Chapter 3 - The Confession
The screaming sirens made it impossible to think.
I covered my mouth with my sleeve as the acrid smoke filled the small office.
Natalie did not panic at all.
Instead, she gave me a wicked smile, turned around, and slipped out into the chaotic hallway.
I turned to Ethan, who was aggressively stuffing paperwork into a leather briefcase.
“Ethan, who is running this counterfeit ring?” I yelled over the alarms.
He refused to look at me as he zipped the briefcase shut.
“I had a gambling debt, Miss Sterling,” he shouted back, coughing on the smoke.
“They told me if I swapped the real inventory for the fakes, they would clear what I owed.”
“Who is they?” I demanded, grabbing his arm.
He ripped his arm away from my grip.
“Someone who sits in your corporate boardroom!” he yelled frantically.
Before he could give me a name, his cell phone vibrated violently in his pocket.
He pulled it out, glanced at the caller ID, and all the color left his face again.
He slowly reached into his bottom desk drawer.
Instead of pulling out another file, Ethan pulled out a heavy black handgun.
He aimed the barrel directly at my chest.
“I am so sorry, Avery,” he whispered, tears finally falling down his cheeks.
“They told me that if you leave this building alive, my wife and daughters will die tonight.”
I stared down the barrel of the gun, my mind racing for a way out.
I slowly raised my hands into the air to show him I wasn't a threat.
“Ethan, you don't have to do this,” I pleaded softly.
His finger tightened on the trigger.
I didn't wait for him to change his mind.
I kicked the heavy wooden desk forward with all my strength, slamming it directly into his knees.
The gun fired wildly, the bullet shattering the glass window behind me.
I sprinted out of the office and into the smoke-filled corridor.
The front of the store was completely engulfed in flames.
I turned and bolted toward the back alley exit, praying the door wasn't locked.
I slammed my body against the metal crash bar and burst out into the cold evening air.
May you like
I stumbled into the dark alley, gasping for clean oxygen.
A hand suddenly grabbed my shoulder from the shadows, spinning me around violently.
