Chapter 211: Chapter 211: Warren Prescott Loses His Temper
"Cough... help... help... glug glug..."
Ariana Grant’s face was filled with helplessness and despair.
She used all her strength to desperately paddle, trying to keep her head above water to breathe.
But every time her head barely broke the surface, her body would sink again.
However, Jillian Lynch, standing by the poolside, displayed a cold smirk.
"Can’t swim, huh? Perfect! Drink some more water, and when you’ve had a good reflection underwater, I’ll come down to rescue you."
Soon, Ariana’s arms gradually lost strength, her legs couldn’t kick, and her body slowly sank toward the bottom of the pool.
The breath of death drew closer, and with her last ounce of strength, Ariana screamed, "Help!"
The next moment, her head was completely submerged in the pool, and her vision and consciousness became blurred.
Jillian still stood leisurely by the poolside, silently counting, managing the time.
When she learned to swim, her coach once told her how long it would take for someone to drown.
As long as she pulled the person up within that time, there would be no casualties, but she thought this fat lady would remember the fear of near-drowning every time she saw her in the future.
However, the next second, urgent footsteps suddenly came from behind.
She only felt a heavy hit on her left shoulder, nearly stumbling into the pool herself.
When Jillian regained her balance, she heard a "bang," and saw Ashley Shaw, who had appeared out of nowhere, leap into the pool.
After chatting with Warren Prescott outside, Ashley searched for Ariana Grant in the living room and learned from Mrs. Chase that she had gone to the pool.
A sinking feeling immediately arose in Ashley’s heart.
She remembered Jillian Lynch also went to the pool, and now Ariana was there too.
She knew Ariana’s personality too well; whenever Jillian mentioned anything about her, Ariana couldn’t swallow it.
So, whether it was intuition or reasoning from their personalities, she had a gut feeling that something had happened to Ariana.
After speaking to Mrs. Chase, she immediately ran to the pool, leaving Mrs. Chase flustered.
"What’s happened?"
She was about to follow when she saw Warren Prescott enter and quickly recounted Ashley Shaw’s frantic reaction.
Warren’s face darkened slightly, and he rushed to the pool as well.
Mrs. Chase was even more shocked, hurriedly sending someone upstairs to call Claudia Jennings and also chasing after them.
When Ashley Shaw reached the glass doors connecting the pool to the corridor, she heard Ariana Grant’s cry for help.
Instantly, only the thought of "save her" filled her mind.
Rosalind Lynch happened to be blocking the poolside, and Ashley shoved her aside, seeing Ariana Grant slowly sinking to the bottom of the clear pool.
She immediately jumped in, swiftly swimming to Ariana’s sinking spot, dove under, and struggled to pull Ariana up.
Ariana was not yet fully unconscious.
When she felt someone grab her, her first reaction was to cling tightly to them.
Her arms wrapped around them entirely, and her legs gripped Ashley Shaw’s lower body firmly.
It was all due to a drowning person’s survival instinct, beyond Ariana’s own control.
Ashley had originally been using one hand to pull Ariana while struggling to swim upwards with the other, but now that Ariana clung to her like an octopus, she couldn’t rise.
The two had barely swum upwards before they began sinking back to the pool’s bottom.
"Glug glug... Ariana... it’s me... let go..."
Ashley struggled to speak in the water while trying desperately to free herself.
But no matter how hard Ashley tried, she couldn’t break free from Ariana’s grip and legs.
Weighing under a hundred pounds at 1.66 meters tall, she was no match for someone weighing one hundred eighty pounds.
Especially in the water.
The pool was marked at two meters deep, but its actual depth was undoubtedly more.
If this continued, both their lives would be lost here.
This can’t go on!
Gritting her teeth, Ashley desperately bit down on Ariana’s shoulder.
This seemed to work as Ariana’s limbs loosened a bit.
Ashley seized the chance to break free, moving behind Ariana, wrapping her arm under Ariana’s armpit, and swimming towards the surface with all her strength.
But she overestimated her ability.
She had already spent eighty percent of her strength trying to escape from Ariana’s grip, and her remaining strength and air capacity reached their limit.
Seeing the two of them nearing the surface, her stamina was exhausted.
Damn it!
Internally cursing, Ashley was about to muster all her remaining energy to swim up when a shadow suddenly dove into the water.
She felt a strong hand grip her waist, pulling her and Ariana towards the surface.
The person was immensely powerful, and soon, the three of them rose to the surface.
"Gasp..."
Ashley took deep breaths, turning her head, bumping her forehead against the rescuer’s chin.
"Hiss—"
The person winced, furrowing his handsome brows in pain.
Ashley also saw who their rescuer was.
It was Warren Prescott.
Warren could only catch faint whiffs of a fragrance from Ashley, seemingly a mix of body wash and shampoo.
It was pleasant, not overpowering, and somehow soothing.
And on his arm was the warm temperature of Ashley’s body.
Her waist was soft and slender, almost too fragile, as if a little force could break it.
Unbidden, he remembered the lewd jokes his friends would make at gatherings.
His throat unconsciously tightened.
But Warren soon snapped back to reality, his rational mind returning, followed closely by burgeoning anger.
God knows how fast his heart had been pounding when he saw Ashley and Ariana sinking to the bottom of the pool from the edge.
Moreover, he had this bizarre sensation.
As if he had experienced it before.
But it was impossible; he had never felt such terror before.
The only time was during his grandfather’s illness.
But that feeling was completely different.
Warren steadied himself, speaking with a dark expression, "Do you not know you can’t approach a drowning person from the front? Do you want to drown yourself?"
Warren’s demeanor was fierce, his black eyes seemed to burn with fire, yet his voice was as cold as ice.
Ashley had no recollection of Warren ever looking like this, not even when he despised her in their past life.
She was instantly startled, instinctively explaining, "I... I didn’t think about it at that time..."
At that moment, her mind only had the thought of "rescue."
Approaching Ariana, her first reaction was to pull her up; inexperienced in such matters, how could one think so rationally?
Warren regarded her impassively, saying nothing, but the silent pressure in his intense gaze was enough to make Ashley tremble in fear.