Chapter 39
No.1
Elisa stepped out of the Chambers Group building.
The sky had completely broken open. A torrential,violent Manhattan downpour was lashing the streets.The wind howled through the concrete canyons,driving the rain sideways in heavy, stinging sheets.
She immediately unbuttoned her suit jacket and wrapped it tightly around the wooden music box,shielding it from the water.
She ran toward the corner where she had parked her rented, inconspicuous sedan.⑤
She pulled the door open, slid into the driver's seat,and slammed the door shut. She was already shivering. The rain had soaked through her silk blouse in seconds.
She placed the music box carefully on the passenger seat.She reached for the ignition button and pressed it.
The engine turned over once, sputtered weakly, and
died. A series of warning lights flashed across the dashboard before going dark. She tried again.Nothing. The cheap rental's electronics had been flooded by the sheer volume of water.
Just as a curse formed on her lips, a massive,shadow-like vehicle glided through the sheets of rain and stopped directly beside her driver's side door,its engine a low, powerful hum. Its sleek black chassis blocked her in completely.
It was a black Maybach 62S.
The driver's side door of the Maybach opened. Mick,August's massive personal driver, stepped out into the freezing rain. He walked over to her rented sedan and rapped his knuckles hard against her window.Elisa cracked it open an inch. 'Mr. Chambers demands a word, Ms. Wilder,' Mick said, his tone leaving no room for negotiation. 'He said to get in his car,now.
No.2
The rear passenger window slowly hummed down.
August was sitting in the back seat. The interior of the car was bathed in soft, warm amber light. He looked dry, comfortable, and utterly powerful.
He looked at Elisa sitting in her dark, dead car.
"Car trouble?" August asked, his voice carrying over the sound of the rain. It wasn't a question of concern;it was a statement of superiority.
Elisa didn't answer. She just stared at him through the rain-streaked glass.
August sighed, a heavy, exaggerated sound of inconvenience.
"Get in," August commanded. "I have a meeting in Midtown. Mick can drop you off on the way.I don't have time to read about you getting pneumonia in tomorrow's papers. Move."
Elisa looked at the torrential rain. She looked at the fragile wooden box on the seat next to her. If she tried to walk to a subway station, the box would be ruined. Her own car was a metal coffin.
She gritted her teeth, grabbed her bag and the music box, and pushed her car door open.
She dashed through the rain and slid into the back seat of the Maybach.
The heavy door closed with a solid, vault-like thud,
No.3
instantly cutting off the roar of the storm.
The interior of the Maybach smelled of rich leather and August's cologne. The climate control was blowing warm, dry air.
Elisa sat as far away from August as physically possible, pressing herself against the opposite door.She kept her arms wrapped tightly around the music box.
August didn't look at her. He was staring at a tablet,reading a financial report.
The car pulled away from the curb, merging smoothly into the chaotic traffic. The silence in the cabin was thick and oppressive.
They drove for ten minutes, heading north on the elevated FDR Drive. The East River beside them was a churning, black mass under the storm.
Suddenly, the silence was shattered by a sharp,melodic ringtone.
It came from August's private phone, resting on the center console.
Elisa glanced at the screen. The caller ID read:
Allena.
August immediately dropped his tablet. He snatched the phone and answered it.
No.4
"Allena? Baby, what's wrong?" August's voice instantly transformed. The cold, arrogant billionaire vanished, replaced by a frantic, deeply concerned protector.
Elisa turned her head away, staring out the rain-lashed window, feeling a familiar wave of disgust.
"August!" Allena's voice echoed through the phone's speaker, high-pitched and hysterical. "August, I'm so scared! The power just flickered in the apartment!There was a huge crack of thunder, and I jumped,and I tripped over the rug!"
August's posture went completely rigid. "Did you hurt your ankle? Are you bleeding?"
"It hurts so much!" Allena sobbed loudly. "I can't put any weight on it! I'm on the floor in the dark! Please come home! Please!"
"Don't move," August ordered, his voice trembling with genuine panic. "Do not try to stand up. I am on
my way. I'll be there in ten minutes."
He hung up the phone.
He leaned forward and slammed his hand against the glass partition separating the back from the driver.
"Mick!" August roared. "Turn around! Get to the Central Park South apartment right now! Use the sirens if you have to!"
The driver, Mick, glanced nervously in the rearview mirror.
No.5
"Sir," Mick said hesitantly. "We are on the FDR elevated section. The next exit is two miles away.And... Ms. Wilder is still in the car."
August froze.
He slowly turned his head and looked at Elisa.
His eyes were wild, completely consumed by the image of Allena lying injured in the dark. He looked at Elisa not as a person, but as an obstacle. A piece of dead weight slowing him down.
"Pull over," August commanded the driver. His voice was dead, devoid of any human empathy.
Mick looked shocked. "Sir? Here? On the highway? In this storm?"
"I said pull the goddamn car over!" August screamed.
The Maybach swerved toward the narrow shoulder of the elevated highway, the tires splashing violently through deep puddles. The car jerked to a halt.
August turned to Elisa. He pointed a shaking finger at the door.
"Get out," August snarled.
Elisa stared at him. She looked out the window. They were on a concrete bridge, suspended over the black river. There were no sidewalks. There were no buildings. Just roaring traffic and a torrential,freezing downpour.
No.6
"You are going to leave me on the side of a highway in a hurricane," Elisa said, her voice eerily calm,"because your mistress is afraid of the dark?"
"She is injured!" August yelled, his face red with panic. "I don't have time to detour for you! Get out of my car!"
Elisa looked into his eyes. She searched for a single shred of hesitation, a single ounce of basic human decency.
There was nothing. He was completely, utterly hollow.
Elisa didn't argue.She didn't plead.
She pulled her suit jacket tighter around the music box. She reached out and pulled the chrome door handle.
She pushed the heavy door open.
The wind instantly ripped the door out of her hand,throwing it wide open. The freezing rain blasted into the luxurious cabin, soaking August's expensive leather seats.
Elisa stepped out into the storm.
Her feet plunged ankle-deep into a freezing puddle of oily water. The cold was absolute and immediate.
She turned back. She looked at August sitting in the dry,warm car.
No.7
She didn't say a word. She grabbed the edge of the
door and slammed it shut with all her strength.
The sound of the closing door was swallowed by the thunder.
The Maybach's engine roared. The massive tires spun in the water, spraying a wave of filthy street runoff over Elisa's legs. The car shot forward, its red taillights quickly disappearing into the grey wall of rain.
Elisa was left standing completely alone on the narrow concrete shoulder.
The wind howled around her, tearing at her clothes.The rain battered her face like tiny shards of glass.Cars flew past her at sixty miles an hour, their tires kicking up massive waves of water that soaked her to the bone.
She hugged the music box to her chest, bowed her head against the storm, and began to walk.⑤