Chapter 11
No.1
The midnight rain hit the roof of the yellow cab like gravel.
Elisa sat in the back seat. The neon lights of Manhattan bled through the wet window, casting harsh red and blue shadows across her pale face.
She lifted her right arm. The makeshift tourniquet she had tied from her trench coat belt was completely soaked through. Thick, dark blood dripped steadily onto the rubber floor mat.
She grabbed the loose end of the fabric with her teeth. She pulled her head back sharply,using her left hand to yank the knot tighter.
A blinding flash of pain shot up to her shoulder.Her vision went wwhite for a second. She tasted the metallic tang of blood on her tongue, but she didn't make a sound.
The cab slowed to a stop outside the massive glass doors of the penthouse bulding.
The driver looked in the rearview mirror. His eyes widened at the sight of the blood pooling on the seat.
"Ma'am,you need a hospital," the driver said, his voice tight with panic. "I can take you to the ER right now."
Elisa shook her head. Her face was a blank mask.
"No," she said.
She pulled a crumpled fifty-dollar bill from her pocket with her left hand and dropped it onto the center console.
No.2
She pushed the door open, stepping out into the freezing rain. She pulled the collar of her ruined trench coat high around her neck, hiding her face,and walked quickly toward the private entrance.
The biometric scanner at the private elevator glowed red. She pressed her left thumb against the glass.
The light turned green. The heavy steel doors slid open.
The elevator shot up to the top floor. Elisa leaned her uninjured shoulder against the cold metal wall.She focused entirely on the rhythm of her breathing. In, out. Keep the heart rate down. Keep the bleeding slow.
The doors chimed open. She pushed through the heavy oak door of the penthouse.
The apartment was pitch black. The only light came from the city skyline filtering through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows. The silence inside was suffocating.
Elisa didn't reach for the light switch. Seven years of living in this museum of a marriage meant she knew exactly where every piece of furniture was.
She navigated the dark hallway, her bare feet making no sound on the hardwood floor. She
walked straight into the study.
She mayed behind the massive mahogany desk.
Her fingers found the edge of the heavy oil painting on the wall. She pressed the hidden switch.The wall clicked and popped open, revealing the
No.3
steel face of the biometric safe.
Elisa typed in the passcode and leaned forward.The scanner read her iris.
The heavy door swung open.
She reached past the velvet boxes and pulled out a small, unmarked military-grade solid-state drive.
It was heavy. It was cold. It contained the core iteration data of Project Chiron from her days at the MIT media lab. It was the absolute foundation of Faye.4
Elisa unbuttoned the top of her blouse. She slid the cold metal drive directly into her bra, pressing it flat against her ribs.
The weight of it against her skin sent a rush of adrenaline through her veins. The panic that had been sitting in her chest all night finally dissolved.She had her armor back.
She closed the safe. She turned to leave.
A low, deep voice echoed from down the hall.
Elisa's feet cemented to the floor.
It came from the master bedroom. The door was cracked open, spilling a sliver of warm yellow light into the dark corridor.
No.4
She crept forward, pressing her back against the cold wall. She peered through the crack.
August was sitting on the edge of their custom king-sized bed. He was wearing a dark silk robe. He held an iPad in his hands.
The look on his face made Elisa's stomach violently contract.
It was a look of pure, unfiltered tenderness. A look he had never, not once in seven years, directed at her.
On the screen, Allena was lying in a hospital bed.She was wearing a thin silk camisole.①
"The mattress here is so hard, August," Allena whined, her voice dripping with practiced fragility."My back hurts. I can't sleep."
August reached out, his large finger gently tracing the edge of the screen.
"I know, baby," August whispered. "Just make it through the night. I'm sending the private helicopter first thing in the morning. I'm taking you to the Long Island estate to recover."
The words hit Elisa like a physical punch to the gut.The Long Island estate. The absolute inner sanctum of the Chambers family. The place Germaine guarded like a fortress. He was taking his mistress there.
Acid burned the back of Elisa's throat.
Suddenly, a shrill, piercing ringtone shattered the
No.5
silence in the hallway.
Elisa's main phone was ringing in her pocket.
August's voice stopped instantly.
His head snapped toward the bedroom door. The tenderness in his eyes vanished, replaced by the sharp,lethal glare of a predator.
"Who's there?" August barked.
Elisa moved fast. She backed away from the door,pressing herself into the deep shadow of the hallway alcove.
She pulled the phone from her pocket. The caller ID flashed brightly in the dark.
Germaine.
Heavy footsteps approached the bedroom door.August was coming.
Elisa had nowhere to run. Her back hit the plaster wall.
She stared at the screen. She pressed the green answer button and lifted the phone to her ear.
No.6
"Where are you?" Germaine's voice blasted through the speaker, loud and dripping with aristocratic arrogance. "You missed the family trust meeting tonight."
Elisa didn't speak. She watched the bedroom door swing wide open.
August stepped out into the hallway. He saw her standing in the shadows. His eyes dropped to her bleeding arm, then back up to her face. His jaw
locked.
"I don't, care what pathetic excuse you have,"Germaine continued,her voice echoing in the quiet hallway. "You will clear your schedule. You are expected at the emergency board meeting tomorrow morning. The merger with Aethel is inits final stages, and I will not have this family's reputation jeopardized by divorce rumors. Your only job is to stand by your husband's side and smile."
August froze. He stared at Elisa, listening to his mother's voice bleeding from the phone.
"The family requires a united front," Germaine snapped. "That is the primary agenda, and it is the only reason you are still allowed to carry our name.
Do not embarrass me again."
Elisa looked at her husband standing three feet away.
The sheer absurdity of Germaine's demands washed over her. A board meeting. A united front.They were treating her like a corporate asset who had missed a press conference, completely oblivious to the blood dripping onto the floorboards.
She looked at the man who had just promised his mistress the family estate. She felt the cold hard drive pressing against her ribs.
No.7
The last microscopic shred of emotion she held for August Chambers died right there in the dark.
Elisa looked directly into August's eyes.
"I refuse," Elisa said into the phone. Her voice was perfectly steady, devoid of any human warmth."And I want a divorce."
The line went dead silent.
August's pupils dilated. His hand instinctively reached for his cuff, his fingers twisting the cold platinum.
Elisa pulled the phone away from her ear. She pressed the power button, shutting the device down completely.
She looked at August. She didn't see a husband.She didn't even see a man. She saw a piece of furniture she was about to throw away.
August opened his mouth to speak, his face twisting with a mixture of shock and rising rage.
Elisa didn't give him the chance.
She clutched her bleeding arm, turned her back on him,and walked straight to the front door.
She pulled it open and slammed it shut behind her.The heavy wood rattled in its frame.