Blood.
That's all Lucien Pei could taste as he ripped off his tie, the silk sliding through his fingers like a noose finally loosened. The business meeting had been three hours of pure hell—investors lying through their perfectly veneered teeth while his body screamed in agony.
The allergic reaction was spreading up his forearms now, angry red welts blooming wherever those bastards had shaken his hand. Each lie had felt like acid poured directly into his bloodstream, and the phantom sounds still echoed in his skull like broken glass.
*Projected returns of thirty percent.*
*Completely legitimate offshore accounts.*
*We've never dealt with the Kozlov family.*
Lies. All of it. And his body had absorbed every poisonous word.
"Sir?" Marcus hovered by the door, his face pale. "Should I call Dr. Chen?"
"Get out." Lucien's voice was barely human. "Everyone out. Now."
The VIP lounge emptied in seconds. Even his most loyal security team knew better than to test him when he was like this—a wounded predator with nothing left to lose.
Lucien collapsed into the leather chair, his head in his hands. The prayer beads in his pocket were worn smooth from years of desperate counting, but tonight even they couldn't calm the storm in his head.
*Ten. Nine. Eight.*
The phantom voices grew louder.
*Seven. Six. Five.*
His vision blurred red at the edges.
*Four. Three. Two.*
The door exploded open.
A woman stumbled through like she'd been shot from a cannon, her dark hair wild, her face death-pale. She looked like she'd been hit by a freight train, then dragged behind it for good measure.
Lucien's reflexes kicked in before his brain could process the threat. His leg swept up in a vicious arc, ready to send the intruder flying back through the door. He didn't care if she was lost, drunk, or having a psychotic break—nobody touched him without consequences.
But she collapsed before he could make contact.
Straight into his chest.
The world went silent.
Not quiet. Silent.
The screaming static in his head cut off like someone had severed a live wire. The burning sensation on his skin cooled to nothing. For the first time in hours, Lucien could think without wanting to put his fist through a wall.
*What the fuck—*
**[JACKPOT! ENERGY SOURCE DETECTED! ABSORPTION RATE: MAXIMUM! HOST VITALS STABILIZING!]**
Vivian barely registered the system's celebration. All she knew was that the crushing weight on her chest was lifting, replaced by a golden warmth that felt like being pulled back from the edge of a cliff.
She pressed closer instinctively, her arms wrapping around his waist like he was her personal life support system. Which, considering her heart had been about to stop thirty seconds ago, wasn't far from the truth.
*More. Need more.*
Lucien stood frozen, every muscle locked in conflict. His rational mind screamed at him to push her away—he didn't do physical contact, didn't do strangers, didn't do whatever the hell this was.
But his body had mutinied.
His hand moved without permission, fingers tangling in her hair, pressing her face against his chest. The relief was so intense it bordered on euphoric, like morphine injected directly into his spine.
"Who are you?" The words came out rougher than he intended, barely above a growl.
Vivian's response was muffled against his shirt. "Shut up. Don't move. Just... let me have this for five more seconds."
The demand should have triggered his rage. Nobody gave him orders. Nobody made demands of Lucien Pei and lived to tell about it.
Instead, he found himself obeying.
*This is insane,* he thought, even as his other arm came up to circle her waist. *I don't even know her name.*
But the silence in his head was addictive. For the first time in years, he could exist without the constant assault of other people's deceptions. It was like being able to breathe after a lifetime underwater.
"Better?" His voice had gentled without his permission.
Vivian pulled back just enough to meet his eyes, and Lucien felt something shift in his chest. Her gaze was storm-gray and sharp as a blade, intelligent despite her obvious exhaustion. There was something feral about her, something that recognized the predator in him and wasn't afraid.
"Much." She started to step away, then seemed to reconsider. "Actually, maybe just—"
"MR. PEI!"
The door burst open like a bomb had gone off. Marcus rushed in with two security guards, his face flushed with panic and something that looked suspiciously like terror.
"We've got a massive problem! The hacker who just took down our entire network—we've traced the signal source!"
Lucien's arms tightened around Vivian automatically, a protective gesture that surprised them both. But his mind was already calculating, taking in details he'd missed in his relief-induced haze.
The phone clutched in her hand, screen still glowing.
The way she'd gone rigid at Marcus's words.
The timing of her arrival, right after someone had systematically dismantled his company's defenses like they were made of tissue paper.
"And?" His voice was silk over steel.
"The signal is coming from this room, sir. The exact coordinates put the source within three feet of where you're standing."
Vivian felt the change in him immediately. The warmth in his embrace turned predatory, his grip shifting from protective to possessive. When she looked up, his eyes had gone from storm-gray to arctic blue.
Dangerous blue.
"Well, well." His smile was all teeth and no mercy. "Looks like my little angel has some explaining to do."
She tried to pull away. His hold was iron.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't you?" His thumb traced her jawline in a gesture that was equal parts caress and threat. "Marcus, refresh my memory. What exactly did our mystery hacker do to my systems?"
"Complete infiltration, sir. They bypassed every security protocol we have, accessed classified financial records, and broadcast them live to ten million viewers. The FBI is calling it the most sophisticated cyber attack in recent history."
Lucien's gaze never left Vivian's face, cataloging every micro-expression. "Impressive. And you said the signal originated from this exact spot?"
"Yes, sir."
"So." His voice dropped to a whisper that somehow managed to be more terrifying than a scream. "You're the infamous 'X' who's been making my IT department question their life choices."
Vivian's chin lifted in defiance. "And what if I am?"
The question hung in the air like a loaded gun.
Lucien's smile widened, and for a heartbeat, Vivian wondered if she'd just signed her own death warrant. Then his grip shifted, one hand sliding to the nape of her neck in a gesture that was unmistakably possessive.
"Then, darling," he purred, his voice like velvet over razor wire, "you and I are going to have a very interesting conversation about what you owe me."
The promise in his tone made her pulse spike—and not entirely from fear.
*Oh, shit,* she thought as his thumb brushed across her pulse point. *I'm in so much trouble.*
But looking into those predatory blue eyes, she realized she didn't want to be anywhere else.