Chapter 9 - The Hostage
Lisa gasped for air in the suffocating darkness of the moving police cruiser's trunk.
Her head throbbed violently from the brutal blow she had taken from the corrupt police chief.
She realized with absolute terror that Marcus was driving away from the mansion to murder the bleeding Zachary.
Back inside the grand ballroom, the corrupt local officers held Arthur Sterling at gunpoint on his knees.
Ava stood over the old man, holding a fresh legal document and a sleek silver pen in her hands.
She demanded that Arthur sign over the permanent rights to the entire Covington estate and all his offshore accounts.
If he signed the paper, Ava promised she would call Marcus and tell him to let Lisa live.
Arthur stared up at the wicked woman who had destroyed his life, his eyes burning with absolute, uncompromising hatred.
He knew that Ava was a pathological liar and would likely kill them all regardless of what he signed.
But the thought of his beautiful granddaughter dying in the back of a police car broke his hardened heart.
Arthur slowly reached up with a trembling hand and took the cold silver pen from Ava's fingers.
Ava smiled victoriously, anticipating the complete restoration of her wealth, her power, and her total dominance.
She gloated that the Sterling family was always destined to be crushed beneath the heels of the Covington empire.
Arthur placed the tip of the pen against the signature line, preparing to surrender his entire life's work.
Inside the dark trunk of the cruiser, Lisa managed to maneuver her handcuffed wrists toward her shattered sapphire necklace.
She used a sharp, broken diamond edge to aggressively pick the cheap lock on her heavy steel handcuffs.
The cuffs clicked open, and she desperately kicked the internal emergency release latch of the trunk.
The trunk popped open, and Lisa threw herself out onto the hard asphalt of the dark, moving highway.
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Meanwhile, inside the mansion, Arthur was just about to drag the pen across the legal paper.
Suddenly, a massive, deafening explosion rocked the heavy steel front gates of the sprawling Covington estate.
