Chapter 10
As the guards forced Eleanor backward into the elevator car, she lunged forward in one last, desperate, and pathetic attempt to claw at Chloe's face. Thomas moved with surprising speed, stepping directly into her path and using his dark navy suit to shield Chloe and her mother with an unshakeable wall of protection. "Step back, Eleanor; it's over," Thomas said quietly, his voice carrying a firm, authoritative finality that stopped her in her tracks. Eleanor stared at him with wide, bloodshot eyes filled with utter betrayal, realizing that even her closest enablers had finally abandoned her sinking ship.
"You're a coward, Thomas! You'll regret this when I come back!" she shrieked hysterically just as the heavy elevator doors slid shut, sealing her away from the penthouse forever. The metallic thud of the doors closing echoed through the grand dining room like the dropping of a guillotine on the old regime. The service doors locked automatically from the central security console, forever barring her from ever setting foot inside the luxury empire she had stolen and abused for over thirty years. A profound, sigh-like wave of relief washed over the room, as if a toxic cloud that had lingered for decades had finally been blown away by a hurricane.
