Chapter 6 6

Emaline flagged down a battered yellow taxi on the corner of 5th Avenue.

She climbed into the backseat, shivering so violently her teeth clicked together. She unclasped the Patek Philippe watch from her left wrist-a gift from her late mother, the only thing Clayton couldn't freeze-and handed it to the driver through the partition.

"Take me to the Hamptons," Emaline said, her voice hoarse. "Keep the watch."

The driver's eyes widened at the heavy gold timepiece. He slammed on the gas without a word.

As the taxi sped out of Manhattan, Emaline pulled her phone from her wet pocket. She dialed Clayton's private number. It rang twice before going straight to voicemail.

She dialed again. Voicemail.

He was with Crista. He was sitting in that thirty-million-dollar Upper East Side penthouse, keeping his precious white moonlight warm while his wife sat in wet clothes.

Emaline's lips curled into a cold, terrifying smile.

During her time as a top executive at Caldwell Group-before Clayton forced her out-she had secretly coded an encrypted backdoor into the smart-home infrastructure for all their luxury real estate. His elite tech team had never found it. She still remembered the master override codes.

Her cold, trembling fingers flew across the screen. She bypassed the advanced firewall through her hidden proxy. She accessed the penthouse's central control grid.

With one tap, she severed the main electrical feed to the penthouse. With a second tap, she locked out the emergency backup generators. Finally, she shut off the main water valve.

She locked the phone and dropped it into her purse, leaning her head against the cold window.

At that exact moment, in the Upper East Side penthouse, Crista was curled up on the plush velvet sofa, crying softly into Clayton's chest about the mean comments online.

Suddenly, the massive crystal chandelier above them went pitch black. The hum of the central heating died.

Crista let out a piercing shriek, burying her face in Clayton's shirt.

"Leo!" Clayton barked into the darkness, his arms wrapping protectively around Crista.

Leo's voice echoed from the hallway. "Sir, the power is completely out. The backup generators aren't kicking in. And... sir, you need to look out the window."

Clayton strode to the floor-to-ceiling glass. Down on the street, three news vans were aggressively mounting the curb. Dozens of paparazzi were swarming the lobby entrance, their camera flashes lighting up the rainy night like strobe lights.

Clayton's jaw locked. The muscles in his neck strained against his collar. He knew exactly who had done this.

Two hours later, the taxi pulled up to the iron gates of a secluded estate in the Hamptons. Emaline had bought this property years ago through a blind trust. Clayton didn't know it existed.

Brenda, the elderly housekeeper, rushed out with an umbrella. She gasped when she saw Emaline limp out of the cab, covered in mud and shivering.

"Mrs. Caldwell! Oh my god, let me help you!"

"I'm fine, Brenda," Emaline said through chattering teeth, waving off the woman's hands. "Just bring a medical kit and a bottle of whiskey to the guest room."

Emaline locked herself in the first-floor bedroom. The heat was on, but she couldn't feel it.

She sat on the edge of the bed. Her hands shook as she rolled up the wide leg of her wet trousers.

The titanium prosthetic was a mess. The fall in the street and the soaked fabric had caused the silicone liner to slip entirely. The hard carbon fiber had been grinding directly against her skin for hours.

Emaline pressed the release valve. The suction broke with a wet hiss. She pulled the heavy mechanical leg off and dropped it onto the thick rug.

Her residual limb was raw, bleeding, and covered in deep, angry blisters. The sight of it made her stomach heave.

She hopped on her right leg into the attached bathroom. She sat on the edge of the tub and turned on the warm water. She grabbed a washcloth and began to clean the blood and dirt from her torn skin.

The pain was excruciating. It felt like hot needles piercing her nerve endings. Emaline bit down hard on her lower lip to keep from screaming, the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth. Tears of pure agony streamed down her face, mixing with the bathwater.

Once it was clean, she hopped back to the bed. She opened the medical kit Brenda had left. She didn't reach for painkillers. She reached for a small, velvet roll of acupuncture needles.

She had taught herself this technique in the asylum to survive the phantom pain when the doctors refused her medication.

With precise, practiced movements, she drove the thin silver needles into the nerve clusters above her knee. Her breathing slowed. The violent throbbing began to recede into a dull ache.

A loud, violent crash echoed from the front of the house. The heavy oak front doors had been kicked open.

"Where is she?" Clayton's furious roar shook the walls of the estate.

Emaline calmly pulled the needles out of her leg. She wrapped her stump tightly in thick gauze. She grabbed her prosthetic, shoved her limb back into the socket, and locked the pin in place. She pulled down her pant leg, hiding the nightmare completely.

She walked out into the living room, her gait perfectly smooth, betraying none of the agony she was in.

She walked to the crystal decanter on the bar cart, poured two fingers of amber whiskey into a glass, and turned around.

Clayton stood in the center of her living room. His coat was wet. His chest was heaving. He looked like a god of war ready to burn the house to the ground.

He stared at her, his eyes burning with rage. "Are you insane?"

Emaline took a slow sip of the whiskey. The alcohol burned a pleasant trail down her throat. She looked at him over the rim of the glass, her eyes cold and utterly fearless.

"That was just the appetizer, Clayton," she said softly.