The Billionaire's Rental Wife Is A Hot Shot

Evelyn was quickly moved back to Vespera, with Rita following right behind her. The crowd at the airport was large, even larger than even a celebrity would attract for their arrival.

The police officers rushed forward to form a barrier around Evelyn and Rita. One of the chiefs stepped forward to thank the officers from Montedoro City.

"We will take care from here! Thanks for your help!" the middle-aged chief greeted them, his expression grim as they neared the exit gate. The crowd was vast, and even with a team of twenty trained officers, it looked like the culprit might face severe, rage-filled reactions.

Matteo’s face paled as he saw the crowd barking like dogs. Officers and large metal gates blocked them, which he assumed was arranged by Zevian since no culprit would be welcomed with such protection. He glared at Rita behind him—he’d accompanied them specifically because of this reckless raccoon, also his ex. She had been through enough trouble already and he didn’t want her breaking records in a foreign city, too.

"We’ll follow you to the station," Matteo replied in English, his accent making Rita stifle a chuckle. It was always amusing to hear him speak in other languages, and though the situation wasn’t ideal, she couldn’t miss the chance to laugh in his face. After all, he deserved it for dumping her.

Dravin gladly accepted the offer with a nod. With ten more officers, they could shield Mrs. Reign; there had been strict warnings from the heads of their department to bring her safely. She was treasured by two prominent figures in their city: politician Theodore Cartwell and the formidable past ruler of the construction industry, Jonathan Reign. And then there was the ruthless rising prince, Zevian Reign, who could sue all of them if his darling wife wasn’t well protected.

The officers quickly circled around Evelyn, guiding her toward the airport exit. Rita held onto her Madam’s shoulders, one arm protecting her at the front so she wouldn’t get squeezed in the mess.

Evelyn’s heart climbed into her throat as they walked through the glass doors. People cursed, screamed, and wailed for the dead daughter of the Wright family—who in fact had never existed. She couldn’t understand why no one had told William, not even Eli. If he’d been informed, she would have received a call telling her not to worry. Or was she expecting too much from him again? After all, she still wasn’t his real daughter.

"You should die, bitch!" someone shouted from the crowd, and Evelyn recognized the voice. It was all too familiar, a refrain she’d heard since Gracia’s death.

The man had cornered her, nearly killing her, at Gracia’s funeral when she was barely six. Luckily, her grandmother hadn’t completely ignored her, unlike everyone else that day, and her bodyguards had come to the rescue. But the man had continued to hurl abuse at every chance he got, though he was old enough to retire now. Evelyn recalled he was also at AWE’s anniversary party. She couldn’t decide if he worshipped her mother that much or was just another puppet under Sophia’s control all these years.

"Yes! We should bury her alive!" the crowd continued, their voices seething as she was escorted toward the police van.

"Can’t you escort her in a car?" Rita grumbled, shielding Evelyn on both sides.

"It’s much safer!" Matteo replied in Italian, eyeing the crowd now breaking the metal barricades. "Let’s hurry!" he demanded, feeling they could cross it any second.

Dravin nodded, urging his team forward toward the van. No one noticed that someone had already started pouring fuel on one of the vans, ready to ignite it and create more chaos.

Evelyn clutched her shoulders tightly as they pushed her toward the van, each step more frightening. Her fear grew when one of the barricades broke and the crowd surged toward them.

"Damn it!" Rita cursed in Italian, positioning herself in front of Evelyn, ready to take whatever came her way.

Matteo and his team scrambled to defend against the attackers while Dravin tried to escort Evelyn quickly.

Out of nowhere, gunshots sounded in the sky, the sudden noise unsettling the guards, who struggled to hold the barricades—the crowd—over a hundred people armed with all kinds of trash—charged at them.

Evelyn instinctively pulled back, her heart racing with panic. Rita was also pushed back, the officers doing their best to shield her.

"Move her to the van quickly!" Dravin shouted at the top of his lungs, using his glass shield to block a black paint attack. They hurried Evelyn to the van, which was only a few meters away.

