Vivian did not sleep for the rest of the night.She sat on the edge of the motel bed, staring at her phone. She kept checking it anyway. As if staring at it would somehow make time move slower.Seventy-two hours.The words kept repeating in her head like a countdown. Seventy-two hours to find a ring she had never seen before. A ring that might not even exist.What if Ethan did not have it? What if the man had been wrong? What if this entire thing was a waste of time and she ended up with nothing?No. She could not think like that. The man had seemed certain. He knew exactly what he was looking for.That meant the ring was real. And if it was real, Ethan had it somewhere.The question was: where?Marcus stirred beside her, mumbling something in his sleep. Vivian glanced at him briefly, then looked away. He had been useless so far. Just sitting there, nodding along, offering nothing.She needed to think. She needed a plan.By the time the sun came up, Vivian had gone through every possi

Ethan sat in the study on the second floor, his laptop open in front of him. The screen cast a pale blue light across his face as he scrolled through documents he had pulled from the encrypted files on the flash drive Lieutenant Morrison had given him earlier that day.Shadow Profound Order. Foreign operatives. Assassination attempts. All of it connected to the ring sitting in the locked drawer beside him.He had been reading for hours, trying to piece together what the organization wanted. Why they were so desperate to get the ring back. What it represented.The documents were heavily redacted, but he could make out enough. The Shadow Profound Order was not just a criminal syndicate. It was something older. Something with roots that stretched back decades, maybe centuries.And the ring was the key to controlling it.Ethan leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. His conversation with Claire earlier had been weighing on him. Forty-eight hours. The board was giving her forty-eight

Fifteen minutes later, headlights flooded the front driveway. Ethan stood by the window in the living room, watching as three black military vehicles pulled up to the villa. Doors opened. Soldiers stepped out, moving with the kind of precision that came from years of training. James Cole was the first one through the door. He was wearing civilian clothes, but the way he carried himself made it clear he was military. His eyes swept the room, taking in everything at once. Vivian and Marcus were sitting on the couch, both of them pale and silent. Ethan stood a few feet away, his arms crossed. "Where are they?" James asked. Ethan nodded toward the couch. "There." James walked over and looked down at Vivian and Marcus. His expression was hard. "Stand up." Vivian did not move. Marcus slowly got to his feet, his hands trembling. "I said stand up," James repeated. Vivian finally stood, her legs shaking so badly she almost fell back down. James gestured to two of the soldie

3:00 AM.Ethan sat cross-legged in the study, his eyes closed. His breathing was slow and steady. In. Out. In. Out.He was not sleeping. He was waiting.The villa was silent around him. Lily was asleep down the hall. The soldiers James had assigned were stationed outside. The surveillance teams were watching from the woods.Everything was in place.Ethan's phone sat on the desk beside him, the screen dark. James had sent the last update fifteen minutes ago. The five operatives were moving closer. Circling the property. Looking for weaknesses.They would find none.Ethan opened his eyes and stood up. He walked to the window and looked out into the darkness. The woods were thick. He could not see the operatives, but he knew they were there.Waiting. Just like him.He turned away from the window and walked to the center of the room. He rolled his shoulders. Stretched his neck. His body felt loose. Ready.Then he heard it.A soft sound from downstairs. Glass breaking.Ethan's eyes narrowe

Ethan's phone rang twenty minutes after the van disappeared. Unknown number. He answered immediately. The screen switched to video. A masked figure appeared. Behind him, Claire was tied to a chair, her hands bound behind her back. A cut on her forehead. Her jacket torn at the shoulder. She was alive, but her face was pale and her breathing was unsteady. Ethan's jaw tightened. "Mr. Cross." The masked leader's voice was calm. Almost bored. Like this was routine for him. "I trust you can see Miss Sterling is unharmed. For now." "If you touch her—" "You are not in a position to make threats." The leader tilted the camera toward Claire. She looked up, and for a brief second her eyes found the camera. Found Ethan. She did not cry. She just looked at him with quiet trust that made something tighten in his chest. The camera swung back to the leader. "You know what we want." "The ring." "Bring it to Pier 19. One hour." The leader paused. "Come alone. No military. No General Cole. No