Chapter 9 - The Threat in the Dark|
The media circus following the press conference was unprecedented.
By six o'clock that evening, Whitmore Enterprises' stock had crashed by forty percent. The District Attorney had officially opened a criminal investigation into Victoria and Richard Whitmore, freezing their corporate bank accounts pending trial.
Inside the quiet penthouse, Ava stood by the glass window, watching the rain trickle down the skyscraper glass.
For the first time in her life, she felt a strange, unfamiliar sensation: freedom.
Footsteps sounded behind her. Niko walked into the room, holding two glasses of sparkling water. He handed one to her, standing beside her as they looked out over the city lights.
“You handled the press conference remarkably well,” Niko noted softly.
“I was terrified,” Ava confessed, a small, genuine smile touching her lips. “My hands were shaking under the podium.”
“No one noticed,” Niko said, looking down at her with a rare, gentle warmth in his dark eyes. “You looked like a queen standing up there.”
Ava looked up at him, her heart skipping a beat. “Thank you, Niko. For everything. You didn't have to get involved in this. You could have walked away at the gala.”
“I don't walk away from things that matter,” Niko replied softly, his fingers brushing gently against hers as he took her glass.
Before Ava could respond, the heavy glass doors of the penthouse balcony suddenly shuddered.
CRASH.
A black-clad figure wearing a tactical mask burst through the broken glass doors, holding a suppressed pistol aimed directly at Ava.
“Don't move!” the intruder rasped, his voice harsh and desperate. “Where is the flash drive, girl?!”
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Niko reacted in a split second.
He shoved Ava behind his back, shielding her body with his own, just as a silent shot echoed through the room.
