Chapter 13 - THE NIGHT THEY CAME FOR HER
They came at 2:00 a.m.
Claire woke to glass breaking.
She rolled out of bed.
Her father's security team shouted from downstairs.
She grabbed the emergency phone.
"What's happening?"
"Stay upstairs."
Gunshots.
Claire froze.
Then someone kicked open her bedroom door.
A masked man entered.
Claire swung the lamp.
He stumbled.
She ran.
Down the hallway.
Through the kitchen.
Out the back door.
Her father was waiting beside an armored vehicle.
"Get in."
She climbed inside.
Another vehicle followed.
They drove through the city.
Her heart raced.
"Who were they?"
"Richard's people."
"Why now?"
"Because they know we found the archive."
Claire looked at him.
"What archive?"
Her father hesitated.
"The original financial records."
"Where are they?"
"Hidden."
"Where?"
He looked at her.
"Inside the hotel."
Claire understood.
The Bellmont.
The hotel where she had been cleaning floors.
The hotel where she had found the USB.
The place where Julian had recognized her.
"That's why they needed me there."
Her father nodded.
"They were looking for the archive."
Claire stared out the window.
She whispered:
"So the hotel maid wasn't an accident."
"No."
Her father looked at her.
May you like
"Someone put you there."
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