Chapter 29
No.1
The taxi dropped Elisa off in the subterranean parking garage of the Manhattan penthouse building.
She bypassed the main lobby and walked directly to the private, biometric elevator. She pressed her thumb against the scanner. The light turned green.
She still had access. August, in hisarrogance and distraction, hadn't revoked her security clearance yet.
The elevator doors opened directly into the silent,sprawling penthouse.
The air inside was cold and smelled faintly of chemical cleaners.
Elisa stepped into the foyer.
"Mr. Chambers?" a nervous voice called out.
Brenda the housekeeper stepped out from the main hallway, her face paling when she saw it was Elisa. "Mrs. Chambers," she corrected herself,her hands wringing a dusting cloth. "I wasn't expecting you."
No.2
Elisa noticed the defensive posture immediately,but she didn't care.
"I'm just here to get some remaining paperwork,"Elisa said smoothly, walking past the terrified housekeeper without a second glance.
She walked straight into August's private study.
She closed the heavy door behind her and locked it.
She walked behind the massive mahogany desk and crouched down. She opened the bottom right drawer. Inside was a secondary, hidden biometric safe built directly into the wood.
Elisa placed her thumb on the scanner. It clicked open.
Inside the velvet-lined steel box sat a heavy,solid gold embosser. It was the official Chambers family seal, used only for irrevocable trust transfers and binding family contracts.
Elisa pulled the brown envelope from her bag. She took out the signed document and flipped to the last page.
No.3
She positioned the bottom right corner of the paper-right next to August's wet signature-between the heavy gold plates of the embosser.
She pressed down with both hands.
The metal groaned.
When she released the handle, a perfect,raised,three-dimensional crest of the Chambers family was permanently crushed into the fibers of the paper.
It was the ultimate legal kill shot. No lawyer on earth could argue that a document bearing both his signature and the locked family seal was signed by accident.
Elisa smiled. A cold, terrifying smile.
She put,the seal back, locked the safe, and slid the document into her bag.
She turned to leave the study.
No.4
Suddenly, the heavy front doors of the penthouse banged open.
Elisa stopped dead. She pressed herself against the wall next to the slightly ajar study door,peering through the narrow crack.
August strode into the foyer.
He was carrying Allena in his arms, bridal style.
Allena was wearing a hospital gown covered by August's expensive suit jacket. Her right ankle was wrapped in a thick, white fiberglass cast.
She had her arms wrapped tightly around August's neck,her face buried in his chest.
"I've got you, baby," August murmured, his voice thick with a tender, protective warmth that made Elisa's stomach churn. "You're safe now."
Brenda rushed forward, her hands fluttering nervously.
No.5
"Mr. Chambers!" Brenda gasped, her eyes darting frantically toward the closed study door. "Sir,you're back. Mrs. Chambers was just here to collect some of her remaining personal items. She left only a moment ago."
"The hospital was a circus," August snapped,shifting Allena's weight, his mind clearly elsewhere.
"The paparazzi were everywhere. I'm not letting her recover in a public ward. Did you change the mattress in the master bedroom to the medical-grade memory foam like I asked?"
"Yes, sir," Brenda stammered, sweating profusely.Allena lifted her head from August's chest. She looked around the cold, modern penthouse. A sly,victorious smile touched her lips.
"It's so beautiful, August," Allena whispered,kissing his jaw. "I just wanted to be in our home."
Our home.
Standing in the shadows of the study, Elisa felt a sudden, overwhelming urge to laugh.
This penthouse had been her prison for seven years.It was a sterile museum where she had slowly suffocated under his neglect. And now, this pathetic woman was claiming it as her ultimate prize.
No.6
Elisa looked at the heavy bag slung over her shoulder. She had the only thing of value in this entire cursed building.
She waited until August carried Allena down the hallway and disappeared into the master bedroom.
Elisa slipped out of the study. Her footsteps were completely silent on the hardwood floor.
She walked swiftly toward the front door.
Just as her hand grasped the heavy brass handle,a voice echoed from the hallway.
"August?" Allena called out from the bedroom,her voice suddenly sharp. "Is someone out there? I saw a grey coat."
August's heavy footsteps immediately pounded down the hallway.
Elisa didn't run. She calmly pulled the door open,stepped into the elevator, and hit the lobby button.The penthouse door swung wide open. August stood in the frame, his chest heaving, his eyes scanning the empty foyer.
No.7
He looked at the elevator. The digital display above the doors was dropping rapidly. PH... 40...39...
August stared at the descending numbers.
He knew it was her.
A strange, hollow sensation suddenly expanded in his chest. It felt like the air pressure in the room had dropped.
He had his mistress in his bed. He had his penthouse.He had his power.
But as he watched those numbers drop, he felt an inexplicable, terrifying certainty that he had just lost something massive, something he could never,ever get back.