Upon hearing that, Brendan nodded in agreement. “That’s fine. I’m not in a rush for it so just take your time.” “By the way, about Molly…” At that point, Elise brought up Molly because she reckoned that the latter was quite talented in this field. If Molly was fired from their workshop, it was quite likely that her career as a designer would end here. Brendan, however, made his stance quite clear. “Molly’s my personal assistant and she’s also a part of our design team, but her actions are completely unforgivable.” Meanwhile, Elise hummed to indicate that she understood.

Although she felt that it was a shame for Molly’s talent to go to waste, she was unsympathetic of the woman’s current predicament. After she had gone back into her office, Elise stretched her back before taking a seat and continuing with her sketch. However, her creative juices were not flowing well at the moment and more than ten consecutive sketches were unsatisfactory to her. There was also a pile of balled-up papers in front of her table. When Alexander arrived, he was quite mindful to knock on the door before entering the room. Despite that, Elise was engrossed in her sketch and she didn’t give any response at all.

Left without a choice, he pushed open the door and walked into the room. He then casually picked up one of the balled-up papers from the ground and unraveled it, only to find that it was a sketch for a preliminary design. At that point, Elise heard his footsteps and she came to her senses. “Why are you here?” Alexander lifted his head to glance at her before replying, “It’s time to go home. You didn’t even bother to look at the time, huh?” It was only then that Elise finally noticed the time. She sheepishly rubbed her temples, she murmured, “I don’t have much left to do.

Let’s head home together.” Just then, Alexander moved forward and came to her side as he mentioned, “You must be tired after sketching for such a long time. I’ll give you a shoulder massage.” “That’s not necessary. I’m fine.” Though Elise had rejected his offer, in fact, she actually felt that her shoulders were quite sore. However, Alexander didn’t even give her a chance to respond. He went to stand behind her and placed his warm hands on her shoulders before gently giving her a massage. At that point, Elise felt her shoulders relax significantly and she no longer felt as tense as before.

Just then, she found that her design inspiration seemed to come about quite quickly. “I think you’ll need to give me some more time to complete this sketch.” As she spoke, she had already impatiently grabbed a pencil and started on her sketch. Meanwhile, Alexander didn’t seem to be in a hurry, so he took a seat next to her and waited silently. Neither of them spoke a word in that cramped little room and there was only the sound of her pencil scratching against the paper. Brendan watched the whole scene by the door and he couldn’t seem to contain the smile on his face.

Shortly after that, he spoke softly and instructed his personal assistant. “Let the person on the night watch know not to disturb them.” “Sure, Mr. Griffith.” Subsequently, Brendan turned around and walked out of the office. The office was brightly lit up though the night had fallen. As soon as Elise completed her final stroke on the sketch, she unconsciously stretched her back. “It’s finally completed!” Just then, she turned around to look at Alexander. He was still seated cross-legged at the same position and he had a magazine in his hand. However, he hadn’t flipped the page for quite a while now.

She then took a closer look and realized that he had, in fact, fallen asleep. And so, she quickly took a blanket and quietly went over to place it on him. She was just about to go and shut the door but the next minute, a pair of warm hands inched toward her and Alexander hugged her waist. “Have you completed the sketch?” Meanwhile, Elise was slightly caught by surprise as his hoarse voice rang out lazily. She hastily replied, “Yes, I’ve completed it. We can head home now.” However, Alexander tightened his grip on her. “Let me hug you for a bit more.”

In the end, Elise had no choice but to stand there without moving as she gave him free rein to hug her. After quite some time, all of the lights in the office suddenly flicked off and both of them became enveloped in darkness. ”What’s going on? Why did the lights suddenly go out?” Elise asked frantically. However, Alexander comforted her, “I guess it must be the timer and the lights get cut off at a certain time. I’ll turn my flashlight on. Let’s head home.” As he said that, he reached for his cell phone but despite pressing on it for quite some time, nothing happened.

“My battery’s flat.” Upon hearing that, Elise rummaged for her phone and switched on the flashlight. Instantly, there was a glimmer of light in the room. “Let’s go.” She walked in front of him and he trailed along behind but upon reaching the entrance to the office, they realized that the door was locked from the outside and there was no way of opening the door. Just then, she shoved hard on the door but it was to no avail. “What’s going on? Why is the door locked?” Alexander was quite confused too, so he shone the flashlight toward the door and realized that it had been bolted from the outside.

Furthermore, there came the sounds of some footsteps shuffling by the corridor. Hence, Alexander frowned and hollered, “Who’s there? Who is it outside?” The people by the door were frightened out of their wits to hear someone inside and there was a sound of something dropping from their hands and then spilling all over the ground. “What are you doing? Hurry up and splash it on the walls!” Several people spoke to each other and they quickly splashed the contents of the cans in their hands all over the surroundings. At that point, the air around them reeked strongly of gasoline.

“Who’s there? Open the door right now!” Alexander yelled out but soon after that, there was a stinging smell that hit his nostrils. “It’s gasoline.” By then, Elise had caught a whiff too. “Oh no! We need to get out of here!” However, as soon as she said that, flames emerged from the window behind her and the whole room was lit up in red. “This is arson,” she said with a panicked expression as she quickly covered up her nose and mouth. ”Let’s go. We need to leave right now!” However, the door was locked from the outside and the flames that came from the window were seemingly engulfing them.

Alexander shielded Elise by his side and moved with her in the direction that was currently away from the fire. “Follow me and keep silent.” He took out his cell phone to make a call as he said that. However, the whole office was full of flammable objects and the gasoline fueled the flames too, so the fire became out of control very quickly. They did not even have time to react. The billowing dark smoke enveloped both of them and Elise coughed uncontrollably from inhaling it. She felt terribly suffocated at that point. Meanwhile, Alexander hit at the door non-stop with a metal rod that he had found, but it barely made a dent.

At that point, the people outside saw that the office was in flames, so one of them took out his phone and dialed a number. “Miss Lawson, we’ve set fire to the place according to your instructions. However, I think I heard someone inside earlier. Are you sure that’s fine?” At that moment, Ashlyn had a sinister look on her face and she couldn’t even care less about that. How dare Brendan insult me that way?

Well, if he refuses to give me a chance, there’s nothing much to care about! Let’s see what he’ll do with a burnt office! “It’s fine! No one would still be there at such a godforsaken hour of the night! Just set the place alight and leave! You don’t need to bother with anything else after that.”