Chapter Three: The Perfect Heist goes wrong.

The city around was lit up with lights as I walked towards the road to take a cab.

A hand clasped my shoulder.

I turned.

The man behind me was already reaching for his cuffs.

“Ms. Alexis Brooklyn,” he said, voice flat. 

“You’re under arrest for the theft of a classified artifact from the Louvre Museum.”

“What–?” The word barely left my mouth.

Hands closed around my arms, steering me forward before I could take another breath. My clutch was taken. My phone followed.

“Hey! wait, I didn’t–”

“Ma’am, keep moving.”

They guided me toward an unmarked vehicle parked just ahead. The door opened and I was pushed inside as the door slammed shut.

The car pulled away immediately.

I sat rigid, heart pounding, questions stacking in my throat with nowhere to go. 

Thirty minutes later, I was led into an interrogation room.

The room was cold and uncomfortable. A single lamp hung above the table where I sat. 

I clenched my fists under the table. Sienna... keep it together. No one could find out about that name, not ever. That identity was my shield, the key to the files my father left with me, the secret that made tonight's heist more than a theft.

The door opened.

A man walked in. He was in his mid-forties. He carried a thin file. He sat across from me and placed the file on the table. 

"You understand the reason for your presence. You tried to steal a valuable artifact..

I lifted my eyebrows. Attempted? That indicates the copy functioned flawlessly. I muttered. "So you’ve got nothing on me then.”

“You’ve been careful,” he said, “every job clean, every trace erased, every system left with just enough confusion to look like a glitch instead of a breach, you stayed invisible long enough to believe you were untouchable”

“We still have enough records to turn you in; cybercrimes, fraud, breaking into high security systems instead you've never been caught. You're like the best criminal hacker we've ever seen.”

“The Museum from which you tried to steal belongs to one of the most powerful men in this city, Matteo Romano.”

“You’re not in our custody, but in his now. He said, as he stood up leaving.

Two men walked in grabbing my arm, leading me towards the door.

I was led into a black car, the car stormed off at a low speed.

The driver's phone rang, he picked it up and answered “yes sir, she's with us.

The hallway narrowed as we approached a door guarded and the two men beside me slowed.

“The boss requested her presence,” one of them said.

The man’s gaze was fixed on me before he gave a single nod and stepped aside.

“Go in.”

They stopped outside the door longer than necessary.

The door opened.

They dragged me into his office.

The room felt different the moment I stepped inside, and at the center of it sat Matteo Romano.

Mid thirties. Dark hair, Hazel blue eyes and broad shoulders. He wore a tailored suit with a business file in hand.his attention fixed on it like nothing else in the room existed.

He was the same man from upstairs. The one whose gaze locked onto mine like he already knew. The same quiet control that had cut through the room earlier.

He finished what he was doing. Then his hand lifted slightly. No one in the room spoke while he worked and the men behind me held still like movement required permission. Even the air felt held in place.

The two men beside me stopped, released me, and stepped back without a word.

“Leave.”

And the man who had been outside, now standing off to the side.

Matteo leaned back slowly, his gaze settling on me, from head to toe.

My fingers curled slightly at my sides, but I kept my posture steady.

“Having the thought of stealing from me to get away with it is quite an audacious thing to think” he said, staring at me intensely.

My heart grew a little intense fear as I stood there trying to pull myself together.

“I’m sorry sir, please–”

“I didn't summon you here for your forgiveness. 

I don't care.” he said, voice flat as he tapped his fingers on the table.

“You operate alone, you trust your systems more than people, which means you have something tied to you that you cannot afford to lose, and that is where your leverage ends.”

That line should have shaken me more, but I forced my expression to stay neutral. 

“You’re not here because of the theft,” he continued, “you’re here because you’re useful, and I don’t waste useful assets.”

“You’re going to work for me.”

“And if you don't, death will not be the worst part of what happens next.”

“you will still carry out your skills and you'll be given some work and tests to put you to work.”

“You will be in a position that places you within my reach at all times, legally and publicly, a role that ensures your protection is tied directly to me and your actions remain under my control, and you will do exactly what I tell you to do when I tell you to do it.”

A bad move crossed my mind. I stopped it before it showed on my face.

“Okay sir“ I said, I said it because refusal would not change anything.

“Good.”

He leaned back on his chair, continuing from where he left off 

He did not look satisfied. He looked settled, like the outcome had already been filed away before I spoke.

“Ethan.”

The man straightened.

“Take her out of here.”

“Yes sir” Ethan responded, gesturing with his hands out of the office.

I followed.