Chapter 512:

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

Allison stared out the window at the unmoving cars, a scream of pure frustration building in her throat. Every red light, every inch of gridlock, was a new form of torture.

She couldn’t wait. She couldn’t sit here, trapped and helpless.

A desperate, insane idea took hold. She fumbled in her purse, pulled out a thick wad of hundred-dollar bills, all the cash she had, and threw it onto the front passenger seat.

“The car is yours for the night!” she told the stunned driver. “Find a place to park it!”

Before he could respond, “Ma’am, stay in the vehicle!” Juan’s voice was a whip-crack of authority, his hand reaching back to lock the door, but he was a microsecond too late. She pushed open the heavy door and launched herself onto the crowded sidewalk.

Her high heels hammered against the concrete, a frantic, desperate rhythm. She shoved past pedestrians, ignoring their angry shouts. She was a blur of expensive fabric and pure panic.

Up ahead, she saw it. A rack of blue Citi Bikes. A lifeline.

She ran to the docking station, her hands shaking so badly it took three tries to scan the QR code with her phone. A bike clicked free.

She ripped it from the rack, hiked up the skirt of her suit, and threw her leg over the seat. Behind her, she heard the metallic clack of a second bike being released. Juan was right there, his expression one of pure, professional agony as he prepared to follow his high-value asset on a child’s toy.

𝖱𝘦а𝘥 𝘸𝗶𝗍𝘩𝗈𝘶𝗍 𝗶ո𝗍𝖾r𝘳u𝗽ti𝗼ns 𝘰𝗇 𝗴𝗮lnо𝘷𝖾l𝘀.cо𝗆

In the middle of the afternoon rush hour, Allison Montgomery, Executive Vice President, future CEO, and woman of immense power, became a fugitive from her own helplessness. She pedaled with a strength born of terror, weaving the clumsy city bike through the narrow gaps between idling cars.

Horns blared. Drivers cursed. She heard none of it. Her world had shrunk to a single, frantic thought: Get to him. Adam. You can’t be hurt. You can’t leave me.

The empire she was fighting for, the revenge she had meticulously planned, it all turned to ash in her mind. It meant nothing. Nothing, if he was gone.

After fifteen minutes that felt like a lifetime, the white and blue sign of the hospital came into view.

She didn’t bother docking the bike. She let it fall to the curb with a clatter. Juan’s bike skidded to a halt a breath behind hers, his hand already reaching for his sidearm as his eyes scanned the hospital entrance for threats. She ran, stumbling, toward the emergency room entrance.

Her hair was a mess, her makeup was smudged with sweat, and a long run had appeared in her stocking. She looked like a madwoman.

She slammed her hands down on the reception desk, gasping for breath, her voice a hoarse, desperate cry.

“Adam Kensington! He was brought here! Where is he?”

The nurse on duty looked up, her expression a mixture of alarm and professional calm. “Ma’am, please, you need to calm down. I’ll need to verify your identity…”

.

.

.