Chapter 311

The hallway felt like it was holding its breath.

The only sound was the clock on the wall, each tick winding Lucie's nerves tighter. She pressed her back to the cold wall, hands clenched so tight her nails bit into her

palms.

Ruby hovered nearby and whispered, "Ms. Anderson, Mr. Heath... he'll figure this out, right?"

Lucie didn't respond. She just stared at the closed door.

No matter how much she hated Steven, she'd never doubted his skill or his methods. If he wanted something done, it got done.

Half an hour crawled by.

Finally, the door clicked open.

Steven strode out, calm and collected, his black suit still sharp as ever. He flicked a

bit of dust off his cuff like nothing had happened.

Right behind him, two bodyguards dragged out Jose and Nathan.

Both men looked like they'd seen a ghost-faces white, bodies shaking so hard they could barely stand. The bravado they'd had earlier was gone, replaced by pure terror.

Steven's voice was icy. "Talk."

Nathan's legs buckled and he dropped to his knees, voice shaking. "There's... there's an old warehouse outside the city. A shipping container. Number KB739. Everything's in there. We-we didn't get a chance to move it yet..."

Jose looked like he'd aged ten years, his voice barely more than a stammer. “Mr. Heath, Ms. Anderson, we... we just got greedy. Please, just this once, let us go!"

He fell face-first on the floor, banging his head over and over.

"Mr. Heath, please! Have mercy! I'm begging you!"

They weren't scared of Ms. Anderson. If she pressed charges, the worst they'd get was prison. New Amberton didn't have the death penalty. Life behind bars meant twenty-two years, tops.

But Steven Heath? He was something else entirely. He could wipe out their whole families and make it look perfectly legal.

Steven's face didn't change. "Begging me won't help."

The two men scrambled to Lucie's feet, desperate. "Ms. Anderson, please give us another chance! We just lost our heads, we—"

Lucie straightened, her heart pounding.

Of course. Sometimes, it took someone ruthless to deal with real villains.

"I want to know how you got the vault open. And how you switched out the artifacts with all those cameras?"

Jose and Nathan looked hollowed out, their voices shaky. "We... we faked an exhibition request, got you to bring the keys..."

Lucie frowned. She'd always brought the keys herself, always watched the staff closely. How had they managed to copy her master key?

Jose croaked out, fear tightening his

throat. It took him a while to get the

words out. "Last time, when you brought the keys to check the inventory, I pretended to help with

the paperwork. When my finger touched the key I had a

micro-scanner hidden in my sleeve.

It copied the pattern."

"That thing... I bought it off the black market. Takes a second to scan..."

Lucie's whole body tensed. She remembered that day-Jose had gotten too close, and she'd thought it was strange but she hadn't. pushed it. What seemed like an accident had been anything but.

"And the cameras? How'd you get past those?" she pressed, her voice cold. "The warehouse surveillance cloud. How

streams straight to the anyone

did you pull this off without anyone noticing?"

Nathan slumped on the floor, sweat soaking his pants. “We bribed a security intern. During his night shift, he set the surveillance server ten minutes slow."

"We used our copy of the key, swapped the real artifacts for fakes, locked up, and left. By the time the cameras were back on time, it looked like nothing happened.....” Lucie's vision blurred with anger. She slammed her hand on a glass display case.

All the security she'd been so proud of, undone by such simple tricks. The treasures her family had guarded for generations had almost vanished overnight.

Steven watched, expression unreadable. His voice was sharp and cold. "Kun, take the team to the location and get the artifacts."

Kun nodded, all business. "Yes, Mr. Heath."

He and the others left to follow Nathan's directions.

Steven waited a beat, then fixed the two men with a chilling stare. "Every single piece better be there. However you took them, you bring them back, exactly the same."

"If not, you'll answer for it."

Jose and Nathan smashed their heads against the floor, the sound echoing down the hall. Blood soon appeared on their foreheads.

"We wouldn't dare! Not a single thing will be missing!"

Nathan broke down, tears and snot running everywhere. "Mr. Heath, Ms. Anderson, I was greedy and stupid. I just wanted fast money, I never meant to destroy those treasures!"

"But... but three items have already been sold overseas. We... we might not be able to get them back. But I can return the money we made from the sale...”