Chapter 6 - THE TENTH FLOOR
The armored SUV tore through the slick, rain-swept streets of New York City like a battering ram, running every red light. Elena gripped the door handle so tightly her knuckles were white, her eyes locked on the looming skyline.
"He’s panicking," Marcus said, his voice a low, dangerous growl. He expertly whipped the heavy vehicle around a stalled taxi. "He realized his phone was missing. He knows his entire empire is on that device."
"He has my son, Marcus," Elena sobbed, the sheer terror threatening to completely consume her. She could survive a fire. She could survive the freezing ocean. But the thought of Julian’s hands on Leo made her physically nauseous.
"He is not going to hurt them," Marcus swore, his jaw set like granite. "I will kill him with my bare hands before I let him touch your boy."
They skidded to a violent halt directly in front of the St. Jude Rehabilitation Center. The glass doors of the lobby were shattered. Two of Marcus’s private security guards were bleeding on the pavement, surrounded by paramedics.
Marcus threw the SUV into park and grabbed a heavy, metal tire iron from the backseat floorboard. He looked at Elena.
"Stay behind me," he ordered.
They ran into the lobby. The power had been cut. Emergency red lighting bathed the hallways in a sinister, bloody glow. The elevators were dead.
"The roof," Elena gasped, pointing toward the emergency stairwell. "Ten flights up."
They hit the stairs running. Elena’s lungs burned, her waterlogged clothes dragging her down, but adrenaline fueled her every step. Fourth floor. Sixth floor. Eighth floor.
When they burst through the heavy steel doors onto the hospital roof, the storm hit them full force. The wind was howling, whipping the freezing rain sideways.
At the far edge of the roof, standing dangerously close to the ten-story drop, stood Julian Thorne.
He was holding a sleek, black semi-automatic pistol, pointed directly at Chloe.
Chloe was on her knees in the puddles, her hands zip-tied behind her back, her face bruised and terrified. She was sobbing hysterically, screaming for her father.
And parked right beside the absolute edge of the roof, teetering inches from the drop, was Leo’s wheelchair.
Leo was gripping the armrests, his face pale as a ghost, staring down into the dizzying abyss of the city streets below.
"Mom!" Leo screamed over the wind when he saw Elena.
"Step away from my son!" Elena shrieked, charging forward.
BANG.
Julian fired a warning shot directly into the gravel roofing right at Elena’s feet. She screamed, freezing in her tracks.
Marcus stepped directly in front of Elena, shielding her with his body. He gripped the tire iron, his eyes locked on Julian with a murderous intensity.
"It’s over, Julian," Marcus bellowed over the storm. "I have the phone. I have the contracts. The police are already on their way."
Julian laughed, a cold, unhinged sound that sent chills down Elena’s spine. The pristine, polished CEO was gone. His suit was soaked, his hair plastered to his forehead, his eyes wild with desperate madness.
"You think you’ve won, old man?" Julian sneered, waving the gun between Chloe and Leo. "You have nothing. Hand over the phone, Marcus, and sign the transfer documents, or I push the cripple over the edge right now."
Julian placed his left hand on the back of Leo’s wheelchair, pushing it an inch forward. The front wheels dangled precariously over the ten-story drop.
Leo screamed, squeezing his eyes shut.
"Stop!" Elena begged, dropping to her knees on the wet roof. "Please! Take my life! Do whatever you want to me, but please, don't hurt my baby!"
Chloe looked up through the rain, her mascara running down her bruised face. She looked at Elena, the valet she had slapped only hours ago. She saw the absolute, agonizing love of a mother willing to die for her child.
Something broke inside Chloe Vance. The spoiled, arrogant heiress shattered, replaced by a fierce, undeniable guilt.
"Leave him alone!" Chloe screamed at Julian.
Before Julian could react, Chloe pushed herself up off her knees. With her hands still zip-tied behind her back, she threw her entire body weight directly into Julian’s legs.
Julian stumbled backward, completely caught off guard. He slipped on the slick roofing gravel.
"You bitch!" Julian roared, regaining his balance and leveling the gun directly at Chloe’s chest.
"Chloe, NO!" Marcus screamed, lunging forward.
But as Julian stumbled, his hand slipped off Leo’s wheelchair.
The heavy chair shifted on the uneven gravel. Slowly, agonizingly, it began to roll forward. Toward the edge.
Elena didn't think. She didn't breathe. She exploded off the ground, diving across the wet roof as the wheelchair tipped over the concrete ledge.
She slammed into the edge of the building, reaching her blistered, bleeding hands out into the empty air, desperately grabbing for anything.
Her fingers caught the heavy metal crossbar of the wheelchair just as the chair plummeted over the side.
The agonizing weight nearly ripped Elena’s arms from their sockets. She screamed in pure agony, her torso dragging over the rough concrete edge.
Dangling ten stories above the pavement, suspended only by his mother’s bleeding hands, Leo looked up, his eyes wide with absolute terror.
"Mom!" he cried.
Elena’s muscles screamed. Her grip was slipping. The rain made the metal slick.
May you like
"I've got you!" Elena shrieked, tears pouring down her face. "I'm not letting you go!"
Behind her, the sharp, deafening crack of a gunshot ripped through the storm.
