Chapter 8
The temperature in the hallway seemed to drop ten degrees the instant Marcus stepped into the light. Chloe’s triumphant smirk vanished, replaced instantly by a look of wild, feral panic. Her dark eyes darted from Marcus to the two detectives, then back toward the front glass doors.
"What is this?" Chloe snarled, her voice rising an octave as she took a defensive step backward, clutching the USB drive tight against her chest. "Marcus? Are you seriously bringing cops into our studio over a private client dispute?"
"It’s not a dispute, Chloe. It’s extortion," Detective Miller said calmly, stepping forward with his badge held at eye level. "Chloe Vance, you’re being detained for questioning regarding corporate extortion, unlawful surveillance, and blackmail. Drop the flash drive and place your hands where we can see them."
For a split second, time seemed to dilate. Chloe looked down at the flash drive in her hand, then looked toward the side emergency exit just twelve feet away. Her body coiled like a spring. Every instinctual survival mechanism of a cornered predator flared behind her eyes.
"You think you’ve won?" Chloe spat, her voice dropping into a venomous hiss. Instead of dropping the drive, she whipped her arm back, hurling the small plastic device directly at the front glass windows with enough force to shatter it, hoping to smash the hardware before police could secure it.
The drive bounced harmlessly off the reinforced laminated glass, clattering onto the floor near the front mat rack. Before Chloe could pivot toward the side exit, Nia stepped out from the doorway of the mechanical room, her movement swift, economical, and completely unhesitating.
Chloe lunged past David, aiming a wild, uncontrolled haymaker straight at Nia’s face—a desperate repeat of her mistake from the previous morning.
Nia didn't flinch. She sidestepped the clumsy punch with casual grace, caught Chloe’s wrist mid-swing, used her opponent's forward momentum against her, and swept her legs out from under her in one fluid motion.
Chloe crashed heavily onto the padded floor near the resistance bands, the breath knocked out of her lungs in a sharp gasp.
Officer Vance moved in instantly, clicking the steel cuffs around Chloe’s wrists before she could recover her balance. "Stop resisting. It’s over."
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Chloe glared up from the floor, her hair coming loose from its tight knot, her face twisted in pure fury. But as she looked up into Nia’s calm, unblinking dark eyes standing silently above her, she finally realized there was no escape left to find.
***
