Chapter 4 - The Poisoned Needle
"You really shouldn't go digging through things that don't belong to you, Olivia."
Matt's voice was eerily calm, completely devoid of the warmth I had loved for five years.
He slowly advanced into the office, tapping the lethal-looking syringe against his palm.
"What is in that needle, Matt?"
I backed away slowly, clutching the unlocked burner phone tightly behind my back.
"It is a highly concentrated dose of potassium chloride that I borrowed from a friend," he explained clinically.
He told me that it would induce a massive, untraceable heart attack within a matter of minutes.
"Why are you doing this to me?"
Matt scoffed, rolling his eyes as if I were a child asking a profoundly stupid question.
"Emily found out that I have been embezzling millions of dollars from your company for the past three years."
The horrifying puzzle pieces rapidly began locking together in my terrified mind.
"She threatened to go to the FBI with the financial ledgers unless I paid her a massive settlement."
He had paid Mark twenty thousand dollars to run her over and silence her forever.
The midnight phone call was just my parents trying to get the bribe money to help Mark escape the consequences.
"You destroyed my entire family just to cover up your theft."
Matt smiled a wicked, terrifying smile that showed his true, sociopathic nature.
"Your family destroyed themselves, Olivia; I simply utilized their endless greed to my advantage."
He lunged forward with terrifying speed, aiming the sharp needle directly at my neck.
Adrenaline exploded through my veins, pushing me into pure survival mode.
I dodged to the left and swung the heavy bronze paperweight with every single ounce of strength I possessed.
The solid metal crashed violently into the side of Matt's skull with a sickening crunch.
He groaned in agony and collapsed onto the hardwood floor, dropping the deadly syringe near my feet.
I didn't wait to see if he was unconscious.
I sprinted out of the office, bolted down the stairs, and threw the front door wide open.
I ran out into the pouring rain, desperate to reach my car and drive straight to the FBI field office.
Just as I reached the edge of my driveway, three police cruisers screeched to a halt, blocking my path.
Red and blue lights violently illuminated the dark, stormy street.
Matt stumbled out of the front door behind me, clutching his bleeding head and sobbing hysterically.
"Help me, officers, my wife has gone completely insane!"
He pointed a shaking, blood-stained finger directly at my chest.
"She found out about my affair with her sister Emily, and she paid her brother to run her over!"
I stared at him in absolute, uncomprehending horror as he spun his flawless, devastating lie.
"He is lying, he is the one who embezzled the money!" I screamed over the torrential rain.
The police officers didn't listen to a single word I said.
Two massive officers tackled me forcefully into the wet grass and violently twisted my arms behind my back.
The cold steel of police handcuffs clicked painfully tight around my wrists.
I was thrown roughly into the back of a police cruiser, entirely isolated and completely terrified.
I sat shivering in a cold, concrete holding cell at the precinct for four agonizing hours.
The heavy steel door finally creaked open, and a woman in a sharp business suit walked in.
It was Sarah, Mark's bitter, ruthless ex-wife who had divorced him five years ago.
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She pulled a chair out, sat down across from me, and slid a small, silver key across the metal table.
"Keep your mouth shut, Olivia, because we are breaking you out of here right now."
