Preston's face shifted from purple to a sickly gray. He forced a harsh, barking laugh, though a bead of sweat rolled down his temple.
"You're bluffing," Preston sneered, pointing a shaking finger at her. "You wouldn't dare ruin the Chen family name like this. Put that toy away."
Charlize didn't blink. The smirk vanished from her face, leaving behind nothing but cold, hard resolve.
She pressed the red button down until it clicked.
Instantly, the walls of the hall screamed. The fire alarms erupted in a deafening, high-pitched wail that tore at the eardrums. Red strobe lights mounted on the ceiling began to flash violently, painting the terrified faces of the guests in harsh, bloody bursts of light.
Women screamed, dropping their champagne glasses. Men shoved each other, scrambling toward the heavy wooden doors. High above them, the mechanical clicking of the ceiling sprinklers echoed like a ticking bomb. The pressure valves were opening.
In the darkest corner of the VIP section, a massive figure stood up.
Kavon Velasquez didn't run. He didn't even flinch at the noise. He calmly picked up the sleek black tablet resting on the table beside him.
His long, elegant fingers flew across the glass screen. He didn't look at the panic around him. He typed in a string of complex override code, his movements precise and lethal.
He hit 'Execute'.
The mechanical clicking in the ceiling stopped dead. The valves slammed shut. A second later, the ear-splitting alarms cut off, leaving a ringing silence in their wake. The red strobe lights died.
Preston let out a massive breath, his knees buckling slightly as he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
Charlize stared at the remote in her hand. Her stomach dropped. Her chest tightened. She had written that network code herself. It was military-grade. Someone had just bypassed it in less than ten seconds.
She snapped her head up, her eyes scanning the room, tracing the invisible line of the signal disruption.
Her gaze slammed into the VIP corner.
Kavon stood there. He wore a perfectly tailored, charcoal-black suit. One hand was casually tucked into his pocket. Across the sea of terrified guests, his eyes locked onto hers. They were darker than the night sky, heavy and unreadable.
Heat flared in Charlize's chest. It was a direct challenge.
She gritted her teeth. Her thumbnail dug into the bottom seam of the remote. She pried off the hidden back panel, exposing a small, yellow, analog button. It was hardwired. No network, no hacking.
She slammed her thumb onto the yellow button.
BOOM.
Four massive vents in the corners of the hall exploded outward. Thick, blinding white tear gas blasted into the room at high velocity.
The gas expanded instantly, swallowing the crystal chandeliers and the floral arrangements. Visibility dropped to less than three feet in a matter of seconds.
The screams that followed were worse than before. Guests coughed violently, their eyes burning, blindly trampling over each other to find the exits.
"Preston!" Davina shrieked from the altar, her voice thick with fake terror. "Preston, help me! I'm falling!"
Preston coughed, waving his arms blindly in the thick white fog. "Davina! I'm coming!" He stumbled forward like a blind man.
Charlize stood her ground in the center of the chaos. A fleeing guest slammed hard into her right shoulder.
The impact threw her off balance. Her ankle twisted sharply in her stiletto. The floor rushed up to meet her.
She braced for the painful impact of the hardwood floor. It never came.
A thick, muscular arm wrapped around her waist like an iron band.
The scent of cold winter air and rich cedarwood filled her lungs, completely cutting through the acrid smell of the smoke.
Charlize gasped. She threw her elbow backward, aiming for her attacker's ribs.
A large, calloused hand caught her elbow effortlessly. The man's fingers wrapped around her wrist, pinning it against her own stomach.
She was yanked backward, her spine crashing into a chest that felt like a wall of solid rock.
The smoke swirled and parted for a fraction of a second, catching the dim light of the hallway. His gaze finally landed clearly on the familiar, faint mole right below the corner of her right eye.
Kavon's Adam's apple bobbed in his throat. A raw, terrifying hunger flashed in his dark eyes-a madness that looked like it had been starving for twelve years.
He leaned his head down, his lips brushing against the shell of her ear.
"Got you," he whispered. His voice was a deep, gravelly rumble that vibrated straight through her bones.
Charlize's heart slammed against her ribs. Her breath hitched. A primal, physiological warning fired through her nervous system. She was in the arms of an apex predator.
