Chapter 10 - Gregory Tried to Trap Me Again, But This Time I Wasn’t Alone or Helpless
Gregory lunged.
I discharged the extinguisher directly between us.
White chemical powder exploded across the stairwell.
He shouted and covered his face.
I ran upward instead of down.
That decision probably saved me.
Gregory expected me to flee toward the lobby.
I went back to my floor, slammed the fire door, and wedged a metal trash can beneath the handle.
Then I ran.
Not elegantly.
Not cinematically.
Barely breathing.
My shoes slipped on the hallway carpet.
I reached my apartment just as Gregory began hammering against the stairwell door.
My phone connected to emergency dispatch.
“I’m on the ninth floor. A man is trying to get inside.”
I gave the address.
My hands shook so badly I dropped the phone once.
Outside my window, I saw Leo’s security car at the curb.
Empty.
Where was Maya?
Then she emerged from the alley behind the building, one arm pressed against her head.
Gregory had hit her from behind before triggering the alarm.
She was conscious.
Moving.
I nearly cried with relief.
The hallway door crashed open.
Gregory.
I locked my apartment.
Dragged a chair beneath the handle.
He hit the door.
“Norah!”
I backed away.
“Police are coming.”
“You think I care?”
Yes.
He cared.
His voice told me he cared.
Desperate men often shout because they are trying to convince themselves.
“Westbridge will kill me.”
I froze.
“What?”
Another strike against the door.
“I need the notebook.”
Of course.
My handwritten reconciliation notebook.
Federal investigators had copied it.
Gregory didn't know that.
“You came here for paper?”
“That paper is the difference between prison and disappearing.”
“Wren threatened you?”
“Open the door!”
“No.”
“Norah!”
I looked around.
Kitchen.
Fire escape?
No.
Ninth floor.
Bedroom window.
No.
I had spent months imagining someone saving me.
Leo.
Police.
Security.
Now I realized survival was often less dramatic.
Buy time.
Think.
I moved into the bedroom and opened my laptop.
The building smart system allowed residents to trigger emergency door locks.
I activated the corridor containment setting.
Fire doors automatically sealed between sections.
Gregory was now trapped between my apartment and the stairwell.
Unless he broke through.
Sirens sounded below.
He heard them.
The banging stopped.
Silence.
Then his voice came through the door.
“You think Marchetti loves you?”
I closed my eyes.
“He’ll use you until this is done.”
I said nothing.
“He kills people, Norah.”
I knew.
“You think you're different?”
Still nothing.
“He'll get bored.”
The silence stretched.
“You need men to want you because you don't know how to survive without them.”
That one found something.
Not because it was true.
Because six months earlier, I might have feared it was.
I walked toward the door.
Stayed behind it.
“You know what your problem is, Gregory?”
He didn't answer.
“You still think this is about which man owns me.”
Silence.
“It isn't.”
Police boots thundered in the stairwell below.
“I didn't choose Leo because he scared you.”
The locks disengaged for emergency access.
“I chose myself before I ever chose him.”
Gregory ran.
He made it two floors.
Police caught him at the seventh-floor landing.
When Leo arrived, officers were already placing Gregory in a patrol car.
Leo got out of his sedan with the expression of a man prepared to burn down half the city.
He saw me.
Stopped.
Walked toward me.
Then stopped again three feet away.
“Can I?”
I knew what he meant.
I nodded.
He pulled me against him.
For the first time, I understood the difference between being held and being trapped.
My arms went around him.
His heart was pounding faster than mine.
“You're shaking,” I whispered.
“So are you.”
“I got attacked.”
“So did my sanity.”
I laughed against his coat.
Then pulled away.
“Maya?”
“Concussion. She’ll be fine.”
Relief nearly folded me.
Leo studied my face.
“Did he hurt you?”
“No.”
“You stopped him?”
“Yes.”
Something like pride crossed his expression.
“You're terrifying.”
“I had a fire extinguisher.”
“I stand by my statement.”
Gregory’s arrest changed everything.
He asked for a lawyer.
Then asked for a deal.
Federal prosecutors refused to promise one until he talked.
He talked.
Malcolm Wren had funded the entire acquisition plan.
Avery Cole handled Apex.
Salvatore handled corrupted port access.
Gregory manipulated financial systems and employees.
Fake medication shipments generated money and created regulatory risk.
Ben saw the wrong transfer.
Adrian intervened.
Gregory caused the crash while trying to scare Ben off the road.
He claimed he never intended serious injury.
Nobody cared.
Then came the part that surprised even Leo.
Salvatore had not ordered Adrian killed.
Wren had.
After Adrian disappeared, Wren’s people searched for him for months.
Adrian escaped them.
Gregory’s most valuable evidence was a recording of Wren personally threatening Salvatore.
Federal agents arrested Malcolm Wren three days later.
Television helicopters circled his estate.
Apex’s board fired six executives.
My termination was officially rescinded.
They offered me my job back.
I declined.
Their new CEO offered triple my salary.
I declined again.
Leo asked why.
“I spent too long staying because I needed money.”
“So?”
“I want to find out what I choose when desperation isn't making the decision.”
He smiled.
“What if you choose me?”
I looked at him.
“That was almost smooth.”
“Almost?”
“You ruined it by asking.”
His smile disappeared slightly.
I stepped closer.
Then kissed him.
I made the decision.
That mattered.
When I pulled away, Leo looked more stunned than Gregory had when federal agents arrested him.
“Don’t make a big deal out of it.”
“I would never.”
“You look like you won a war.”
“I’m trying to be respectful.”
“You're failing.”
May you like
He laughed.
And for the first time in months, I realized the story no longer belonged to Gregory.
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