Chapter 3

Julian's POV

I woke up to the glare of the morning sun through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows. My head throbbed with a dull ache and I groaned, dragging a hand down my face.

My memory stitched the previous night back together in bright flashing fragments. The masquerade, the loud music and her. God, her.. 

My blood instantly ran hot just thinking about her. It was without a single doubt, the greatest fuck of my entire life.

I reached out blindly across the king-sized mattress, fully expecting to pull her warm naked body back against my chest but my hand hit nothing but cold empty sheets.

My eyes snapped open and I sat up, the sheets pooling around my waist. The suite was completely silent with zero signs of life. I frowned as I threw my legs over the side of the bed.

“Hello?” I called out, my deep voice echoing slightly.

Nothing...

I walked over to the armchair where I’d carelessly thrown my clothes last night and picked up my slacks, pulling them on. Then I grabbed my suit jacket and dug my hand into the inner pocket, pulling out my wallet. I flipped it open but it eas empty. The twad of hundred-dollar bills I always carried was completely gone.

A dark chuckle rumbled deep in my chest as I tossed the empty wallet back onto the chair, genuinely amused. What did I expect? She was a girl I picked up at a masquerade ball who flatly refused to take off her mask. She sold her body for the night, took her tip and ran before sunrise. 

Typical. A cheap whore with sticky fingers. It was almost charming in a pathetic desperate sort of way.

I turned away from the chair, running a hand through my messy hair, ready to head to the shower and wash her completely out of my system. 

I glanced casually at the side table. My half-empty glass of whiskey was still there but the table itself was bare.

I froze. 

The amusement instantly drained from my veins, replaced by a sudden icy shock that stopped the breath in my lungs. I stepped closer, my heart skipping a vital beat and scanned the wood. I looked under the glass and dropped to my knees,  sweeping my hands over the carpet, searching blindly.

“No,” I whispered, the word tearing out of my throat. “No, no, no.”

The ring was gone.. the Brentwood family signet ring! This wasn't just a piece of jewelry. It was the key to my entire empire!

“Guards!” I roared.

I didn't wait but stormed over to the doors, grabbing the handle and yanking it open so hard the wood almost splintered.

“Guards! Get in here right now!”

Footsteps pounded down the hallway and within seconds, three of my top security men, dressed in their standard black suits rushed into the room. They skidded to a halt, their eyes wide and hands instinctively hovering over their holstered weapons.

“Mr. Brentwood,” the lead guard, Miller, gasped out. “Sir, what’s wrong? Is there an intruder?”

“An intruder?” I snarled, stepping right into his personal space. “You tell me, Miller! You stood outside this damn door all night! How the hell does a woman walk out of my private suite without you useless idiots noticing?”

Miller swallowed hard. “Sir, we... we assumed she was a guest. You bring women up here sometimes. We didn't think we had orders to stop her from leaving.”

I grabbed him by the lapels of his suit jacket.

“She robbed me,” I hissed. “She stole from me. Right out from under your stupid incompetent noses!”

“Sir, we can reimburse you for the cash,” the second guard stammered, looking terrified. “Whatever she took, we’ll cover it.”

I shoved Miller backward so violently he crashed into the wall. 

“I don't give a damn about the cash!” I screamed, losing my grip on my temper entirely. “She took my ring! The family signet ring!”

The horror that washed over their faces told me they understood exactly how badly they had failed.

“I want her found,” I commanded, pacing aggressively in front of them. “I want every single security camera in this hotel reviewed. I want traffic cams pulled and I want her facial structure run through the database even with that damn mask on. Track her height, her gait and the dress she was wearing. I don't care what it takes or how much it costs.”

“Right away, sir,” Miller choked out, scrambling to fix his jacket.

“If she is not standing in front of me before the sun goes down today,” I said, stopping to glare at them with malice, “I will personally make sure none of you ever find work in this city again. Now get out of my sight!”

They practically tripped over each other running out of the suite and I stood alone in the center of the room, my chest heaving with my hands curled into tight shaking fists while the panic was clawing at my throat, threatening to choke me. I couldn't stay here.. I needed to move.

***

An hour later, my driver pulled the armored SUV up to the towering glass doors of Brentwood Enterprises and I stepped out into the morning air, ignoring the polite greetings from the doormen. I walked through the massive lobby with long aggressive strides, my jaw clenched so tight my teeth ached.

