LOGIN~MAYA~ Julian slowly lowered the glass, his fingers curling tightly around the crystal stem until the knuckles beneath his white cuffs went completely stark white. He didn't yell. But the aura of authority radiating from his body made the surrounding high-society guests instinctively take a step back, clearing a terrified circle around the pillar. "Drink it, Damian," Julian commanded. His voice was a low vibration that sent adrenaline straight through my soul. "J-Julian, stop," Damian stammered, his eyes widening in a sudden, frantic terror as Julian forced his left arm downward, bending his wrist back until Damian’s knees buckled. "It’s champagne! It’s just premium champagne for the gala! You’re insane!" "If it’s just champagne, you shouldn't mind swallowing every drop," Julian murmured, a predatory smile touching the corners of his lips. With a speed that made my breath hitch, Julian’s left hand shot upward, his fingers clamping securely around the back of Damian’s neck. H
~MAYA~ I nodded, stepping toward the champagne fountain to blend in. But the moment Julian’s shadow left me, the air in the ballroom seemed to turn ice-cold. "My, my. Don't you look radiant in red, cousin-in-law." A venomous voice cut through the ambient chatter. I turned around, my heart instantly restarting its panicked rhythm. Damian Vance was standing right behind me. His right arm was still bound tightly in the thick medical brace from where Julian had crushed it in the garage, his face pale, but his dark eyes glittered with a manic, predatory malice. In his left hand, he held two crystal flutes of premium champagne. "Damian," I said, forcing my voice to remain steady as I took a half-step back against a marble pillar. "I don't think your doctors authorized you to attend public events so soon after your... accident." "Oh, a broken arm won't stop me from celebrating your grand debut," Damian purred, stepping closer until his chest nearly brushed my shoulder. He held out
~MAYA~ I didn't look back. I gathered the heavy silk and wool of my tailored clothes around my body, crossed both arms tightly over my pregnant stomach to shield my child, and threw myself blindly into the dark void of the chute. WHOOSH. The air rushed past my ears like a roaring freight train as my body slid down the steep, metallic incline. The friction burned through the fabric of my red blazer, the heat searing against my skin as I cascaded down through the darkness of the 40th floor, down through the structural bones of the Vance Global Tower. THUD! I hit the bottom of the chute with a bone-shattering impact, crashing into a massive, twelve-foot-deep mountain of heavy, soiled white hotel sheets in the 15th-floor industrial laundry room. The fabric absorbed the force of the fall, saving my spine, but the air was instantly knocked entirely from my lungs. I lay gasping in the white darkness of the linen bin, my head spinning violently as a sharp, sudden ache throbbed deep insid
~MAYA~ Julian slowly lowered the pistol, the red laser sight sliding down my chest before disappearing against the marble floor. But his face didn't soften. The unreadable, stony mask of the Kingpin remained perfectly intact. "Room 404 was dark, Maya," Julian murmured, his voice dropping into a register so chillingly flat it made the blood in my veins completely freeze. "A good businessman always secures his target... but a smart businessman knows when an asset has been corrupted beyond repair. You broke my locks. You accessed my ledger. You proved you are a Lin through and through." He turned his back on me, sliding the weapon into his waistband as he walked toward the bedroom doors. "Julian! No! Don't leave me with her!" I screamed, scrambling forward, but Ayra instantly stepped into my path, her fingers clamping around my wrists with an unexpected, vicious strength. "The board meeting is tomorrow morning, twin," Ayra whispered against my ear, her breath smelling of stale
~MAYA~ I slid my bare feet off the bed, my heart instantly restarting its panicked rhythm. I padded softly across the cold marble, my eyes wide as I approached the desk. The biometric drawer I had unlocked earlier with Julian’s signet ring was completely pulled open, its lock shattered and smoking with a faint smell of burnt wires. The 0404-GALA folder was gone. And lying right in the center of the leather blotter, directly beneath the pulsing red light of a high-frequency tracking beacon, was a fresh, hand-written medical report from Saint Jude’s Hospital—dated exactly one hour ago. My trembling fingers reached out, picking up the paper. My eyes scanned the bold black text at the top, and the breath completely died in my throat. It was a forensic toxicology screening run on the blood sample Julian had drawn from me at the hospital yesterday. And stamped right across my name in undeniable, bleeding black ink were the words: PATIENT TRANSFUSION RECORD: WARNING. DNA SPEC
~MAYA~ Mark’s tablet chimed with a secure, green confirmation light. He looked up, a breath of relief escaping his chest. "Sir! The vehicle is secure. Williams Lin is untouched. Our medical team is already transferring him to a secondary, unlisted safehouse facility. Ayra Lin has been detained." A collective sigh of relief rippled through the board of directors, but Julian didn't relax. He turned his predatory gaze toward the corner of the room—where Damian Vance was currently being pinned against the wall by two of Mark's guards. "Damian," Julian whispered, walking slowly toward his cousin. He reached out, his long fingers catching Damian's chin, forcing his cousin to look into his eyes. "You told me Ayra was inside my grandfather's estate changing the patriarch's will. You used her ambulance stunt as a distraction to get me to pull my security forces away from the mansion." Damian spit a mouth full of blood onto the floor, a desperate laugh escaping his broken nose. "You're
~MAYA~ The mahogany door clicked shut, the automatic digital locks engaging with a terrifyingly solid clunk. I was alone again. Prey. That was what Ayra had called me. A target secured before the contract was even signed. I scrambled off the bed, my feet padding softly across the cold marble
~MAYA~ The words echoed in the silence of the bedroom, heavy and suffocating.~ I always secure my target before the contract is even signed.~I pulled back from Julian’s touch, my bare feet stumbling against the plush carpet. The warm, protective shield he had wrapped around me at the hospital cr
~MAYA~ The luxury penthouse suite felt like a gilded cage built by a madman. The pulsing red emergency lights from the night before had been deactivated, replaced by the clinical midday sun pouring through the floor-to-ceiling smart-glass. Two hours ago, Julian’s private medical transport had b
~MAYA~ The sterile smell of antiseptic and ozone dragged me back to consciousness. I opened my eyes, blinking against the harsh, white fluorescent lights of a private hospital suite. My hand instantly flew to my stomach. The emerald-green silk gown was gone, replaced by a generic blue cotton hosp







