Chapter 2 - RAIN ON CONCRETE
Three days after the penthouse confrontation, the illusion shattered completely. Derek dragged Grace down to the street during a torrential downpour, shoving her out of a red sports car into the freezing Chicago rain. Rain filled her mouth, her palms split against the concrete, and cash fluttered mockingly around her wet dress as Derek laughed from the driver's seat, believing he had stripped her of her phone, her money, and her future.
As Derek’s car sped away into the stormy night, another figure emerged from the glare of headlights behind them—a trusted family attorney who had witnessed Derek's cruelty firsthand. Grace lay shivering on the wet asphalt, the baby kicking fiercely inside her as if echoing her fierce survival instinct. Derek thought he had discarded a helpless pregnant woman, completely unaware that before he confiscated her laptop, Grace had backed up his most incriminating financial recordings and secret corporate communications onto a tiny, waterproof flash drive sewn safely into the lining of her winter coat.