Employees scrambled out of my way, pressing their backs against the walls and lowering their eyes. Good. They should be afraid.

I stepped into the private executive elevator and hit the button for the top floor. The doors opened to my executive suite and my lead assistant, Sarah stood up immediately from her desk, holding a stack of files. She offered a bright professional smile that grated on my absolute last nerve.

“Good morning, Mr. Brentwood. Your ten o'clock meeting with the board is...”

“Cancel it,” I snapped, not even breaking my stride.

“Sir? But the quarterly reports...”

“Did I stutter, Sarah?” I stopped and turned to look at her, my eyes flashing with dark warning. “Cancel the board meeting, cancel my lunch, cancel every single appointment I have for the rest of the day. If anyone asks, I am unavailable. If anyone tries to enter my office, call security and have them thrown out of the building physically!”

Sarah swallowed hard, dropping her eyes to her shoes. “Yes, Mr. Brentwood. Right away.”

I turned around, walked into my corner office and slammed the door shut behind me. I reached out and violently twisted the deadbolt, locking myself in.

I walked over to the wet bar in the corner, grabbed a decanter of scotch and poured a glass. My hands were actually shaking as I downed the liquid in one burning swallow, slamming the glass back down onto the counter.

I couldn't work ane I couldn't focus on stock prices or acquisitions. I just paced back and forth across the expanse of the office, staring blindly out at the city skyline below me.

That ring.. That damn ring..!

The ring looked like an antique, a simple piece of gold and ruby passed down through generations but the ruby was hollow. Inside that stone sat a microscopic digital microchip. That chip contained a highly encrypted rolling-code access sequence and it was the only physical key in existence that could open the hidden subterranean vault of family secrets.

If she pawned it, the buyer would just melt it down for the gold. The chip would be destroyed and the vault would be permanently sealed forever, trapping everything inside.

But if she gave it to someone who knew what to look for? If someone scanned it and found the frequency? They could bleed my family dry. They could completely destroy everything I had ruthlessly built.

The hours crawled by like bleeding wounds and then fading into the evening. I didn't eat and I barely drank. I just stared at my silent phone, waiting.

By the time the city lights flickered on below me, I was totally exhausted and my anger had burned down to a cold ash. The deadline was here. They hadn't found her.. she was gone.

I walked over to my desk, leaning against the wood and closed my eyes, resigning myself to the nightmare of explaining this to my grandfather. I reached for my suit jacket, ready to go home and face the music.

Suddenly, the secure intercom on my desk buzzed loudly, shattering the silence. I snatched it up instantly. 

“What?” I growled.

“Mr. Brentwood,” Miller's voice crackled through the speaker. “We found her, sir.”

My heart pounded violently at the news. “Are you sure? Is it her?”

“Positive, sir. We tracked the mask, traced a bus route and caught her on a street camera. We grabbed her off the pavement ten minutes ago in front of a hospital. She didn't put up much of a fight.”

A dark vicious smile stretched slowly across my face as I felt the power rushing back into my veins. 

“Bring her up. Now.”

“Yes, sir. We're in the private elevator.”

I released the intercom button and walked over to the door. I unlocked the deadbolt and pulled it open, stepping back into the center of the office. I crossed my arms over my chest, waiting.

The elevator dinged softly in the reception area and footsteps approached my office. Miller and another guard stepped through the doorway and firmly wedged between them and struggling weakly against their massive grips was the girl.

She wasn't wearing the mask anymore. She wasn't wearing the dress or the black lace. She was wearing a faded jacket and a pair of worn-out jeans. Her long hair was messy and her face was pale with her eyes wide with terror. She looked incredibly young and fragile but as she stared at me, realizing exactly who I was and exactly whose bed she had robbed, the terror in her eyes sharpened.

“Let her go,” I ordered softly with my eyes never leaving hers.

The guards instantly released her arms and stepped back, blocking the doorway.

She stumbled forward slightly, rubbing her arms. She looked around the office and then her gaze snapped back to me. She didn't look like a master thief more like a trapped animal.

“Hello again,” I said with my voice dangerously calm, taking a slow step toward her. “I believe you have something that belongs to me.”