Chapter 4 - The Boardroom Ambush
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The LED turned solid green. I ripped the thumb drive from the port, shoved the external drive back into the safe, and slammed the steel door shut just as Daniel reached the top of the stairs.
I didn't have time to replace the rug. I slipped into the shadows behind the tall mahogany bookcase just as the study doors swung open with violent force.
Daniel stood in the doorway, breathing heavily. His hair was disheveled, his eyes wild and bloodshot. In his right hand, he clutched a leather portfolio.
“Claire!” he snarled, flicking on the overhead lights.
He marched straight to his desk, slamming the portfolio down. He didn't look at the floor safe. He ripped open his desk drawer, muttering curses under his breath, frantically searching for something. “Stupid old bastard... thinks he can humiliate me in front of the press? I built this damn city!”
He pulled out a satellite phone, dialed a number, and pressed it to his ear.
“Vanessa? Pack your bags. We’re moving the timeline up,” Daniel barked into the receiver. “Ashford knows. Someone leaked the trust schedules. I don’t care how—Claire was talking to Vance before the speeches. We execute the board vote tomorrow morning at nine. The medical declaration doesn’t need Kaufman; I’ve got Sterling from the state board on retainer. He’ll sign off on the emergency conservatorship if I wire the remaining balance to his Zurich account tonight.”
He paused, listening, then let out a cruel, barking laugh. “Let her cry to the newspapers. By noon tomorrow, her name won't be on a single deed in this state. She’ll be strapped to a bed at Clearview, and I’ll be running the entire Ashford trust.”
He turned abruptly, his shoe catching the bunched edge of the Persian rug.
He froze.
Daniel slowly looked down. The rug was crooked. The floorboards around the safe had fresh scuff marks from my knees.
Slowly, Daniel reached into his jacket pocket. His hand re-emerged holding a small, silver pocketknife, flicking open the three-inch blade with a sinister click.
“Claire?” he whispered, his voice dropping into a terrifyingly soft, sing-song cadence. “Come out, sweetheart. You’re not in trouble. Just give me whatever you took from the safe, and we can talk about this like civilized people.”
He began walking toward the bookcase, his footsteps slow and deliberate.
My back was pressed flat against the drywall. My fingernails dug into the palms of my hands until I tasted copper on my lip. There was nowhere to run. The only exit was the door behind him.
Three feet away. Two feet away.
Suddenly, the house’s security alarm shrieked to life—a deafening, high-pitched wail that shattered the tension like a hammer through glass. Strobe lights began flashing red through the second-floor windows.
Daniel cursed violently, spinning around toward the hallway. “What the hell did you trip?!”
Taking advantage of the split second his back was turned, I bolted from behind the bookcase. Daniel lunged, his hand grabbing the silk sleeve of my evening gown. Fabric tore with a sickening rip, but I drove the sharp heel I was carrying like a weapon directly into the arch of his foot.
Daniel screamed in agony, collapsing to one knee.
I didn't look back. I sprinted down the back servants' stairs, burst through the kitchen pantry, and hit the cold night air just as two black SUVs screeched to a halt at the edge of the lawn.
Julian Vance stepped out of the front passenger seat, flanked by two private security officers in tactical gear.
“Are you hurt?” Julian demanded, catching me as I stumbled on the wet grass.
“I have the drive,” I gasped, holding up the tiny piece of silver metal. “He’s holding an emergency board meeting tomorrow at nine to execute the forged conservatorship. He has another doctor—someone named Sterling.”
Julian looked up toward the second-floor balcony, where Daniel was now standing, holding his bleeding foot, his face illuminated by the flashing red alarm lights like a demon peering over the ramparts of hell.
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“Sterling is a lightweight,” Julian said coldly, his voice steady and deadly calm. “Let him call his meeting. Tomorrow morning, Claire, we aren't just defending your father's company. We are taking Daniel’s entire empire apart, brick by brick.”
***
