Chapter 3 - The Framed Fugitive
Panic seized my chest with icy claws the moment Daniel mentioned my frail mother.
Ethan felt my body go entirely rigid and immediately shoved Daniel hard against the marble wall of the corridor.
He warned Daniel that if he ever threatened anyone in his presence again, he would ensure Daniel never walked onto another dance floor.
Ethan pulled me quickly into the private executive elevator, scanning his black keycard to lock the doors behind us.
As the elevator shot upward toward the penthouse, my entire body began to shake violently from the adrenaline and fear.
I begged Ethan to let me leave so I could race back to Milwaukee and protect my mother from Daniel's violent threats.
Ethan calmly placed his hands on my shoulders, promising me that he was already dispatching a private security team to secure her house.
I looked at him in total confusion, wondering why a billionaire heir would risk his reputation to protect a lowly maid.
He looked down at his shoes for a moment before confessing that he had been in the audience twelve years ago during my final national championship.
He told me my dancing had been the only beautiful thing he had ever seen during a deeply miserable period of his life, and he had never forgotten me.
Before I could even process this stunning revelation, the elevator abruptly shuddered and stopped between floors.
The emergency lights flickered on, casting a harsh red glow across the small metal cabin.
Ethan's cell phone began buzzing frantically with incoming security alerts from the building's automated system.
He checked the screen, his jaw clenching so hard that a muscle ticked visibly in his cheek.
Walter had not just frozen the elevators, he had triggered the building's highest lockdown protocol.
Ethan showed me a breaking news alert that was currently being broadcast to every screen in the city.
The headline claimed that a dangerous fugitive posing as a maid had just stolen Vivian Ashford's five-million-dollar diamond necklace during a distraction on the dance floor.
The security footage attached to the news report showed a blurry figure in my exact uniform slipping the necklace into a catering bag.
I realized with absolute horror that Vivian and Walter had meticulously planned this exact scenario to frame me.
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The elevator speaker suddenly crackled to life, filled with the arrogant voice of a Chicago police captain who was notoriously on Walter's payroll.
The captain announced that heavily armed tactical units were currently cutting through the elevator roof, and we had exactly two minutes to surrender before they opened fire.
