Chapter 100 Stop her
Max's POV:
Five minutes passed. Then ten.
I couldn't take it anymore.
"I'll just go out and search door to door," I said, already moving toward the exit. "This is ridiculous. We're wasting time sitting here while she's out there..."
"Wait, wait!" Theo shouted, his voice sharp with urgency. "Max, look at this!"
Something in his tone made me freeze. I turned back to see Theo staring at his screen with an expression of absolute horror.
"What?" I demanded, rushing back to his side. "What is it?"
Theo had pulled up new footage... not the same old elevator cameras this time, but something else.
It was a live feed of a conference room interior.
And there was Veronica.
She was slumped in a chair, looking exhausted and dull, her usually vibrant energy completely drained.
There were four men in dark suits stood in strategic positions around the room... and one of them had his hand resting on a gun holstered at his hip.
Laura Bellamy sat at a conference table across from her, eating what looked like an elaborate meal, completely relaxed while Veronica was clearly suffering.
"Jesus Christ," I breathed, wondering why I was even saying god's name. I'm an atheist. "She's being held at gunpoint?"
"Looks like it," Theo said grimly, his fingers already working to record the feed.
"How did you even access this?" I asked, leaning closer to the screen. "Hotels don't allow monitoring of private conference rooms. They are privacy laws..."
"Some hotels keep hidden cameras as additional safety measures," Theo explained rapidly, his eyes never leaving the screen. "They encrypt the feeds, so regular security can't access them, and the footage auto-deletes after three days. It's extra protection against exactly this kind of thing... gunshots, assaults, and criminal activity in supposedly private spaces."
"That's..." I felt a chill run down my spine. "That's terrifying."
"Yeah," I agreed. "I'm definitely never doing anything crazy in a hotel room again."
"How did you even know to look for this?"
"I didn't. I was searching through the hotel's entire security infrastructure and stumbled across the encrypted feeds. Had to crack the encryption, but..." He gestured at the screen. "Here we are."
I stared at the live feed, watching Veronica's defeated posture, watching Laura eat.
"How the fuck did Laura pull off something this psychopathic?" I asked, shaking my head in disbelief. "This is like movie villain-level insanity. She has armed guards. She's holding Veronica hostage. She's..."
I stopped talking because something was happening on screen.
Veronica was moving. Sitting up straighter. Her lips were moving... we couldn't hear the audio, but we could see her speaking.
"Can you get sound?" I asked urgently.
"Working on it," Theo said, his fingers flying across the keyboard again.
A moment later, audio crackled through the computer speakers, tiny but clear enough.
"I give up," Veronica's voice came through, weak. "Just bring me the damn thing. I'll say everything as needed."
"No," I whispered. "No, Veronica, don't compromise with her."
But Laura was already smiling, already handing over a tablet and a phone. Setting up an Instagram Live session.
"Smart choice," Laura's voice came through with false sweetness. "I knew you'd see reason eventually."
Theo and I watched in absolute horror as Veronica took the phone while shaking hands. As Laura positioned it to capture her face. As the red "LIVE" indicator appeared on the screen, showing that thousands of people were now watching.
Veronica looked directly into the camera, and even through the exhaustion and defeat, I could see the intelligence in her eyes.
The calculation. She was planning something... but what?
"My name is Veronica Whitmore," she began. "And I need to confess something."
"No, no, no," Theo was muttering beside me, already grabbing his jacket. "We need to stop this. Now."
"I am a woman who has made terrible choices," Veronica continued, reading from the tablet. "I became involved with both of the Ashford brothers. They..."
"Move!" I shouted, already running for the door.
Theo was right behind me, both of us sprinting for the stairs. Fifth floor. Conference room 5-C. We'd been there before... knew exactly where it was from tracking the earlier footage.
We took the stairs three at a time.
Veronica's voice continued in my head, those horrible scripted words:
"The Ashford brothers hired me to be with them. I am essentially an escort. I destroyed Laura Bellamy's engagement to Chase Pemberton out of jealousy..."
"Faster!" Theo gasped behind me. "She is about to damage her entire life's reputation."
We burst through the door onto the fifth floor, running down the corridor. Left at the first junction. Right at the second.
There. Conference room 5-C.
The door was locked, but we didn't care. I threw my shoulder against it, then Theo joined me, both of us slamming into the door with all our combined weight.
It shuddered but held tight.
"Again!" I shouted.
We backed up and charged together, hitting the door simultaneously with everything we had.
This time it gave way.
We stumbled into the conference room, and everyone froze.
Laura, standing near Veronica with a triumphant smile. The four security guards, their hands moving toward their weapons. And Veronica, sitting in that chair, holding the phone, her face pale but her eyes...
"Don't!" I shouted. "Veronica, don't post it! Don't finish.... whatever you're saying, just stop! You shouldn't destroy your reputation."
Veronica stood up slowly, the phone still in her hand, and looked at us.
"But it's already live."
Laura chuckled at that, looking victorious. "You boys are just a little late." She came in front of us, making my temper raise.
"However, I never expected that you two would even find this room. It's quite shocking. Still, I won."
She turned to face Veronica. " You are finished for good outside world. Soon, 'Whitmore will be worth nothing to and you," she looked at me. "You will have no choice but to marry me. Only I can give you the best alliance to save you from this crisis."
I always have a strong principle to never hit a woman. But today I want to relax the rules.
I slapped her right across her cheek.