Chapter 15 - THE BASEMENT REVELATION
They lay on the carpeted floor of the vacant hotel suite, breathing heavily as wind howled through the shattered window behind them.
Clara immediately checked baby Maya, who was completely unhurt, shielded safely between their two bodies.
"You made it... you brave, crazy woman, you made it," Mr. Cole breathed out, a faint, exhausted smile touching his face.
"You came for us... even after getting shot," Clara said softly, tears of profound gratitude welling in her blue eyes.
"I made a promise to your husband five years ago, Clara," Mr. Cole revealed, pressing a cloth to his shoulder wound.
Clara sat up in surprise, staring at the handsome, wounded executive in absolute, bewildered shock.
"You knew Richard five years ago?" Clara asked, her voice dropping into an astonished whisper.
"Richard was my best friend in the military before he joined the Vance family enterprise," Mr. Cole confessed gently.
"Before his plane crashed, he called me and gave me a secret vault key to a private bank in downtown Chicago."
"He told me that if anything ever happened to him, his true wife and child would need my protection against Julian."
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"Everything I did tonight was following the emergency plan Richard laid out before he disappeared."
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