CHAPTER 5

​The digital clock on the Maybach’s dashboard glowed a quiet, steady red: 3:42 AM.

​The city outside was slick, black, and almost abandoned as the vehicle glided silently into the underground parking structure beneath Midtown Tower One. Alexander had already overridden the building’s primary security grid, disabling the license-plate scanners and looped CCTV feeds forty-five seconds before their arrival.

​In the back seat, Lucian sat with an effortless, predatory calm. He wore a fitted black turtleneck that emphasized his broad shoulders, his dark coat draped casually over one arm. Beside him, Vivian smoothed down the front of her dark jeans and fitted jacket, her pulse thumping wildly against her ribs.

​Ethan turned from the front passenger seat, his dark eyes locking onto Vivian with intense, possessive heat.

​"Thirty minutes," Ethan said, his voice a low, gravelly command. "Lucian gets you into the vault, you grab Eleanor’s rubies, and you get out. Alexander is monitoring the interior motion sensors from the comms array here. If a single door opens on the residential floor, we abort."

​"I know the combination to the outer lock," Vivian whispered, her breath catching as Ethan reached back, his fingers briefly brushing her cheek, warm and heavy. "Julien uses his mother’s birthdate for the mechanical tumblers."

​"He's a lazy coward," Lucian murmured, slipping a sleek, palm-sized electronic bypass device into his pocket. He opened the Maybach’s door and offered Vivian his hand. "Come on, sweetheart. Let's go reclaim what's yours."

​Vivian took Lucian’s hand, feeling the iron strength in his fingers as he pulled her effortlessly onto the concrete floor.

​They moved like shadows toward the private service elevator. Lucian pressed his thumb against the biometric pad; Alexander’s remote bypass instantly lit the reader green, and the heavy doors slid open with a soft hiss.

​Inside the narrow elevator cab, the silence was absolute. Lucian stood close—far closer than necessary. The scent of cedarwood, rainfall, and warm skin radiated off him, instantly filling the enclosed space.

​"You're shaking, Vivian," Lucian said softly, leaning his head down until his breath stirred the loose strands of hair near her ear.

​"I'm not used to breaking into my husband's property at four in the morning," she replied, keeping her gaze fixed on the descending floor numbers.

​Lucian let out a low, dark chuckle. "He's not your husband. He's just a man holding a lease on a life he never deserved." He stepped closer, his chest lightly brushing her shoulder, his hand sliding down her arm until his fingers locked tightly with hers. "Five years ago, you vanished. Now you're standing in a dark elevator with me, about to steal back your own life. Tell me you don't feel the rush."

​Vivian swallowed hard, her body traitorously responding to his proximity. "Lucian..."

​"We missed you, Vivian," he whispered, his tone dropping its teasing edge, suddenly raw with five years of buried anger and longing. "Every damn day."

​Chime.

​The elevator doors glided open to Floor 42—the private executive vault level directly beneath Julien’s residential penthouse.

​The corridor was shrouded in dim emergency lighting. The air was cool and smelled of polished steel and ozone. Thirty feet directly above them lay Julien’s master bedroom suite, where he and Chloe were presumably sleeping, completely oblivious to the intrusion.

​"Stay on my hip," Lucian instructed in an authoritative whisper, his playful demeanor instantly vanishing.

​They glided down the carpeted hallway toward the reinforced double doors of the private vault. Lucian pulled out his bypass device and attached it to the digital keypad. Tiny blue status lights began cycling rapidly.

​"Alexander," Lucian spoke softly into his earpiece. "Talk to me."

​" You have an eight-minute window," Alexander’s calm voice echoed through the earpiece. "The local perimeter sweep is paused. Biometric scanner is bypassed. Vivian, enter the mechanical tumbler sequence now."

​Vivian stepped forward, her fingers trembling as she grasped the heavy chrome dial of the safe. 0-4-1-2-6-8. Click. Click. Clack.

​The heavy steel bolt retracted with a deep, muffled thud that felt loud enough to wake the dead. Lucian instantly pushed the door open, guiding Vivian inside the pitch-black vault and shutting the heavy door behind them to a hairline sliver.

​The vault was small, lined with velvet-lined safety deposit boxes and high-security lockboxes.

​Lucian clicked on a tiny penlight, sweeping the beam across the far wall. In the center sat an antique wooden display case. Inside, resting against black velvet, lay Eleanor Vance’s ruby necklace—the blood-red stones catching the dim light like drops of liquid fire.

​"There it is," Vivian breathed, a sob of relief catching in her throat.

​Lucian stepped up to the glass case, using a thin titanium shim to pop the lock effortlessly. He reached in, lifted the heavy platinum and ruby necklace, and turned to Vivian.

​"Turn around," he commanded softly.

​"Lucian, we need to hurry—"

​"Turn around, Vivian."

​Vivian turned her back to him. Lucian stepped flush against her rear, his warm hands brushing her neck as he lifted her dark hair. She felt the cool metal of the rubies settle against her collarbones, followed immediately by the warm press of Lucian’s fingers fastening the clasp behind her neck.

His lips brushed the exposed curve of her nape, sending a violent shiver straight down her spine. Lucian’s breath hitched—a sudden, sharp stutter in his chest as holding her this close after five agonizing years momentarily shattered his smooth composure.

​"It belongs on you," Lucian rasped near her ear, his hands settling on her waist, pulling her back flush against him. "Never let another man take what belongs to you."

​Vivian’s breath caught, her back pressed against the broad, hard contours of his chest.

​Suddenly, Alexander’s voice cut through the silence with sharp, icy urgency.

​"Lucian! Abort immediately! Julien just woke up. Primary elevator carriage on Floor 43 is active. He’s descending to the vault level now!"

​Vivian’s blood ran cold.

​"How long?" Lucian asked, his body instantly tensing, his grip on her waist tightening as he killed the penlight, plunging the vault into pitch darkness.

​"Sixty seconds. Get out of the room now!"

​"Too late," Lucian whispered into the dark. "He’s already at the corridor doors."

​Heavy, uneven footsteps echoed outside, accompanied by the distinct sound of a keycard sliding into the floor lock. Julien stepped onto the threshold, holding a tumbler of scotch, his voice loud as he spoke into his phone.

​"By eight o'clock this morning, that naive girl won't have a single piece of her mother left," Julien sneered into the line, taking a slow sip. "She'll have no choice but to sign the rider."

​Lucian pulled Vivian deep behind the structural concrete pillar, wrapping his massive frame around hers and holding his palm firmly over her mouth.

​Julien took three slow steps into the vault. His heavy leather shoes stopped less than two feet from their hiding spot.

​In the dim light from the hallway, Julien’s dark shadow stretched across the concrete floor, falling directly over Vivian and Lucian as his hand reached out toward the main overhead light switch.