Chapter 5 - Out of the Frying Pan
Julian Rossi casually pulled out a gold cigarette case, clicking it open with one thumb. "Put the hard drive on the table, Claire. Let's make this painless."
"You killed my father," I said, my voice steady, though my heart was hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs.
"Your father was a meddlesome old mechanic who couldn't stay retired," Julian sneered, stepping closer. "He stumbled onto an operation that took five years to build. Ethan Carter is an arrogant bastard who thinks loyalty can be bought with blood and discipline. But Victoria? Victoria understands that money is the only god worth worshiping."
"Ethan will hunt you to the ends of the earth," I countered, slowly backing toward the wall behind the heavy steel table.
Julian laughed, a low, rasping sound. "Ethan thinks you ran away because of his pathetic love triangle. He's busy tearing apart the South Side gangs looking for you, completely distracted while we empty his accounts. In forty-eight hours, Carter Enterprises will be bankrupt, his lieutenants will turn on him, and Victoria will walk away with fifty million in clean European bonds. And as for you... Ethan will get your body in a wooden crate to finish him off."
One of Julian's men stepped forward, reaching for my shoulder.
I didn't hesitate. I grabbed the heavy bronze safety deposit tray from the table and slammed the corner directly into his temple. The man grunted and collapsed with a sickening thud.
Before the others could draw their weapons, I hit the red emergency panic button built into the vault wall—a standard bank feature my father had circled in red ink on his blueprint diagram.
Deafening alarms shrieked through the facility. The magnetic locks on the inner gate hummed, beginning their automatic 60-second emergency descent.
"Grab her!" Julian shouted, pulling a silenced pistol from his lapel.
I vaulted over the desk, kicking the heavy steel chair into the second bodyguard's knees. A bullet chipped the concrete wall inches from my ear, spraying pulverized plaster across my cheek. I scrambled beneath the slowly dropping reinforced security gate, sliding across the polished floor just as the iron teeth slammed down with a resounding boom, sealing Julian and his men inside the safety deposit chamber.
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The bank lobby was already in sheer chaos, sirens wailing, patrons screaming, and guards running toward the vault. I sprinted out the emergency exit into the freezing alleyway, my lungs burning, the encrypted drive gripped so hard in my palm that the plastic casing cut into my skin.
I knew there was only one way this ended. I couldn't run anymore. The only person with the firepower to kill Julian Rossi and avenge my father was the husband I had vowed never to see again.
