Lyvana stopped in front of her.
"Then why did you run?"
Lisa opened her mouth, but no answer ca.
"I asked you to drink the coconut water," Lyvana continued. "If there was nothing wrong with it, why panic? Why run through the building like a criminal?"
"I..." Lisa stamred. Her eyes darted around wildly.
"Take her to the security office, and have Marco interrogate her."
Ten minutes later, Marco appeared in her office. "We need to get out of here now."
Lyvana stood up. "What happened."
"I’ll tell you in the car," Marco said.
The seriousness in his voice made her stomach tighten.Without another question, Lyvana grabbed her phone and followed him out of the office.
As they hit the corridor, Marco pressed his phone to his ear. "Bring the car out front. Mrs. Grant needs to leave the building right now."
he urgency in his tone was impossible to miss. He hung up, grabbing Lyvana’s elbow to guide her toward the elevator. That was when they heard it.
Gunshots.
It echoed from the lobby below, cutting him off.
Screams followed.
The elevator dinged open. It was empty. But the sound of gunfire from the lobby froze both of them in place.
Marco didn’t hesitate. He shoved Lyvana back against the wall and shielded her with his body. His hand went to his gun in one smooth motion.
"Let’s go back to the office," he said, already pulling her away from the elevator.
They went back into the office, slamming the door shut.
"What is happening, Marco?"
"The lobby is breached. Professional hit squad," Marco replied, peeling back the blinds an inch.
"And Lisa? What did she tell you?"
"The coconut water was laced with a sedative. They wanted you unconscious and waiting. It’s Andrew ma’am."
"Andrew Thorne? What the hell. I need to call Julian."
"I called Lily, don’t worry."
A crash echoed from the hallway. Glass shattered, followed by the rhythmic thud of combat boots on carpet.
"They’re on this floor," Marco whispered. "We can’t stay here; the windows leave us too exposed. Look up. The service vent in the ceiling. It leads directly to the north stairwell."
Lyvana looked up at the narrow grate. "Will I even fit in there?"
"Yes, ma’am. Trust ."
Marco holstered his weapon, braced his weight, and hoisted her upward. With a surge of adrenaline, Lyvana scrambled through the opening and into the dark, tallic shaft.
Marco climbed up right behind her, pulling the vent cover back into place just as they started crawling toward the exit.
Below them, a barrage of gunfire suddenly erupted, slamming violently into the office door. But the bullets flattened uselessly against the heavy, reinforced mahogany surface. The hidden bulletproof plating inside was holding them off, buying Lyvana and Marco the ti they needed to disappear.
Her phone rang, it was Julian.
But she couldn’t answer it. The narrow space of the air vent was too tight, and any sudden movent or sound could give away their position to the gunn right below them.
The vibration of the phone rattled against her thigh, the bright screen lighting up the dark, dusty shaft with Julian’s na. It broke her heart to ignore it, knowing how worried he must be, but she had to stay completely silent.
Marco gave her a reassuring tap on her ankle, signaling her to keep moving. He pointed toward the dim light at the end of the shaft.
Swallowing her fear, Lyvana let the phone go silent and kept crawling forward through the dark, praying that Julian would make it to the building in ti.
Outside the office, Andrew and his three enforcers grew more frustrated by the second. They slamd their weight against the entrance and kept firing, but the door wouldn’t budge. They had no idea the mahogany surface was backed by heavy, bulletproof steel.
"What do you an it’s not opening?" Andrew snarled, his face twisted in rage as he glared at his n. "It’s a wooden door! Kick it down!"
One of the n kicked the handle with all his might, but the solid fra didn’t even shudder. "It’s reinforced, boss! The bullets are just flattening against it. It’s a dead end."
Andrew cursed loudly, realizing his perfect plan was falling apart. Every wasted second ant Julian was getting closer to the building.
"Find another way in!" Andrew snapped. "Check the side walls, check the adjacent offices! She is in there. We probably have just a few minutes!"
Andrew was right to be panicked. The police were only five minutes away, rushing toward the building with more than ten patrol cars. Because Lyvana was coded as a Level One ergency, every available unit in the area was moving at full speed with sirens wailing.
Julian had also been inford. The mont he heard the news, his world shattered, and he was now tearing through the city streets, desperate to reach her.
Inside the dark ceiling shaft, Lyvana could hear the muffled shouts of Andrew’s n through the tal vents. They were kicking at the walls of the adjacent offices, trying to find a weak spot in the drywall to bypass the bulletproof door.
"Hurry," Marco whispered from behind her, his voice barely audible over the distant sound of breaking glass below. "We need to reach the backroom before they realize the ceiling is an option."
Lyvana squeezed her eyes shut for a second, her hands trembling against the cold tal floor of the vent. She could still feel her phone vibrating in her pocket. Julian was trying to reach her again. She wanted nothing more than to answer and hear his voice, but she forced herself to keep crawling forward into the dark.
Just as Andrew’s enforcers break through the drywall of the adjacent office, tires screech violently outside the building. Julian arrives ahead of the police with his own security team, heavily ard and storming the lobby to eliminate the threat and reach Lyvana.
The enforcers doubled back toward the elevators, hearing the heavy gunfire and chaos erupting from the lobby below.
Andrew stood alone in the empty office.
"Where is she?" he hissed to himself.
He knew she couldn’t have vanished into thin air. His eyes darted from the empty desks to the windows, and then slowly traveled upward toward the ceiling.
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