Chapter 13 - The Glass Labyrinth
Nicholas slammed the heavy door, throwing both the deadbolt and the security chain before another silenced round pierced the brass lock plate.
"The service stairs are compromised if they're coming from the south," Nicholas said, his mind working with terrifying tactical speed. He grabbed my wrist, pulling me toward the private dressing room. "The linen chute leads to the sub-basement laundry, but we won't survive the drop. Clara, where is your phone?"
"On the nightstand," I choked out, clutching the yellowed note and the silver locket against my skin.
"Leave it. It’s tracked through the hotel network," Nicholas said. He pulled open the hidden service panel behind the hanging racks of my evening gowns—a small, keycard-operated utility door designed for discreet housekeeping. He swiped a sleek black master card against the sensor. The panel clicked and swung inward, revealing a narrow, unlit maintenance conduit running between the building's outer glass curtain wall and the concrete core.
My father shoved me gently inside. "Go, sweetheart. Move!"
We stepped onto a metal grate suspended fifty stories above the Chicago pavement. Through the dark slats, I could see the dizzying geometric grid of city lights below. Wind screamed through the microscopic expansion gaps in the glass, whipping the ragged remnants of my hair around my face. The sharp sting of the cold air was a brutal reminder of Martha’s scissors and the cruelty of the woman who had orchestrated my life from the shadows.
Behind us, the heavy mahogany suite door buckled with a deafening crash. Heavy boots crushed broken wood and glass.
"Clear the bedroom!" a cold, emotionless voice barked inside our room. "Find the girl. Madam Eleanor wants the locket intact. Lethal force authorized for the husband."
My breath hitched. Nicholas stopped dead on the narrow catwalk. I saw his knuckles whiten as he gripped the metal handrail.
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"Lethal force," Nicholas repeated under his breath, a bitter, lethal calm settling over his face. "She really has lost her mind."
"She didn't lose her mind, Nicholas," my father whispered from behind us, guiding us down the spiraling iron steps toward the service floor. "She’s protecting forty billion dollars. And Clara is the only person on earth who can legally take it away from her."
