The line went dead. I slid the phone into my pocket and straightened my spine, pulling my shoulders back. The sudden, regal shift in my posture made Chloe flinch involuntarily.

“I don’t know what kind of cheap bluff you’re running,” Chloe mocked, recovering her haughty facade. “Our corporate defense attorneys will squash an amateur like you like a bug.”

Before I could answer, the polished brass doors of the private VIP elevator chimed.

PART 3: The Ascent

The polished brass doors slid open with a soft, expensive hum. Instead of the building’s standard security guards arriving to throw me out, the security manager of Vanguard Horizon stepped out of the cabin, flanked by two armed executive escorts.

His face was entirely stripped of its usual corporate smugness. He looked like a man who’d just received a phone call from a firing squad.

He didn’t look at Chloe. He bypassed her completely and bowed his head slightly toward me.