Chapter 2 The Fire

My descent into hell began after I married Flora.

After I started my new job as a hotel inspector, I completed every task assigned to me.

As expected, my parents were finally pleased with my existence.

One evening, I was in the middle of writing up my report for a hotel I had just inspected.

Richard had a grin on his face as he sauntered into my room.

He placed a gift box on my desk. "I haven't congratulated you on joining a great company, have I? Here's a gift to celebrate your new job. I hope everything goes well."

I peeked into the box and found a bottle of perfume inside. This was the perfume that was found to cause the consumers to faint in my last life.

I looked at him with a bland smile on my lips. "Thanks, Richard. I'll put it to good use."

He smirked in barely concealed contempt before leaving my room.

As I watched him strut away, I was suddenly hit with an epiphany. I now knew why he gave me the perfume.

That fire will be happening in two days.

When I checked in, I swiftly approached the hotel manager.

"Excuse me, but I smelled something burning in my room. Can you get a technician to check it out?"

The manager knew this would be a major safety hazard if left unchecked, so he didn't dare dally.

After a quick inspection of the room, the technician found that the wiring of the air conditioning unit had aged badly.

He gasped in shock. "How did it get this bad? Thank God, we found out before it got worse. It's the height of summer right now. The air conditioner would be blasting 24/7! There's a high chance that a fire would spread!"

Everyone gasped in horror upon hearing his words.

Soon, the news reached Jenna Close, the hotel's owner.

Jenna was a famous entrepreneur in the city. At the beginning of her career, she made it big through real estate. Then, she struck gold by riding the coattails of the new wave of media boom.

She was a woman of extraordinary judgment and had more than enough ambition to spare. As a result, she soon became one of the top three richest individuals in the nation.

She knew that something was off. So, she looked into it and discovered that her competitor was behind the faulty wiring incident.

Apparently, the competitor knew that she was busy setting up the company's new project's funding. Therefore, they wanted to use this opportunity to ruin her hotel's reputation by creating an incident through damaged wiring.

When Jenna knew the truth, she immediately mailed all the evidence to her lawyer. That competitor would find it hard to escape the jaws of the law.

Jenna called out to me just as I was about to return to my room.

"Mr. Lane, you have no idea how thankful I am. I'm staying in the presidential suite just above yours. If you hadn't noticed that something was off, my hotel wouldn't be the only thing up in flames. Heck, I might have perished in that fire as well!"

I was taken aback by her words and the bitter smile on her face. Still, her words of gratitude managed to remind me that there was indeed a female entrepreneur who was injured in the fire in my last life.

I was pleasantly surprised. After all, I never imagined that I'd be able to save another person's life when I was so focused on saving my own.

I smiled at her, but did not seize the chance to ask for more. "You're too kind, Ms. Close. I'm glad you're alright. Your hotels are among the best in the industry. I'm honored to have helped you."

Jenna gazed at me with eyes full of gratitude and a trace of admiration.

She was about to say something else when she was interrupted by a rude voice coming from behind us.

"Why are you still okay, Hank?" Richard gaped at me.

However, he soon snapped back to his senses.

Richard glanced at Jenna, who was standing beside me, and swiftly donned a face of concern. "Hank, I heard something went wrong at the hotel. I was so worried! Are you okay?"

Jenna scrutinized him for a few seconds before saying lightly, "He's fine. It's fortunate that he was here today. I have yet to properly thank him."

His face twisted into an ugly scowl, but he swiftly tried to turn it upside down as he did his best to mask the jealous glint of his eyes. "I've long heard of you, Ms. Close. I'm Hank's younger brother, Richard. I'll be celebrating my birthday in a few days.

"Would you be available, then?"

Jenna glanced at me before nodding.

Since the wiring in the hotel had been repaired, Jenna left after exchanging a few more pleasantries. After all, the life of a successful entrepreneur was never an idle one.