Chapter 734 Trying To Solve The Mystery
That news struck Christina like a bolt from the blue and left her feeling dizzy for a good few seconds. Holding her forehead, she asked in confusion, “The renovation work at the studio is almost complete, right? How did it catch fire all of a sudden?”
Rayne was close to tears at that point. “I don’t know! Our studio is the only one that caught fire in the entire building! The security guards have already filed a police report. Could you come over and have a look, Christina?”
The studio had caught fire twice in a row, so Rayne was starting to question if her bad luck was affecting the studio.
“Be careful, and don’t do anything rash. I’ll come over so just wait for me,” Christina said before hanging up the phone and rushing upstairs to get changed.
“What happened, Christina? Where are you going?” Nathaniel stepped out of the kitchen when he heard the commotion.
“A fire broke out at the studio, so I’m heading over to check on things!” Christina exclaimed anxiously.
Nathaniel grabbed her by the hand. “It’s too dangerous there, and there’s nothing you can do to help anyway. I’ll send someone over to have a look, so you just stay right here.”
Christina gave it some thought and nodded. “All right, then. Hurry up and send someone over to find out what’s going on. Rayne says…
She took a deep breath before continuing. “Rayne says there might be casualties in this fire.”
“Nothing is certain until we have confirmation, so please try to stay calm. I’ll go make the call right away) the man said while stepping aside to make a phone call Christina kept her gaze fixated on him the entire time.
A few minutes later, he returned to her side and told her, “Sebastian and Victoria happen to be nearby, so they’re already on their way to the studio. They’ll drop by Scenic Garden Manor later this evening. By the way, dinner is almost ready. I know you don’t really have much of an appetite, but you have to eat something, okay?”
Christina nodded absentmindedly and sent Rayne a text before sitting down at the dining table.
Judging by how delicious the food looked, Christina could tell that Nathaniel put a lot of effort into it
Not wanting to let his effort go to waste, she forced herself to eat quite a lot of the food.
After having dinner, Nathaniel kept Christina company as they sat in the living room and waited for an update.
Sebastian, Victoria, and Rayne showed up at Scenic Garden Manor a few hours later.
“I’m sorry, Christina! You trust me so much, and yet, I always mess things up. The studio is scheduled to be
open for business in a few days, and I have already sent out the invitations! What will we do?” Rayne sobbed the moment she saw Christina.
Christina handed her a handkerchief and comforted her, saying. “This isn’t your fault, so you don’t have to
apologize. Let’s all put our heads together. I’m sure we’ll be able to come up with a solution.”
Rayne took the handkerchief over and wiped her tears with
“Sebastian, have you identified the cause of the fire at the studio?” Nathaniel asked, his tone serious.
+5 Bonus
“According to the initial investigation, the fire was caused by a short circuit when the renovation workers used machinery that was against industry standards. There were a lot of flammable items in the studio at the time, so the fire spread really quickly. Two of the workers were unable to make it out in time,”
Sebastian instinctively glanced at Christina after saying that. Noticing the calm look on her face, he continued, “The fire resulted in the deaths of two workers and the destruction of the studio. As the firefighters were able to put the fire out in time, the floors above and below were not affected too much.”
“Wait a minute!” Rayne exclaimed all of a sudden. She then wiped her tears dry before continuing, “I had people clean up a part of the studio because the renovation work was almost complete, so why were there so many flammable items?”
The looks on everyone’s faces turned gloomy when they heard that.
“But they did find a lot of flammable items at the scene, most of them being fibers of fabric. Did you get the delivery date wrong when placing the order with the supplier?” Victoria asked.
Rayne paused for a few seconds and gave it some thought before replying. “That’s impossible. The supplier would never deliver the goods without my request. More importantly. I have been busy planning the studio’s opening banquet that I didn’t have time to purchase the fabric. Besides, the team in charge of the banquet is still overseas, so they would never deliver the stuff for the banquet before they return.”
Her reply made it obvious that someone set Christina’s studio on fire because they didn’t want it to resume operations.
“Call the supplier and ask if they delivered the goods to the studio,” Nathaniel told Rayne.
“On it!” The latter then whipped out her phone and began calling up the suppliers.
Christina couldn’t think of anyone she had offended lately to the point where they would want to burn her studio to the ground.
After making about fifty calls, Rayne finally found the answer she wanted.
“I’ve got
it! One of the suppliers said someone gave him a call yesterday, ordered a bunch of high-end fabric in our studio’s name, and opted for payment upon delivery. The studio caught fire shortly after the fabric arrived. That supplier is the studio’s business partner, so he delivered the goods without confirming the order with us. He tried to call the number back after hearing about the incident, but the number could no longer be reached,” she exclaimed excitedly.
She then handed Christina the phone as she continued, “This is the phone number that the supplier provided.”
Christina glanced at it and turned toward Lyle, who was standing next to her. “Lyle, get someone to investigate this phone number. Get me information on its user as soon as possible.”
“Understood,” Lyle replied with a nod and left after memorizing the number.
This was the first time Rayne had experienced something this serious, so she felt extremely uneasy and anxious the whole time,
“You should head back and get some rest, Rayne. I can take care of things from here. I’ll let you know if I find anything. Please tell the staff at the studio that we may have to delay its operational date indefinitely. If they are unwilling to wait, then compensate them and have them look for a job elsewhere.”
Rayne couldn’t come up with any better ideas. The staff had been waiting too long to start working. As much as they wanted to work hard alongside Christina, they could only go so long without a paycheck.
Thus, Rayne nodded with reddened eyes. “Understood; I’ll take care of it right away.”
She then left Scenic Garden Manor with a disappointed look on her face. Sebastian and Victoria stuck around for a little while longer before leaving as well.
Christina teared up as she sat on the couch and watched the videos that the netizens had uploaded of the fire.
Nathaniel snatched her phone over and said, “Don’t cry. Christina. I’ll help you get that justice you deserve.”
“Nathaniel. have you realized that things never end well for those who are close to me?” She sobbed.
