Novels by VivianChris

​POV: Third Person​The black SUV pulled up to the curb of the City Bank, its engine idling quietly while Caleb checked the magazine on his pistol and looked up at the stone building that now served as a private vault for the Sterling family's most important documents, and he could see at least four guards in dark suits standing by the main entrance with their hands hovering near their holsters. Aris sat in the driver’s seat with a tablet open on his lap, his fingers moving quickly across the screen as he monitored the local police bands and the bank’s internal security feed, and he glanced at Caleb with a focused expression as he adjusted his earpiece.​"The jamming signal is live, so the guards won't be able to call for backup or even use their radios to talk to each other once we step inside," Aris said while he tapped a final command into the system, "the biometric scanners at the front are still active, but I’ve uploaded the bypass code from the key Lyra gave

​The transition from the chaos of the warehouse to the quiet, fog-heavy grounds of the municipal cemetery felt like stepping into a different world, and as Caleb walked toward the back section where the less prestigious plots were located, his mind couldn't help but drift back to the night everything had truly fallen apart. He remembered standing in the shadows of the upstairs hallway in the old Vance manor, watching through the banister as Isabella Sterling stood in their living room with a glass of wine in her hand while his mother lay gasping for air on the sofa, and Marcus, his father, had simply stood by the fireplace with his back turned to the scene. ​"She’s dying, Marcus, can't you see she’s dying? Call a doctor, please!" the young Caleb had screamed as he rushed down the stairs, but Isabella had stepped into his path with a cold, dismissive look that had frozen him in his tracks. ​"Your father has made his choice, Caleb, and it's time for this family to

​The temporary base of operations Caleb had established in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the industrial district was suddenly bathed in the blinding white light of dozens of high-intensity searchlights, and the heavy, mechanical rumble of tank treads grinding against the pavement echoed through the corrugated metal walls, signaling that the C Family had finally played their trump card. Inside the warehouse, Aris was checking his thermal scanners and looking at the monitors with a grim expression, seeing that they were completely surrounded by at least two battalions of local infantry and several armored divisions, and his men were already taking up defensive positions behind crates of equipment with their rifles aimed at the bay doors. ​"Sir, it looks like the Thorne family didn't take too kindly to what you did to Silas, and they've brought in General Barrett along with the City B garrison," Aris said as he tapped a screen to show a live feed of a silver-hair

Isabella Sterling sat in a dark leather chair on the top floor of the Sterling Tower, staring out the panoramic windows at the blackened skyline of City B as she twirled a glass of pricey amber liquid and heard the breathless update of her chief of security, a man named Henderson who was in the process of perspiring through his expensive suit. She had been informed about the auction house catastrophe ten minutes earlier, then shortly thereafter about the silence from the hospital team, but rather than hurling her glass or yelling at her employees, Isabella merely leaned backward and gazed at the faint flicker of fires far off where the power grid had gone down. “So the boy has actually come back with an entire army at his heels, and he managed to pull a bomb out of his own aunt without blowing himself up,” Isabella said, as she spun her chair around to look into the room, “I have to admit, I didn’t really think he had it in him to be such a good stray dog, but apparently t

​The armored SUV's tires squealed on the pavement as Caleb pushed the vehicle to the max, darting through the gridlocked traffic of a city still reeling from the sudden blackout. The shadow of the City B Central Hospital was visible in the distance, with the upper floors flickering with the strobo-light of emergency sirens and muzzle flashes. He didn’t wait for the car to stop before he hopped out, checking the slide on his handgun and adjusting the combat knife at his belt, and he headed for the side entrance as he spoke into his comms unit to see how his remaining men on site were doing. "This is Vance, I am at the North entry, give me a sit rep now and tell me how the perimeter wasn’t held," Caleb growled into the radio as the rhythmic thud of his boots on the pavement rang through the empty street. "Sir, they came in through the service tunnels and planted C4 in the elevator shafts, we're on the first floor and it's them moving up through the surgic

The interior of the Gilded Cage was a stark contrast to the crumbling streets of the nearby neighborhood, with velvet-wrapped walls and crystal chandeliers that vibrated with the energy draw of an independent backup generator while the rest of the city was blacked out, and scores of tuxedoed men lounged in rich seats atop reclining leather while savoring vintage champagne as if they weren’t actually in the midst of a trade in human slaves. On a platform of polished marble atop the hall, Mia was strapped into a chair, her hands tied behind her, and though her dress was ripped and her face was smeared with grime, she held her chin high and regarded the crowd with an expression of such pure disgust that it made even Mr. Henderson, the portly silk vest-wearing auctioneer, a little queasy. "We now stand at a current bid of $750,000 from the gentleman in the third row, do I have $800,000 for this one of a kind treasure?" Mr. Henderson wiped the sweat from his for