Chapter 4

Adrian had already pulled on a pair of latex gloves.

He walked over to the photography equipment in the corner and picked up a metal camera tripod with one hand.

Dragging the tripod behind him, he came toward me one step at a time.

The despair I had felt watching that hammer smash my fingers in the video lined up perfectly with what was happening now.

Like a madwoman, I kicked at Chloe's stomach with my uninjured left leg.

"Let go of me! Chloe, you idiot!"

Chloe cried out in pain and clamped her arms around my leg even harder, refusing to let go.

"Don't you try to turn me against him!"

"A high-net-worth elite like Mr. Grant giving you a beating is just him teaching you some manners!"

"Be a good girl and apologize so he can cool off, and we can still walk out of here today with the perks!"

She jabbed a finger in my face, then turned to keep proving her loyalty to Adrian.

"Mr. Grant, go ahead!"

Adrian stopped right in front of me.

"I don't like noisy women."

"And I like disobedient specimens even less."

Fighting through the searing pain, I rolled over and snatched back the carving knife that had slid away from me.

The instant Adrian raised the tripod, I drove the blade hard at his calf!

Adrian gave a cold snort. The tip only slit the leg of his suit pants.

He lifted his right foot and stomped down hard on my lower stomach.

The violent, twisting pain drained every bit of strength from my body. The carving knife flew out of my hand and skidded several feet across the floor.

I curled up on the ground in agony, bent double like a boiled shrimp.

Fat drops of cold sweat fell onto the icy floor.

I turned my head to dry-heave.

In that moment, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a white magnetic card slip out of Adrian's suit jacket pocket with his sweeping movement.

The studio's backup card for the fingerprint-activated lock!

It had landed less than four inches from my right hand.

All I had to do was swipe it across the sensor on that security door, and it would open from the inside.

Summoning the very last shred of strength in my body, I dug my fingers into the cracks in the floor and stretched, inch by painful inch, toward the key card.

Two inches left.

One inch.

Chloe's shriek suddenly exploded right above my head.

"Mr. Grant, look out! She's trying to steal your key card!"

The next second.

Her foot slammed down on the back of my hand!

She ground her heel into my fingers and kicked the key card, my only way out, straight over to Adrian's leather shoes.

"Mr. Grant, the card's right here. Whatever you do, don't let this bitch get away!"

His gaze swept across Chloe's face and finally locked onto my right hand.

"Not only dirty, but badly behaved too."

"There's no need to keep these hands."

Slowly, he raised the heavy metal tripod in his grip.

I stared at the shadow coming down on me, and a cry of the deepest despair tore out of my chest.

With a whistling rush of air, the tripod came smashing down at the fingers Chloe had pinned under her foot!

"No..."