Chapter 153 More Information

Chapter 153 More Information
More shouting followed, closer this time. Furniture splintered. Something metallic clattered across concrete, and then came the unmistakable sound of bodies colliding. Whoever had entered the building wasn't sneaking around.

They were tearing through it.

Grace saw the moment Vance's attention left her, it lasted less than a second. That was all she needed, she moved.

Immediately sitting on her hind legs, she stretched the right foot out and swept her leg hard behind his ankles. Vance lost his footing instantly, crashing backward onto the concrete with a grunt. Before he could recover, Grace grabbed the front of his shirt and hauled him toward her with all the force she could manage.

Her forehead slammed into his face. A sickening crack echoed through the room. Vance cried out, clutching his nose as blood poured between his fingers.

"Don't be a little bitch when you be kidnapping people." Grace sneered as she slapped him hard across the face and slammed her forehead onto his nose again. He screamed, but she didn't stop there she drove both fists into him again and again, years of anger and humiliation exploding through every punch.

"That. Is. For. Everything!" She followed each word up with a blow. "You ruined my fucking life!"

Vance finally managed to catch one of her wrists, but she was already moving again, the chain attached to the cuff around her wrist swung through the air. An idea flashed across her mind, she looped the loose length of chain around his throat and yanked.

The steel bit into his neck.

Vance's eyes widened as he clawed frantically at the links, choking as Grace planted a foot against his chest and leaned backward, using her entire body weight to tighten the chain.

"You should've left me alone," she hissed, "but no, a power-tripping egomaniac like you just couldn't help yourself, could you?" His face had begun turning an alarming shade of red when another shout echoed just outside the room.

"Boss!"

Vance reacted on instinct, his hand shot to Grace's wrist as the man burst in, he saw what was going on and quickly made a split-second decision, he raised his gun and fired, it hit the bolt on the wall. Grace had ducked but still refused to let go, she pulled the chain harder as Vance also grabbed it, Instead of pulling at the chain around his neck, he grabbed the cuff itself and twisted violently.

Grace felt something give, it wasn't the chain. It was the bolt.

The old metal anchoring the chain into the wall ripped free with a loud crack, years of rust finally giving way under the combined force of both their weight and the bullet that was shot into it

She stumbled backward, suddenly free of the wall.

The cuff was still locked around her wrist, but now the chain hung from it, dragging several feet behind her with the broken steel bolt still attached to the end.

Good enough. She quickly flung the chain towards the lackey that was now rushing towards her. It hit him square across his face. She quickly ran towards him as she pulled his head down and slammed her knee to his face, again and again. 

Vance pathetically lay on the concrete ground, coughing violently as he rolled onto his side, struggling to pull air back into his lungs. Grace didn't wait to see him recover, she knocked the lackey unconscious and ran. The loose chain bounced and scraped loudly behind her as she burst through the doorway into a dimly lit corridor.

Chaos had consumed the building.

Two of Vance's men lay unconscious against one wall. Another was trying to crawl toward a dropped handgun before someone kicked it away. The sounds of fighting echoed through adjoining hallways, punctuated by shouts and the occasional gunshot.

Grace didn't stop to work out who was winning, she simply ran toward the nearest exit she could find. She rounded a corner at full speed and slammed straight into someone. Both women staggered backward.

Grace immediately raised her hands, wrapping the chain around both hands and the stranger did the same. For a split second, they stood frozen, measuring each other. The woman was around her age, breathing hard, a knife gripped tightly in one hand. Grace had never seen her before.

The stranger lowered the blade first. "Grace?"

Grace frowned as she gave the woman a once-over. "Do I know you?"

"No." The woman glanced anxiously down the corridor behind them. "But we need to leave. Right now."

Grace didn't move. "I'm having a really bad day, so you'll forgive me if I don't blindly trust strangers."

"You don't have to trust me." The woman's voice was urgent. "You just have to know one thing." She stepped closer, Grace took a step back in a fighting stance. "I can help you get Maddox back."

Grace's breath caught. The name hit harder than any punch ever could, before she could ask another question, more footsteps thundered through the corridor behind them.

The stranger looked over her shoulder. "They're coming. We need to go, now." Grace looked the same way, Vance's men were already regrouping.

She looked back at the woman, "Are you the cause of the chaos?" She asked, surprised at how one woman could put down so many men. The woman smiled. Grace smiled back and had already made her decision.

"Run."

The two women took off together, disappearing into the maze of corridors just as furious voices erupted behind them. The broken chain still hanging from Grace's wrist clattered against the concrete as they fled into the night.