Lahat ng Kabanata ng Belonging to Lockhart: Kabanata 121 - Kabanata 130

THERON POV To say the last twenty-four hours had been exhausting would’ve been a gross understatement. Between preparing for the sudden trip and the barrage of last-minute meetings my father dumped on me, I barely left the confines of my study. Each meeting was more pointless than the last, and by the end of the third one, I was convinced they served no other purpose than to keep me distracted from the real issue at hand: the thief who had gone after Ami.I was growing restless by the second, my nerves fraying with every beat of my pulse. I nearly reached for my standard phone, ready to make a reckless call just to hear her voice. I knew I was inching closer to crossing a line, and today, I was ready to step right over it. All I needed was a sliver of privacy, a break from Zinnia and her ever-present shadows. But her entourage was relentless. I couldn't so much as visit the restroom without one of those stone-faced, black-suited bodyguards lurking outside like some badly directed spy

I scanned the bedroom, as though something as conspicuous as an extra mattress could’ve been hiding in plain sight. Restlessness clamped tight around my chest. With a frustrated exhale, I exited the room and cast a look around.There had to be something anything I could sleep on. A chaise lounge? A decent-sized chair?That’s when I spotted it: a deep purple settee upholstered in crushed velvet. It looked antique or at least made to fool you into thinking it was. I stepped closer, eyeing the stiff wooden frame and the awkward slope of its back. Sleeping there would snap my neck in half. Definitely not an option.I turned to two armchairs, considering the possibility. If I pushed them together“The bed is big,” Renzo’s voice came from behind me, smooth and annoyingly amused. “You won’t even notice I’m there.”I turned to him with a dry smile. He was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed in that infuriatingly relaxed way. “I… I can sleep on the floor,” I offered.“Nope.” He crossed

It took more than fifteen minutes to steady my nerves after Renzo left the room.God... he remembered.The realization hit me like a punch to the gut. He knew what had happened last night. Some part of me wanted to know who had initiated it desperately hoping it hadn’t been me. The rest? The rest of me preferred never to find out.I pressed both hands to my cheeks and exhaled sharply, forcing my thoughts into order. Now wasn’t the time to spiral. I needed a plan. With the mansion’s secrets surrounding me, I had the rare advantage of proximity access I couldn’t afford to waste.I pulled out my laptop and phone, ready to start planning, but my eyes drifted to the door. Locked. The bitter irony wasn’t lost on me. Theron was closer than he’d been since I left the penthouse, and yet, we might as well be on opposite sides of the world. I couldn’t even speak to him. My chest tightened painfully as my mind strayed to the night he’d spent with Zinnia. The thought was poison. The sharp, acrid t

I stumbled backward, refusing to take my eyes off the man standing before me. In the dim corridor, he looked less like a man and more like a predator caught between patience and attack a breath away from pouncing. I forced my eyelids shut for a second, then opened them again, pushing the fear down where it couldn't be seen.The man looked like he had stepped straight out of a high-budget Chinese drama the kind with flawless male leads. His tailored black suit hugged an athletic frame, perfectly molded to power and elegance. Short black hair, precisely styled, crowned a face that seemed almost sculpted. If I hadn’t been so utterly terrified, I might’ve called him beautiful.“Who are you?” His lips curled into a faint, almost gentle smile as he spoke, his voice smooth and persuasive. “And how did you end up here?”It would’ve sounded inviting if not for the steel glinting beneath the silk.I drew in a shaky breath and forced a nervous smile onto my lips. Instinct screamed at me: Play du

THERON POVZinnia had been right about one thing Chun Kit commanded an army.More than thirty men guarded this damn mansion around the clock, and I was sure that was just a fraction of his total manpower. The Triad. The real deal.The only silver lining was that not all of them were highly trained. It was easy to pick out the difference their posture, the delay in response when someone approached. I figured those were the fresh recruits, the ones who had only recently passed whatever brutal initiation the Triad demanded. Even so, they were skilled enough to cover the less critical zones outer gardens, stairwells, and some of the lower levels.The higher floors? Those were guarded by the elite. Liang Zhenhai’s personal selection.When Chun Kit had introduced Liang as his right-hand man, I’d barely managed to mask my reaction. I didn’t expect to see a Japanese man working so intimately within a Chinese Triad syndicate. Not that anyone openly used that word Triad. Officially, Liang Zhenh