Chapter 283: Chapter 283: Fingers Wet by the Man’s Tears

Her body was completely immobilized; she didn’t dare move an inch.

All she could do was stare at Sean Harrison, trying to make him realize how absurd he was being.

"You see, you don’t know me well. I’ve never been a rational man. My rationality is telling me that I have a company that can’t function without me, that I should leave this instant and not stay a second longer."

Sean Harrison closed his eyes. "But I can’t be rational. I can’t leave you here alone. You can hate me, but I can’t convince myself to abandon you a second time."

"I don’t need you to! I said I don’t need you to! Do you hear me?"

Rory Linden couldn’t bear to think what would happen to Leo Linden if she and Sean Harrison died here.

He’d lose his parents at such a young age.

She had lost her own parents as a child, so she knew all too well what it was like to be an orphan, to live at the mercy of others.

Every move you made depended on reading someone else’s expression.

Even though Evelyn Irving had been good to her, she had still been so careful.

Any small kindness she received, she had to carefully commit to memory, always thinking about how to repay it someday.

’No.’

’I won’t let Leo live a life like that!’

"Don’t worry. With my will, everyone will treat him well. All my assets will be entrusted to Sherry Walsh to manage until he comes of age."

Sean Harrison reached out and clasped her hand.

Unable to move or struggle, Rory Linden could only dig her nails into the back of his hand with all her might, hoping the pain would make him let go.

She pressed harder and harder.

She could feel her own fingers clenching his metacarpals, her nails breaking the skin and digging into his flesh, but the man didn’t even flinch.

"No one can replace his own parents..." Rory Linden was starting to break down. "Sean Harrison, please, just go. Be good to Leo, and I’ll be grateful to you..."

Her voice was choked with sobs.

"How can you be grateful to me if you’re dead?" Sean Harrison’s dark eyes gazed at her. "Besides, I don’t need your gratitude. I need you to live. As long as you’re alive, you can hate me, despise me, or even kill me."

He didn’t want anything else. He just wanted her to live.

But now, that had become a hopeless wish.

"Don’t you think I want to live? I do! But Leo is still so young... without me... what will he do...?"

All the strength left Rory Linden’s body. She stopped digging her nails into his hand.

She stared blankly at the ceiling.

The dark gray walls.

She had been lying here for so long that her body had gone numb, her back aching with a dull pain.

The entire room fell unnaturally silent.

On the timer, the minutes ticked down to zero, and the final seconds began to count down.

"Rory Linden, I’m sorry. This is all my fault. I’ll leave my fortune to Leo, and I’ll give my life to you as repayment," Sean Harrison said, looking at her. "In our next life, let’s hope we never meet. You’ll have a wonderful life."

Seeing the timer, Rory Linden finally stopped trying to push him away.

There wasn’t enough time.

This was the last minute of their lives.

Rory Linden squeezed his hand in return and gently closed her eyes, letting tears stream down her face as she murmured:

"Let’s meet in the next life after all. Together, we can give Leo the perfect childhood, the complete life he deserves."

’There’s probably no such thing as reincarnation,’ she thought.

’And even if there is, we wouldn’t remember any of this.’

In this final minute, she didn’t care anymore.

"Okay. In the next life, I’ll find you. I’ll bear all the hardships myself, and I’ll make sure you and our child live a life free of worry."

Sean Harrison laced his fingers through hers.

He leaned down and gently kissed her fingers.

His kiss was devout, a prayer for the next life.

The countdown on the screen ticked away, second by second.

The man didn’t move, his lips remaining pressed to her hand.

Rory Linden clearly felt his tears wet her fingers, trickling between them and into her palm...

They were scalding hot.

Rory Linden kept her eyes closed.

These last few seconds seemed to stretch on, so slowly that she could feel his tears growing cool between her fingers.

Beyond the sound of her own heartbeat, she seemed to feel a dry heat in the air.

Then, a sound clearer than her own heartbeat cut through the silence. "The timer... stopped?"

It was Sean Harrison’s voice.

His voice trembled slightly.

Rory Linden was stunned for a moment before she opened her eyes.

Only a few seconds had passed between her closing and opening her eyes, but it felt like an eternity.

She glanced at a nearby timer. The screen displayed [00:00].

But... nothing had happened.

The bomb hadn’t exploded.

They were still alive!

"What... what is this...?"

Rory Linden’s voice trembled.

’Does this mean the bomb didn’t go off? That we survived?’

Sean Harrison’s phone was downstairs.

Outside, a police officer’s voice boomed through a megaphone, "Mr. Harrison, what’s happened in there!"

Sean Harrison squeezed her hand. "Hold on. I’ll answer the police and be right back."

Rory Linden nodded.

Perhaps it was the sudden hope of survival, but sensation belatedly returned to her body.

Her back ached and her neck was stiff from having been forced to lie in the same position for so long.

Soon, the officer from before, Carl Lawson, came in and resumed disarming the bomb.

As he worked, he marveled, "There are so many explosives here. How did not a single one of them detonate? What kind of precise job was this?"

The explosives were clearly wired in series, making it impossible to remove any of them individually.

If that had been an option, Rory Linden wouldn’t still be lying here now.

Since the danger wasn’t cleared, the other officers still kept their distance.

After a moment, Rory Linden murmured, "Is it possible... that these bombs don’t actually contain explosives?"

The room fell into an eerie silence.

Carl Lawson let out a small "ah," and his hands, which had been dismantling the device, froze.

Rory Linden didn’t know anything about explosives; she was just thinking out loud. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Carl Lawson seemed to have a realization. "With a smell this strong, there has to be gunpowder. But if they really left something out..."

He paused, then said, "It’s possible there’s no detonator."

A detonator is essential for setting off an explosive charge.

An explosion only occurs if the detonator is triggered.

Even C4, one of the most powerful explosives, requires a detonator to go off.

This was just a theory, and he didn’t dare bet on it. The safest approach was to dismantle the bombs one by one, get Rory Linden out, and then transfer and detonate the explosives elsewhere.

Sean Harrison remained in a half-kneeling position, holding Rory Linden’s hand and waiting quietly as Carl Lawson dismantled the explosives.

He waited until the explosives restraining Rory Linden’s body were finally removed.

Rory Linden tried to sit up, but as soon as she pushed with her arms, her body fell straight back down.

The drug Evan Hollis had used on her caused muscle weakness, and its effects hadn’t worn off yet...

Sean Harrison stood, bent down, and swept her up into his arms.

Following the police officers, he quickly walked outside.