All Chapters of Too Late for Regret, Mr. Vale: Chapter 31 - Chapter 39

Lucien didn't make a sound as he walked across the room, but his presence alone seemed to take up all the air in the small diner. He didn't look at the cracked walls or the sleepy cook behind the counter; his eyes were fixed entirely on Adrian. He slid into the booth right next to me, his large frame crowding the space and forcing Adrian to press himself back against the vinyl seat.Adrian’s face went completely stiff, his eyes darting from Lucien to the briefcase under his hand. He tried to straighten his shoulders, forcing a cold, arrogant smile onto his face as he looked at the man who had just ruined his moment of victory."Lucien Blackwell," Adrian said, his voice shaking just enough to betray his nerves, though he tried to keep it smooth. "I didn't expect you to show up in a place like this. Are you following my wife around now?""She isn't your wife, Adrian," Lucien said, his voice incredibly low and calm. He didn't shout, but the quiet tone made the hair on my arms stand up.

The headlight beams of Lucien’s sedan cut through the dark driveway exactly ten minutes later, and Elara quickly opened the front door to let them inside. Lucien walked into the sunroom first, his presence immediately making the wide space feel smaller, while Victor followed closely behind with a slim laptop case gripped under his arm."Did you get the logs?" Lucien asked, his dark eyes scanning my face for any sign of panic as he stopped by the edge of the table."They are all right here," I said, pointing to the neatly stacked folders spread across the glass surface. "I pulled the harbor guard schedules for the southern terminal and the captain logs for the three main vessels scheduled to depart on Tuesday morning."Victor didn't waste a second, opening his laptop and syncing it to our local network while Elara leaned over his shoulder to watch the data load. Lucien didn't look at the screen right away, stepping closer to me instead and reaching out to touch my shoulder with a reass

The tiny surveillance room was almost entirely dark, lit only by the cold blue glow of four wall-mounted monitors. It was a cramped space tucked inside an old, abandoned watchtower on the edge of the southern harbor cliffs, giving us a perfect view of the water bottleneck below. Outside, a light drizzle tapped against the glass windows, but inside, the only sound was the quiet hum of Victor’s recording equipment."The decoy vessel just passed the secondary lighthouse," Lucien said, his voice a low murmur as he leaned closer to the main screen. He sat on a small metal chair right next to mine, his shoulder brushing mine in the tight space. "She is running right on schedule, Ahtisa.""Are Victor’s men fully in position?" I asked, my hands locked tightly in my lap to keep them from shaking. "They didn't leave any signs on the deck, did they?""Victor has ten of his best security guards hidden below the engine hatch," Lucien assured me, turning his head to look at me in the dim light. "

Ahtisa walked slowly down the quiet corridor of the executive floor, her heels tapping softly against the carpeted floor. Elara kept pace beside her, carrying a neat stack of folders containing the final signed declarations from the port authority."They have been gathered in there for over twenty minutes," Elara said, her voice low as they neared the massive double doors of the boardroom. "Mr. Henderson called my desk twice while you were on the way up. He sounded like he was running out of air.""Let him worry a little longer," Ahtisa said, her expression perfectly calm. "It is good for them to remember what it feels like to wait on a Jehanna."Before they reached the door, Lucien stepped out from the side alcove where he had been waiting. He looked at Ahtisa, his dark eyes taking in her steady posture and the quiet confidence in her eyes. He did not offer any empty words of comfort, because he knew she did not need them."The press is already calling the front desk," Lucien said,