One Year To Make Him Remember

LETT

ast my chair toppled. "Prove it." He typed furiously, pulling up another file."Look at the metadata. The signature's cloned. Someone planted this." I studied the code. He was right-the dates didn't match. The order was placed after my father's death. "Elena." The realization tasted like bile. "She knew you would show me these files eventually." Xavier's jaw tightened. "She's covering her tracks." I paced the cramped room, adrenaline burning through my veins. "We need leverage. Something she can't fake." "There's one possibility." He hesitated. "The Syndicate vault in Monaco." I stopped mid-step. "The impregnable vault?" "Where they keep originals of every contract." His gaze locked onto mine. "Including your father's." I laughed

ER'S

tripled. She knows you're coming." I deleted it. Scarlett stirred, her eyes fluttering open. For a heartbeat, unguarded, she looked at me with something almost like trust. Then she remembered. Her spine straightened, voice crisp with suspicion. "How long till landing?" "Twenty minutes." I passed her a tablet. "Time to memorize your alias." She scrolled through the dossier-Lady Antonia Beaumont, British heiress and gem collector. "Cute. You get to be yourself while I play dress-up?" "You want to walk in as Scarlett

(Monaco,

ing the weight of the wire sewn into its seams. Across the ballroom, Xavier schmoozed with arms dealers in a tux that cost more than most cars. Right on schedule, Elena made her entrance. She floated down the staircase i

kled like broken glass. "By all means. But return her intact." His hand settled on my back as we swept onto the dance floor. "Third pillar," he murmured against my hair. "Pressure plate behind it." I spun us closer to the vault entrance. "She knows you." "Not as well as she thinks." His grip tightened. "Security's changing shifts in ninety seconds." The music swelled. We moved as one, a lethal harmony. At the pillar, I pretended to stumble. Xavier caught me, his body shielding mine as I palmed t

VI

The explosion rocked the ballroom. Not large, just enough to shatter the champagne tower and send guests screaming. In the chaos, I broke the glass against Elena's head. She went down hard. I sprinted for the vault, taking out her guards with two clean shots. The door was already open. Scarlett stood frozen, staring at an open file. "Move!" I grabbed her arm. She didn't budge. "Thi