, Colby knew that it must have been difficult for Roxanne and Jack to get the herbs from Herbscape Group in the first place.

Roxanne furrowed her brows in response.

It would be difficult to get her hands on medicinal herbs of the same quality.

Nonetheless, that was the least of her concern right then.

She turned to look at Colby and said, “Dr. Galloway, could you please investigate the root cause of the fire at the research institute?”

If it was due to the flammable nature of the herbs, Roxanne knew there was nothing she could have done to prevent the disaster.

However, if someone had deliberately set the place on fire, she knew she had to expel the culprit from the research institute.

Colby immediately led a group of people to the surveillance room.

Meanwhile, Roxanne sought the firemen’s help to locate the ignition source.

However, they couldn’t find anything after looking for quite some time.

“We seldom encounter cases of research institutes catching on fire. However, more often than not, it is due to inappropriate storage of medicinal herbs,” a fireman commented. “Perhaps the fire at your research institute is also due to the same reason.”

Roxanne reckoned that the ignition source must have burned away in the fire under such circumstances. That would explain the reason they couldn’t locate the ignition source.

Despite feeling that something was off, Roxanne could only nod along doubtfully to the fireman’s remarks as she thanked him.

The fireman returned to his post afterward.

The chief fireman bade goodbye to Roxanne and left with his team.

Roxanne and the staff of the research institute were left at the entrance of the research institute.

She remained unconvinced by the fireman’s conclusion.

However, since they couldn’t locate the ignition source, the fireman might be right.

Then again, the research institute had always been fine, and there were only the usual few types of medicinal herbs in store. The staff in charge of the store were all experienced as well. Thus, Roxanne was baffled by the fact that they would commit a mistake that could lead to a fire at the store.

Utterly confounded, Roxanne was overcome with frustration.

After some time, she turned around to face the staff who had all been standing behind her with a solemn look on her face.

“Who was the first one to arrive here in the morning?” she asked.

Someone replied in a small voice, “It was Dr. Galloway. He’s the one holding the keys, and he’s always the first to arrive and unlock the entrance for us every morning.”

Roxanne frowned slightly, plagued by a gnawing feeling that something was not right.

According to the staff, nobody else would have access to the research institute even if they arrived first, seeing as only Colby had the keys.

Then again, what could be Colby’s motif?

Moreover, he was the one to report the fire to the authorities.

Roxanne found it incredulous that Colby would do something like this.

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