Chapter 16 - The Setup
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I kept backing away, putting my large oak desk between us.
“Sloane, if you pull that trigger, you won’t just get fifteen years for corporate espionage. You’ll get life for murder.”
“I don’t care!” she shrieked, aiming the gun at my chest. “My life is already over! Thorne ruined me, and you handed me to him on a silver platter!”
My mind raced. She was unstable, highly emotional, and holding a loaded weapon. I needed to de-escalate, or I needed a distraction.
“Julian Thorne set you up long before I did,” I said quickly. “Think about it, Sloane. Why did he give you a flash drive he hadn’t vetted? Why did he bring you to a public gala to make the exchange?”
Sloane hesitated, her finger trembling on the trigger.
“What are you talking about?”
“He wanted you caught,” I lied, spinning the narrative as fast as my brain could process. “Thorne knew the FBI was closing in on his offshore accounts. He needed a scapegoat. He brought you to the gala so you would take the fall publicly. He used Evan, and he used you.”
Her eyes darted back and forth, the paranoia of a cornered criminal taking hold.
“No… Julian promised me a partnership…”
“He lied,” I said, taking a slow step to the left, toward the silent alarm button hidden beneath the lip of my desk. “Just like you lied to Evan about being pregnant.”
Sloane let out a ragged sob.
“I had to! Evan was getting cold feet! He was going to stay with you because he felt guilty!”
“So you faked a pregnancy and slapped me to force his hand.” I reached the edge of the desk, my fingers hovering inches from the panic button. “You played a desperate game, Sloane. But you lost.”
I slammed my hand upward, hitting the silent alarm.
A red strobe light immediately began flashing in the corner of the office, and the heavy electronic lock on the floor’s main security door engaged with a loud CLANG.
Sloane jumped at the noise, realizing what I had done.
“You bitch!”
May you like
She leveled the gun directly at my head and pulled the trigger.
Click.
