Beneath HIS EMPIRE

Chapter 3

The woman collapsed before the guards reached her. Blood soaked the front of her white dress. Dark streaks smeared across the marble steps beneath her knees. Rain hammered the estate roof while every armed man around us moved at once.

Lucien moved first. Always first. He caught the woman before she hit the ground. “Where?” Her breathing came hard. “The harbor.” “Who found him?” “I don’t know!” Her voice cracked, high and fast.

Lucien’s jaw locked. His eyes cut to the gates. “Count,” he said under his breath. The guards spread across the entrance immediately, weapons drawn, eyes scanning the darkness beyond the gates.

My feet wouldn’t move. I stayed by the SUV while the woman clutched Lucien’s coat hard enough to wrinkle the fabric. “You need to leave now,” she whispered.

Lucien ignored her. “Did they follow you?” “I burned the car.” “Not good enough.” The woman finally noticed me. Her fingers dug into Lucien’s coat until the fabric pulled white. “Why is she here?” she asked.

Nobody answered. The silence got heavy. My stomach dropped. “She’s connected to this,” the woman snapped. “Lucien, are you insane?” His jaw tightened.

The woman looked at me again. Not pity. Blame. Then she shoved something into Lucien’s hand. A key. Small. Silver. Covered in blood. “They opened the vault before I escaped,” she whispered. “They know about the file.”

My throat got tight. My heart pounded in my ears. File. Lucien closed his fist around the key instantly. His jaw twitched once. That was enough. His eyes didn’t leave the key. For the first time since I'd met him, something had cracked beneath his control.

The woman grabbed his sleeve again. “You need to move him tonight.” Him. The same man from the safehouse she screamed about earlier. I opened my mouth. Closed it. My eyes jumped from Lucien to the woman and back, waiting for someone to say something.

Lucien finally turned to me. “Inside.” “I’m not your employee.” “You’re exposed standing here.” “Then tell me what’s happening.” Rainwater slid down his face. He stared, unreadable. My hands itched to shove him away—or pull him closer. I hated that I couldn't tell which urge was stronger.

“You want truth?” he asked quietly. “Yes.” “Then stop interrupting when people try to keep you alive.” I swallowed hard and looked away.

One of the guards approached fast. “Sir, we intercepted movement near the east wall.” Lucien’s attention snapped away from me. “How many?” “Two confirmed.” The woman went pale. Her hands shook. “They tracked me.”

Lucien handed her to another guard. “Lock the estate.” The guard nodded and rushed her inside. Shouts ripped through the air. Boots pounded the marble. Men checking weapons. Security gates grinding shut. Lights flared on, turning the gardens into a floodlit yard.

I grabbed Lucien’s arm before he could walk away. “You keep talking around me.” His gaze dropped to my hand gripping his sleeve, then lifted back to my face. I shouldn’t have gotten that close. The scar under his jaw. The rain and smoke on his coat. The exhaustion in his eyes.

"You said my father left something behind. Now people are dying over a file. Stop feeding me pieces." Lucien stared at me for a long moment. Then— “He worked for my family once.” My father, working for the Armands? Impossible.

“What?” “Your father handled offshore accounts for Armand Shipping twelve years ago.” “No.” I shook my head immediately. “My father was an accountant.” “He was many things.” His voice went flat. My shoulders pulled back before I knew I’d moved. “He stole information before disappearing.”

“And you think he gave it to me?” “I think your father trusted nobody,” Lucien said, stepping closer. “Except you.” My stomach twisted. Impossible. My father barely trusted himself. “He never told me anything.” “Maybe he planned to.”

Before I could answer, a gunshot cracked beyond the estate walls. Then another. Shouting erupted outside. One of the guards sprinted toward us. “They breached the east perimeter.” Lucien swore under his breath. His jaw flexed—first crack I’d seen.

He grabbed my wrist hard enough to force movement. “Inside. Now.” I jerked free. “Stop dragging me around.” “You are not equipped for this.” “Neither are your dead guards apparently.” I regretted it the second it left my mouth. His eyes darkened instantly. The air went still. Too still.

Then another gunshot echoed through the estate. Closer. Lucien moved fast. One hand pressed against my lower back while he shoved me toward the entrance. Heat shot through me despite the chaos. I shoved the feeling down.

Inside, the mansion looked worse. Black marble floors. Massive staircases. Silence thick enough to suffocate. No warmth anywhere. No family photos. No signs anyone actually lived here. The front doors slammed shut behind us. Locks clicked automatically. A guard rushed past carrying a rifle.

I spun toward Lucien. “Who are they trying to kill?” He didn’t answer. His silence said it all. Not me. Not him. Someone else. The woman’s voice echoed from upstairs. “They’re inside!” Screaming followed. Then crashing glass.

Lucien’s face went tight. Fear. Not for himself. For whoever waited upstairs. He pulled a gun from beneath his coat and started toward the staircase. I followed before thinking. “Stay here,” he ordered. “Not happening.” “You don’t understand what’s upstairs.” “I understand enough to know you’re hiding someone.”

That stopped him. Only for a second. But I saw it. Lucien turned slowly toward me. "Leave this house, Selene. While you still have the chance." The words came low. Almost rough.

Then the lights died. Darkness swallowed the mansion whole. A gunshot exploded upstairs. A woman screamed. Then a man’s voice echoed through the darkness— “Selene Vale.”

My blood went cold. I knew that voice. My father’s former business partner. The man buried three years ago.