Chapter 6 - THE FINAL STAND AT THE PENTHOUSEPain split through my side as I twisted out of the way, my healing ribs screaming in agony.
The knife slashed through the sleeve of my coat, missing my arm by inches.
“You’re crazy, Chloe!” I shouted, stumbling back against the marble kitchen island.
“I’m protecting my family!” she shrieked, lunging at me again with wild, erratic strikes.
I grabbed a heavy crystal decanter from the counter and swung it with all the strength left in my body.
CRASH!
The decanter shattered against her forearm. Chloe screamed, dropping the knife onto the polished floor. It skidded under the couch.
She stumbled backward, clutching her bleeding arm, her vanity collapsing into raw, animalistic fury. She charged at me, tackling me around the waist.
We hit the floor hard. The impact sent a blinding flash of white pain through my fractured ribs. I gasped for air, unable to breathe as Chloe mounted me, her hands wrapping tightly around my throat.
“Die!” she choked out, her face twisted in madness. “Just die already!”
My vision began to spot with black dots. My lungs burned for oxygen. The memory of lying on the kitchen floor while Ethan laughed in the next room flashed before my eyes.
Not again, my mind screamed. Never again!
With a desperate surge of adrenaline, I slammed my knee upward into her back, breaking her balance. As she loosened her grip, I slammed my palm upward into her nose.
Bone cracked. Chloe howled in pain, clutching her bloodied face as she tumbled off me.
I scrambled to my feet, gasping heavily, coughing as air rushed back into my lungs.
Chloe was groveling on the floor, weeping hysterically, blood dripping onto her pristine white carpet.
“You... you broke my nose!” she sobbed, looking at her blood-stained hands in absolute horror.
I didn’t answer. I walked over to the edge of the balcony where the velvet box lay dropped. I picked it up, opened it, and saw my mother’s diamond necklace gleaming safely inside.
I closed the box, sliding it securely into my pocket.
“You’re a monster, Elena!” Chloe wailed, pulling herself up against the couch. “You destroyed us!”
“No, Chloe,” I said, wiping a streak of blood from my lip. “You destroyed yourselves the moment you decided human beings were disposable.”
At that moment, the front door was kicked off its hinges with a deafening bang.
“Police! Federal agents! Don’t move!”
Detective Vance and four armed officers poured into the penthouse, weapons raised. Behind them came a team of cyber-forensics specialists.
Chloe gasped, looking around in utter confusion. “How... how did you call them? You didn’t use your phone!”
I reached down to my blazer lapel and unpinned a small, silver broach. A tiny red light was flashing on the side.
“I didn’t call them when I arrived,” I said calmly. “I walked in here wearing a live, encrypted audio-visual wire feed directly connected to the FBI Special Task Force.”
Detective Vance walked over, looking at Chloe with total disgust. “Chloe Vance, you are under arrest for attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, extortion, and obstruction of justice.”
As the female officer yanked Chloe to her feet and slapped the cold steel handcuffs around her wrists, Chloe looked at me with pure, unadulterated terror.
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“Wait!” Chloe screamed as she was being dragged away. “What about the wire transfers?! You can’t trace those!”
“We already did,” Vance said coldly. “Your digital wallet was linked to your father’s main fraud server. You’re going away for a very long time, kiddo.”
