Chapter 9 - The Race Against Time
Julian pointed the gun at Chloe, who was bleeding on the floor, and then aimed it back at me.
"Julian, stop!" I screamed, terrified he was going to pull the trigger in front of our children.
"You two have ruined my life!" Julian yelled, his eyes wild and feverish from his head injury.
"I orchestrated the perfect marriage, the perfect fraud, and you both destroyed it!"
Chloe spat blood onto the concrete and laughed at him.
"You are pathetic, Julian," she taunted.
"You thought you were a mastermind, but I was using you from the very beginning."
Julian’s hand shook violently as he aimed the weapon at his mistress.
In that split second of distraction, Mr. Harrison burst through the warehouse doors alongside a heavily armed SWAT team.
"Drop the weapon! Police!" the tactical officers screamed, flooding the room with red laser sights.
Julian panicked, swinging the gun wildly toward the officers.
A single gunshot rang out, echoing deafeningly inside the metal walls.
Julian screamed in pain, dropping the gun as a bullet shattered his shoulder.
The officers swarmed him, pinning him to the ground while others tackled Chloe and slapped cuffs on her wrists.
I dropped to my knees, pulling Maya and Liam into my chest, sobbing uncontrollably.
"It is over," Mr. Harrison said, kneeling beside us and placing a comforting hand on my back.
"They are both going away for a very long time."
Hours later, the police station was quiet, the adrenaline slowly draining from my exhausted body.
Julian and Chloe were locked in federal holding cells, facing kidnapping, extortion, and massive embezzlement charges.
The police had reviewed the hard drive, completely clearing my name of the attempted murder charge.
But as I sat in the precinct lobby, Mr. Harrison checked his gold pocket watch, his face turning pale again.
"Clara, we have a massive legal problem," he whispered urgently.
I looked at him, too tired to comprehend another disaster.
"What now?" I asked.
"Aunt Eleanor’s will had a thirty-day marital status clause," he explained, pointing to a highlighted paragraph.
"If you are legally married to Julian at midnight tonight, the entire estate reverts to a charitable trust."
I checked the clock on the wall.
It was eleven fifteen at night.
"Julian filed for divorce, but a judge hasn't finalized it," I realized, panic rising in my throat.
"Exactly," Mr. Harrison said, grabbing his briefcase.
"Julian knows this. He is refusing to sign an emergency annulment from his jail cell unless you give him ten million dollars."
If I didn't get his signature in forty-five minutes, I would lose the skyscraper and the money forever.
Julian was trying to extort me one last time from behind bars.
I stood up, wiping the dirt from my ruined clothes, and set my jaw in fierce determination.
May you like
"Take me to his cell," I said coldly.
"I am going to make my husband an offer he cannot refuse."
