Chapter 376
Chapter 376:
He stopped in front of the high-backed velvet chair facing the panoramic window. The harbor’s city lights flickered below, indifferent and distant.
“You led me on quite a chase tonight, Skye,” Lucian said, his voice a low, smooth purr. “Shutting down my terminal? Costing me millions? It was bold. I like bold p>
The figure in the chair didn’t answer. She was bound, her hands zip-tied to the armrests, a silk blindfold covering her eyes. Her chest rose and fell in rapid, shallow jerks.
Lucian took a sip of his drink, savoring the burn. “But every game has an end. And you lost p>
He reached out, his fingers brushing the soft skin of her cheek.
She flinched violently, a whimper muffled by the gag.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I’m not going to kill you. Not yet. You have a debt to work off p>
He grabbed the knot of the silk blindfold and yanked it loose. The fabric fell away.
The woman in the chair looked up. Mascara was smeared in dark, ugly streaks down her cheeks. Her eyes were wide, bloodshot, and terrified. They were blue, but not Skye’s ice-blue. They were the watery, pale blue of a summer sky.
It was Daphne.
The girl Skye had sent to Julian’s safe house. The girl who was supposed to be halfway to the state line by now.
Lucian’s smile didn’t fade. It just stopped reaching his eyes. The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees in a single second.
He stared at her. He didn’t blink.
“Where is she?” Lucian whispered. The calm in his voice was far more terrifying than a scream.
Daphne trembled, her teeth chattering against the gag. Lucian reached out and pulled the cloth from her mouth.
“They… they found the safe house,” she sobbed, the words tumbling out in panic. “I thought I was safe. The guards… your men… they were waiting inside p>
Lucian straightened. He looked at his hand, the one that had touched her cheek, then wiped it on a handkerchief from his pocket as if he had touched something rotten.
“Julian Vance is losing his touch,” he said to the empty room. “He thought a few rented guards could keep what is mine? No one leaves unless I say they leave p>
“Please,” Daphne begged, struggling against the ties. “I won’t say anything. I swear. Just let me go p>
Lucian walked to the balcony doors. He looked at his reflection in the glass. He looked perfect. Untouchable. And yet he had been played at the docks. Skye had slipped his net there, but he had retrieved his property here.
𝖱𝖾а𝘥 𝘸𝗶𝗍𝘩𝗼𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘶𝗍𝘴 oո 𝘣𝖾𝗹𝗇𝘰𝘃elѕ.𝖼𝘰m
He signaled to the shadows in the corner of the room. Two men stepped forward, large, faceless shapes in the dim light.
“Clean this mess up,” Lucian ordered. He didn’t turn around.
“No! No, please!” Daphne screamed. The sound was high and shrill, tearing through the luxurious silence. “Mr. Graves! Please p>
A struggle followed. A chair scraping. A muffled cry.
Lucian opened the balcony door and stepped out into the wind. The air was cold, smelling of ocean salt and city exhaust. Behind him, the screaming cut off abruptly. Then silence returned.
He gripped the iron railing until his knuckles turned white. He looked out toward the docks, toward the city that thought it was safe.
“You think you’re clever, Skye,” he whispered to the wind. “But you just signed a death warrant p>
The safe house was buried deep in the woods, miles away from the city’s chaos. It was a fortress of solitude, but inside, the air was thick with the metallic scent of adrenaline and fear.
Skye sat at the kitchen table. Her white suit was ruined, stained with grease from the docks and dirt from the escape. Her hands were wrapped around a glass of water, but she couldn’t bring it to her lips. The surface rippled with the tremors she couldn’t suppress.
The last hour replayed in her mind like a corrupted video file. The rush to the docks. The way police cruisers had swarmed the perimeter just as she and Liam arrived. Liam shouting, trying to use his status to push through, only to be slammed against a squad car and detained, effectively removed from the board.