The penthouse was bathed in the sinister red glow of the emergency lights, but the cold that gripped Julian Thorne had nothing to do with the temperature.
She is gone.
The words echoed in his mind, drowning out the wail of the distant sirens and the chaotic shouting of his security team. Julian looked at the bleeding guard, then down at his own hands. His hands were shaking.
For five years, he had convinced himself that the woman from the hotel was a master manipulator, a thief who had played him for a fool. But as the truth crashed over him, the reality was far more devastating. Maya had not been playing a game. She had been surviving. She had kept the master key hidden not to sell it, but to keep the world safe from the monsters who created it.
And Julian had just handed her right to
