Chapter 6 - The Man Julian Paid to Hurt Me
Owen pulled a collapsible baton from his jacket.
Miguel whispered, “There’s an alarm behind you.”
I didn’t turn.
Owen would see it.
Instead, I picked up a metal serving tray from a cart.
He laughed.
“You think that’ll stop me?”
“No.”
I threw it at the overhead fire sprinkler.
The metal edge struck the glass bulb.
Water exploded across the loading dock.
The fire alarm began screaming.
Magnetic locks released throughout the service area.
Owen lunged.
I pushed Miguel toward the open kitchen door.
“Run!”
Owen caught my injured arm.
Pain shot through my shoulder.
I drove my heel into his knee.
He cursed and loosened his grip.
Miguel reached the doorway.
Then he turned back.
He grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed Owen directly in the face.
White powder filled the room.
Owen stumbled blindly.
Miguel pulled me into the kitchen and slammed the door.
Chefs and hotel staff crowded around us.
Now we had witnesses.
Miguel placed the flash drive in my hand.
“I’m sorry.”
“You just saved both of us.”
Hotel security arrived seconds later.
Owen emerged from the loading dock coughing and furious.
He pointed at me.
“She attacked me.”
The kitchen manager folded his arms.
“We saw the whole thing.”
So had the security camera above the ovens.
For once, Julian’s people had failed to disable the right camera.
Police sirens sounded outside.
Walter had called them from the ambulance after learning I had left the warehouse.
When two officers entered the kitchen, Owen’s confidence returned.
He displayed his security credentials.
“This woman is emotionally unstable and stole company property.”
I held up the flash drive.
“This belongs to my attorney.”
Evelyn appeared behind the officers.
Her makeup was streaked with tears.
“It’s mine,” she confirmed. “And Owen threatened me last week when I said I wanted out.”
The officers separated him from us.
As they searched Owen, one officer found a small remote in his pocket.
A red button sat beneath a plastic cover.
Nathan arrived and examined it.
“This remote uses the same frequency as the heater ignition system found at the warehouse.”
Owen’s face went blank.
Julian had made a mistake.
He had hired a man loyal to money, not to him.
Owen looked toward the ballroom doors.
Then at the officers.
“I want a lawyer.”
“You can have one,” I said. “But first you should decide whether Julian plans to protect you or blame you.”
Owen remained silent.
Nathan connected Evelyn’s flash drive to his laptop.
Folders appeared.
Most were encrypted.
One opened automatically.
It contained a life insurance policy worth fifty million dollars.
The insured person was me.
The beneficiary was Julian.
The policy had been activated six weeks earlier.
But the signature authorizing it wasn’t mine.
It belonged to a doctor.
A doctor who had declared me terminally ill.
May you like
I had never met him.
👉 The forged insurance policy proved Julian expected Claire to die, but the doctor who approved it was tied to an even older death in her family.
