Chapter 14: The Escape
Chapter 14: The Escape
CRASH.
The grand mahogany doors splintered and gave way. Heavily armed SWAT officers flooded into the ballroom, their tactical rifles raised, shouting commands over the chaotic din.
"Drop your weapons! Everyone on the ground!"
Richard’s security detail instantly dropped their firearms, putting their hands in the air. Richard scrambled backward, his eyes darting frantically for an exit, but two officers were already on him, slamming him face-first into the marble and clicking cold steel cuffs around his wrists.
"Clara! We have to go!"
Julian was suddenly at her side. He wrapped a strong arm around her waist, supporting her shaking frame. "I gave the cops the evidence, but your father's payroll runs deep in this city. The police chief is on the foundation's board. We aren't safe here."
May you like
Clara looked at him, her heart pounding. She nodded.
Leaning heavily on the boy who had just blown her world apart to save her, Clara took her first real step in three years. It was agonizing, but it was real. Together, they slipped through a side service corridor just as the media stormed the main doors, their camera flashes illuminating the empty, abandoned wheelchair.
