My husband told me he was trapped at the office working overtime. At 5:43 the next morning, I watched him walk out of a luxury hotel where he'd spent the night with another woman. I didn't cry, confront his mistress, or demand an explanation—I simply waited beside my car with divorce papers and watched the brilliant attorney realize there was finally one argument he couldn't win.

The toxic white gas filled the room rapidly, burning my eyes and aggressively clawing at my throat.

I coughed violently, realizing Vanessa had played me brilliantly from the absolute beginning.

She was never a federal informant; she was just a ruthless mercenary looking for the highest bidder.

I dropped to the floor where the air was slightly clearer and desperately scanned the room for a way out.

My eyes landed on a heavy, solid bronze statue resting on Ethan's expensive mahogany desk.

I grabbed the heavy statue and sprinted toward the reinforced glass window overlooking the alleyway.

With every ounce of adrenaline left in my failing body, I swung the bronze completely through the thick glass.

The window shattered violently, letting a massive rush of fresh, freezing air into the toxic room.

I climbed carefully out onto the rusted metal fire escape, clutching the stolen ledger tightly against my chest.

I scrambled down the metal stairs, my lungs burning painfully as I hit the wet pavement of the alley.

I needed a completely secure place to hide and examine the ledger before Ethan realized I had escaped.

I stole an idling delivery van from the back of the kitchen and drove it to a deserted industrial park.

I ripped open the leather ledger, desperately scanning the handwritten entries for any clues.

On the very last page, I found a heavily circled address for an illegal, private psychiatric facility located just outside the city.

Beside the address, Ethan had clearly written my brother's name and a specific room number.

David wasn't hiding off the grid at all; Ethan was holding him hostage to slowly torture him for his remaining patents.

I sped toward the remote facility, entirely determined to rescue my brother and end this nightmare forever.

I sneaked past the lazy security guards and quietly navigated the sterile, terrifying hallways.

I found room 402, took a deep breath, and violently threw open the heavy wooden door.

I expected to see my brother suffering on the institutional bed.

Instead, an older man with gray hair looked up at me with completely terrified eyes.

It was the real managing partner of the law firm, Vanessa's supposed father.

The Clumsy Maid Bathed His Dog—Then The Mafia Boss Said She Wasn’t Leavi...

She found her husband with another woman and walked away so quietly that...

The Mafia Boss Asked a Disabled Widow If She Was Okay

"You are entirely too late, Claire," the old man whispered weakly.

"They moved David to the hunting cabin an hour ago, and Ethan is waiting there to kill you both."

Chapter 7 - The Hostage