Chapter 3 - A Desperate Bargain
A sudden crash from the kitchen distracted Vanessa just long enough for Adrian to move.
He tackled the armed woman to the floor, sending the silver handgun sliding across the polished wood.
Clara scooped up Emma and grabbed Olivia’s arm, dragging the teenager behind the heavy velvet curtains.
Adrian and Vanessa wrestled fiercely, knocking over expensive vases and tearing the Persian rug.
Despite her slender frame, Vanessa fought with a desperate, adrenaline-fueled strength.
She managed to break free from Adrian’s grip and scrambled frantically toward the discarded weapon.
Adrian grabbed her ankle, pulling her back just as her fingertips brushed the cold metal of the gun.
Vanessa kicked him squarely in the jaw, sending him stumbling backward into the shattered glass of the coffee table.
She grabbed the gun and spun around, aiming it right back at Adrian’s bleeding face.
Before she could fire, the burner phone on the floor began to emit a loud, piercing alarm.
Vanessa glanced at the screen and her confident smirk instantly vanished, replaced by genuine panic.
She screamed at the phone, demanding to know why the server connection had been unexpectedly severed.
The distorted voice crackled back through the speaker, sounding incredibly angry.
The voice informed Vanessa that an external override had frozen all the corporate assets.
Adrian let out a breathless laugh, realizing his head of security had activated the emergency lockdown protocol.
Vanessa glared at him with pure hatred, realizing her financial payday was slipping away.
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She suddenly pivoted and fired a warning shot into the ceiling, raining plaster down on the family.
She demanded that Adrian unlock the servers immediately, or she would burn the entire mansion to the ground with them inside.
