Chapter 3 - The Ghost of Father’s Mercy
The door creaked as Julian threw his weight against it a second time. Elena did not hesitate. Dropping to her knees, she kicked aside the heavy antique rug near the French windows, revealing the flat steel plate of an old floor safe installed by her father when the penthouse was built thirty years ago. Julian had never known it existed; he had always dismissed her father’s architectural blueprints as archaic eccentricities.
Her fingers flew over the dial, entering her father’s birthdate. The mechanical latch clicked open with an oiled smoothness. Inside lay a leather pouch containing two foreign passports, fifty thousand dollars in bundled cash, and a set of keys bearing a rusted iron tag marked Docks - Berth 14.
""Elena! Unlock this damn door!"" Julian’s roar shook the walls as the splintered latch finally snapped.
Elena scooped the pouch into her purse, swept Maya into her arms, and backed toward the terrace doors. It was a torrential night; rain lashed against the exterior glass in furious sheets, obscuring the glittering skyline of the city below. The service staircase on the terrace led straight down to the freight elevator, bypassing the front foyer entirely.
Just as the mahogany door burst inward and Julian stepped through the wreckage, his eyes ablaze with murderous fury, Elena shoved the glass sliding doors open. The autumn gale whipped into the study, scattering papers across the room like a blizzard of damning secrets.
""You step onto that wet terrace in that dress, Elena, and you'll slip right over the edge,"" Julian warned, holding his hands up deceptively as he took a cautious step forward. ""Give me Maya. We can forget tonight happened. I'll send Victoria to a hotel.""
May you like
Behind Julian, Victoria appeared in the ruined doorway, wrapped in her champagne silk robe, her cruel smile vanished, replaced by an expression of sharp panic. ""Julian, check your phone! The main accounts are freezing! Someone is pulling the capital right now!""
Elena met Julian’s gaze with unflinching defiance. ""It wasn't me, Julian. But whoever it is, they know what you did."" With that, she stepped out into the pouring rain and vanished down the iron stairs into the dark abyss of the storm.
