LOGIN~ Ethan ~"Stay on your feet, Ivy! Keep your eyes on my back!" I shouted over the hiss of leaking pipes and the crackle of burning wires."I have you! I am right here!" Ivy gasped, her voice raw from the chemical rag they had used on her. Her hands gripped the tough canvas of my tactical vest with fierce strength. Her legs wobbled from days of starvation and thirst, but she pushed forward with every ounce of grit in her body.Gunfire ripped through the heavy darkness of the old shipping depot. Red sparks sprayed off the rusty steel walls like hot rain. "Move behind the forklift!" I barked, shoving her gently toward a thick yellow machine. "Keep your head down!""Ethan, your hands are bleeding!" she cried out, pointing at my torn knuckles where the sharp zip-ties had sliced my skin."Scratches! Do not look at my hands! Look at the exit door!"Fifty yards away, the heavy metal roll-up door hung open three feet from the wet concrete floor. Cold night air rushed in, mixing with the sharp
~ Ivy ~The mercenary leader clicked the satellite phone shut. His jaw hardened into iron, and his thumb pulled back the hammer of his black handgun with a sharp snap."Boss says change of plans," he said. His voice sounded flat and hollow. "The client wants you gone right now."My pulse hammered against my throat. The thick plastic zip-ties cut deep into my swollen wrists, biting into raw skin as I pulled against the heavy metal chair. My shoulders burned from hours of sitting trapped in one place."Chloe told you to kill me, right?" I asked. My words came out cracked and dry, but I kept my chin high. "Tell me the truth." The man stepped forward, closing the distance between us. "Names cost extra, lady. You talk too much.""She hates that I survived," I said, leaning forward against the plastic cords. "She ran out of money, and now she wants you to do her dirty work. You know you will take the blame alone.""Shut your mouth," the second guard barked from the doorway, leveling his rif
~ Chloe ~I slammed my palm against the wooden table, rattling the row of black burner phones. The digital clock on the wall blinked two in the morning. My phone screen stayed blank. My social media feed showed empty search results. There was zero footage of Ivy Monroe groveling on her knees.I grabbed the heavy encrypted phone, punched in the secure passcode, and jammed the speaker against my ear. The call connected on the fourth ring."Kessler," I hissed into the receiver, pacing across the hardwood floor. "Where is the confession video? You had one job. You were supposed to post her statement two hours ago." Kessler’s voice came through low and flat. "We have a problem, Miss Bennett.""Fix it!" I screamed, digging my fingernails into my palm until the skin stung. "I gave you the exact script. I typed every single word. She sits in front of the camera, she admits she lied about the fall, and she tells the world she tricked Julian.""The woman refuses to speak," Kessler replied."Mak
~ Ethan ~"Play the audio clip again, Frank," I barked, leaning over the wide metal desk. "I need to listen again before heading out there".My hands pressed flat against the cold surface. My knuckles turned white. On the large computer monitors, the green sound wave from the ransom call bounced up and down. My pulse hammered in my ears. Ivy was out there in the hands of paid killers, and every passing second felt like a tick of a bomb. Frank sat in the rolling chair, his fingers clicking rapidly across the keyboard. He isolated the noise. The digitized, robotic voice that had demanded one hundred million dollars cut out. Then Ivy's voice echoed through the speakers, fierce and unyielding: "Ethan, don't you dare say those lies! Don't let them take your name!" The raw bravery in her words tore straight through my chest. Then came the sharp static where the kidnappers severed the call. "Listen to the tail end," I said, tapping the glass screen. "Right behind her voice. Drop the vocal
~ Ivy ~The man in the black mask threw a piece of paper right onto my knees. It landed with a dry flap. My hands were pulled tight behind the cold metal chair, thick plastic zip-ties biting hard into my wrists. My ankles were bound just as tightly against the metal legs below. "Read it," the man said. His voice sounded flat, muffled by the cloth over his mouth. "I cannot hold it," I answered, keeping my voice as steady as I could. My throat felt raw and burned from the sweet-smelling chemical rag they had used on me in the alley. The man stepped forward in his heavy combat boots, bent down, and held the paper right in front of my face. I looked at the typed lines.I, Ivy Monroe, hereby confess that my entire marriage to Julian Vance was a calculated scheme. I purposely brought about the termination of my own pregnancy out of pure spite, seeking to extort millions from Vance Global. Julian is entirely innocent, and Miss Chloe Bennett was maliciously framed by me and my co-conspira
~ Ethan ~The monitor in my study threw cold blue light across the desk.Six computer screens hummed against the dark wood walls. Two private intelligence tech experts from Knight Medical sat over keyboards, tapping keys with sharp, dry clicks. My father stood behind me with his arms crossed over his chest, his jaw clamped shut like an iron lock. A red digital wave pulsed on the central screen. My personal cell phone buzzed flat against the mahogany wood. It was an encrypted, private number."Signal coming in," the technician on the left said, his fingers flying across the board. "Ethan, it's bouncing off foreign servers. Put it on speaker. We are running the audio filters now."I slammed my palm down on the speaker button. "Speak," I commanded. A metallic, computer-scrambled voice cut through the room: "Dr. Knight. You have sixty minutes.""Where is Ivy?" I demanded, leaning over the desk, my knuckles turning white against the polished wood. "Say what you want, or I hang up.""One h






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