Twelve Seconds in the Dark
Chapter 03 - Twelve Seconds in the Dark
The city vanished when the apartment went black. Emily heard a chair scrape, Nolan gasp, and Grant’s duffel bag hit the floor.
Then someone grabbed her wrist.
She twisted free and moved toward the kitchen island, guided by memory. A second later, the emergency lights flickered on, washing the room in dim red. Grant stood near the elevator controls with Nolan’s flash drive in his hand.
Nolan was on the floor, stunned but conscious.
Grant said he had disabled the apartment’s internet and security system. Without the flash drive, he insisted, there was no case. He slipped it into his jacket and warned Emily that accidents happened in high-rise buildings.
For the first time that night, she felt real fear—not of losing money, but of the man Grant had become.
Still, she noticed one thing he had missed.
The small black transmitter on the table continued blinking. It had its own cellular connection.
Emily kept him talking. She asked when the plan began. Grant boasted that it started a year earlier, after he learned her company was about to receive a major acquisition offer. He had married her believing he could gain control, but the prenuptial agreement blocked him. So he created debts, forged transfers, and invented an affair that would pressure her into surrendering everything.
“People believe the cleaner story,” he said. “A betrayed husband sounds cleaner than a greedy thief.”
Nolan slowly pushed himself up. He told Grant the flash drive was only a copy. The originals had already been delivered to Daniel.
Grant froze.
Then came three hard knocks at the door.
“Police. Open the door.”
Grant moved quickly. He grabbed Emily by the shoulder and forced the hotel card into her hand, trying to stage the room. He shouted that she had attacked Nolan and threatened him.
Emily did not fight back. She looked at the transmitter and said clearly, “Grant, let me go.”
His grip tightened.
The door opened.
Daniel entered first, followed by two uniformed officers. Grant released Emily and immediately changed his tone, calling everything a misunderstanding. Daniel picked up the transmitter. It had captured Grant’s threats, confession, and attack on Nolan.
One officer ordered Grant to turn around.
As the handcuffs closed, Grant leaned near Emily and whispered, “You still don’t know who gave me access.”
She watched him disappear into the elevator, wanting to believe the nightmare was over.
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Then Daniel opened the recovered bank records and pointed to the authorization code used for every transfer.
It belonged to Emily’s mother.
