Chapter 4 - The Ambush in Daylight
The private elevator opened directly into the subterranean garage beneath the Vance Tower. Two black armored Suburbans sat idling, surrounded by four stone-faced security guards.
Audrey wore clothes Daniel’s assistants had acquired that morning: a tailored cream wool coat, black trousers, and sunglasses that hid the dark circles under her eyes. Every muscle in her body ached, but she refused to limp. Pride was the only weapon she had left.
As the convoy pulled out onto 57th Street, the flashes began.
Paparazzi swarmed the tinted windows like locusts, their shutters clicking in rapid, manic bursts. Microphones were shoved toward the vehicle. Audrey caught glimpses of morning placards: *WHERE IS AUDREY STERLING?* *VANCE AND STERLING AT WAR!*
"Ignore them," Daniel said, his laptop open on his knees as his fingers flew across the keyboard. "They eat whatever meat is thrown to them. By tomorrow, they'll be choking on Lucas’s reputation."
"How are we going to get into the workshop?" Audrey asked, her heart hammering against her ribs. "Lucas had my car tracked. If he sees me in Brooklyn—"
"Lucas is currently at a press luncheon at the Carlyle," Daniel interrupted, not looking up from his screen. "Naomi is giving an exclusive on-camera interview about her 'traumatic ordeal' of having champagne spilled near her shoes. He thinks you're hiding in a motel room, waiting for his permission to come home."
Audrey looked out the window as the car crossed the bridge. Below, the East River churned dark and cold. The memory of the previous night came back with brutal clarity—the sheer weight of Lucas’s hand in her hair, the way Naomi had smirked down at her while sipping a dry martini, murmuring, *'Know your place, Audrey.'*
*Not anymore,* she thought, digging her fingernails into the leather seat.
The car stopped in an industrial alley in Red Hook, outside an unassuming brick warehouse with faded lettering: *MILLER ARCHITECTURAL ARCHIVES*.
The lock on the heavy iron door had been tampered with.
Daniel noticed it instantly. He raised a hand, stopping his security team. "Wait."
Before his guards could draw their weapons, the iron door creaked open. Stepping out into the gray afternoon light was not a burglar, but Lucas Sterling himself, accompanied by three private bodyguards and a smirk that made Audrey’s blood run cold.
"I knew you were predictable, Audrey," Lucas said, adjusting the lapels of his custom Tom Ford overcoat. "You always run to daddy’s grave when you've been a bad girl."
His eyes shifted from Audrey to the tall man stepping out of the Suburban behind her. Lucas's smirk flickered, replaced by pure venom.
"Vance. I'm calling the police. You've kidnapped my wife."
"She’s not your wife, Sterling," Daniel said smoothly, stepping between Lucas and Audrey without a trace of hurry. "Her lawyers filed for emergency annulment and an order of protection two hours ago. Try to touch her, and my security will treat you as an armed intruder."
Lucas laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. "An order of protection? On what grounds? A domestic squabble?" He pulled a small silver USB drive from his pocket, tossing it lightly in his palm. "Looking for this, sweetheart? The city contracts are already approved. You're too late. You're nothing without me, Audrey. Just an hysterical bitch living off my charity."
Audrey felt Daniel’s shoulders tighten, felt the lethal rage radiating from him. But before Daniel could move, Audrey stepped out from behind his coat.
She looked Lucas dead in the eye.
"You took the drive labeled *Horizon Phase One*, didn't you, Lucas?" she asked, her voice calm, icy, and perfectly distinct.
Lucas blinked, caught off guard. "What of it?"
"That drive contains the draft models with the inverted structural flaw," Audrey said, stepping closer. "The flaw I spent two months correcting on *Phase Two*. If you submit those blueprints to the zoning board on Friday, the wind shear calculations will collapse the entire east tower on paper. And the board will revoke your architectural license for gross incompetence."
Lucas’s face drained of color. "You're lying."
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"Check the checksum hash on line 400," Audrey smiled, a sharp, merciless baring of teeth. "You wouldn't know how, of course. Because you didn't draw a single line."
***