Unfortunately, the crowd chased after them, and as soon as Evelyn entered the van, they began trying to infiltrate it.

"We can’t hold them!" one of Matteo’s comrades grumbled, overwhelmed by the attackers. It felt as if most were hired to cause mayhem tonight, and no one was stopping them.

"Where’s the driver?" Dravin grumbled as they got into the van, only to find the driver’s seat empty. It seemed the crowd had tried to attack him, forcing him to flee.

"Go find him!" he growled at his team, pushing Evelyn and Rita inside. He locked the doors, and they circled the van, shielding it with their glass barriers.

Evelyn looked around, shivers running through her body as every word, scream, and cry pierced her. Her heart pounded in terror, cold sweat forming on her forehead from the mess she was in, a mess she was indirectly responsible for.

"Ma’am! Scoot over!" Rita ordered, quickly bending Evelyn down. She held her tightly, using the glass shield she’d grabbed from an officer. The van was struck with everything from stones to rotten eggs, slippers, even black paint, and smoke.

"How can they hate her so much?" Rita wondered, hugging Evelyn tightly, who had suddenly gone limp. It seemed one of her darkest traumas was resurfacing, so she rubbed Evelyn’s shoulder, trying to keep her conscious.

One of the cars was set ablaze by the crowd, throwing the officers into a frenzy. The fire spread to a nearby car, redirecting much of the officers’ attention.

Dravin instructed his team to move her and deal with it, calling for fire engines. Amid the chaos, he didn’t notice a man pouring fuel at the back of the van.

Luckily, Matteo, not far away, saw it and screamed, "Stop him!"

His team, fending off the mob, turned at his shout. Their eyes widened in shock as they saw the man dousing the van in diesel. It was the same man who had fueled the crowd’s anger with his earlier taunts.

Matteo kicked an attacker in the groin and punched another out of his way, glaring at two others who immediately backed off. He rushed toward the van, determined to reach the reckless raccoon who’d gotten herself into big trouble.

Two of his comrades grabbed the man and pulled him away from the van. Diesel had only spread around the back, but if someone set it on fire, the van would explode in minutes.

Matteo punched the old man, who whined and cried. His friend knocked him out, then snatched the can from his hand.

They were too focused on the van to notice a woman nearby. Pushing through the crowd, she approached the van, pulling out her lighter.

"To Gracia and her darling daughter," she murmured, tears of anger in her eyes. She clicked the lighter and tossed it.

Matteo and his team jumped back as a huge fire ignited. It spread slowly at first, then began crawling up the van’s backside, catching alight.

Smoke and screams filled the air as the van’s rear blazed. Matteo’s eyes widened in horror while Rita inside immediately pushed Evelyn toward the front, away from the fire.

Matteo quickly called out to Dravin and the native other officers. "Get the fire extinguishers! Hurry!" he yelled, waving his arms frantically toward the officers scrambling to douse the blazing cars.

Spotting the urgency, the officers grabbed the extinguishers and rushed over with fire pumps, spraying water and foam toward the van’s rear, but the flames grew fierce, stubbornly feeding off the fuel-soaked metal, crawling more into the van’s middle parts. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

The mob pressed closer, murmuring in both unease and shock as they watched the flames claw up the van.

One of them pointed at the front of the van and gasped out loud! "Look! She’s dying inside!"

The murmurs spread through the crowd faster than the fire on the van, horror dawning on their faces as they caught sight of Evelyn and Rita inside, hugging each other tightly as they stumbled back, caught in the thickening smoke. Everything became blur and hazy as they moved further away from the spot, trying to escape the overwhelming heat.

The heat intensified and flames crawled further, and just as a final desperate attempt was made to pry open the van door that was close to the front end, a gust of fire surged inside, breaking free through the glass on the back end. In a single, terrifying moment, the van gave a violent shudder, and the officers jumped back to save themselves.

Boom!

Suddenly, the medium-sized van erupted in a blinding flash, blasting like a nuclear bomb, deaf-silencing the crowd. They felt bad for the poor woman who died along with Evelyn inside.