로그인~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~ Julian froze. The calm expression on his face shattered instantly, his dark eyes narrowing into slits as he looked at Mark. "Mark," Julian barked, his voice dropping into a low register. "Trace the biometric logs at the patriarch's estate. Now." Mark's fingers flew across his tablet. A second later, his face drained of all color, his eyes darting toward me with a look of terror. "Sir..." Mark whispered, his voice trembling. "The security gates at the old patriarch's mansion were just opened using a master bypass key. But it wasn't Ayra's key. The system logged the entrance under the name... Williams Lin." My heart completely stopped beating. Williams. My brain-injured brother who was supposed to be under high-security lockdown in a specialized medical facility. My phone violently vibrated in my blazer pocket. I snatched it out, my eyes widening in horror as an unknown number flashed a live video stream onto my screen. The video feed showed the interior of a dark,
~MAYA~I froze on the edge of the mattress, my fingers digging so hard into the plush silk of the robe that my nails threatened to tear the fabric."Mom," the word scraped past my throat.Evelyn Lin didn't look at me with the relief of a mother who had just found her pregnant daughter. She stepped
~MAYA~ The rhythmic electronic purr of the private lift opening in the foyer sounded like a death knell. My heart hammered violently against my ribs as I looked from the glowing security monitor back to the executive desk. The 0404-GALA folder lay wide open. Panic flooded my system. I scrambl
~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







