The Alpha Thief Stole the Wrong Man - Chapter 3

After nightfall, he took me to the vault.

He avoided the patrols along the way, then somehow sent the guards on duty elsewhere.

Following behind him, I let my wandering hand brush his body.

A card slipped silently into my palm.

I glanced at the name on it by the light of a wall lamp.

“Your name’s Lu Zheng?”

He stopped and looked back at me, puzzled.

I waved the card with a mischievous grin.

He took it back, looking resigned. “You really can steal anything.”

That card had serious clearance. He could enter and leave the vault freely and order the guards away. He was no ordinary bodyguard. He had to be one of their inner circle, at least.

I took the chance to probe.

“Have you ever met Shen Siye?”

Shen Siye, the new head of the Shen family.

He was incredibly secretive and had never appeared in public. I’d researched him before the job and couldn’t even find a photograph.

Lu Zheng raised an eyebrow. “Why the sudden interest?”

“I need to know what the man I’m hiding from looks like. What if I blunder into him one day and don’t even know what got me killed?”

Lu Zheng fell silent, an odd look on his face.

The light was too dim for me to notice. I went on dispensing my wisdom.

“I heard Shen Siye was an illegitimate son who clawed his way to the top. He’s notorious for being ruthless. Wiped out most of the family in their internal power struggle.”

“A vicious bastard like that probably looks terrifying. Too ugly to show his face. That’s why he never appears in public.”

“What do you think?”

When I turned back, Lu Zheng’s expression had grown even stranger.

The corner of his mouth actually twitched, almost imperceptibly.

It dawned on me. “You really have met him? Don’t tell me I guessed right?”

He gave me an indescribable look.

After a long pause, he forced out through his teeth, “…If you say so.”

As we spoke, the second combination door came into view.

I focused at once, dropping to one knee before it. I pressed an ear against the door, listening to the faint sounds inside as I turned the dial a fraction at a time.

Half an hour later, the lock opened.

I stood up and turned to him triumphantly.

Lu Zheng leaned against the wall, admiration undisguised in his eyes.

“The Shens paid thirty million for a top security consultant to do a penetration test. He couldn’t get past the first door.”

I shrugged with a grin.

“That’s different.”

“He gets his thirty million whether he gets through or not.”

“I put in one wrong code, and by next year the grass on my grave will be three meters high.”

Lu Zheng didn’t laugh.

Something changed in the way he looked at me.

“You need money that badly?”

“Yeah.”

“Eight hundred million is a lot. What do you need that much for?”

I gave him a smile that was half a joke, half the truth.

“Without eight hundred million, I’ll die.”

Silence settled for a moment.

His gaze rested on my face, quietly assessing me, as if trying to decide how seriously I’d meant it.

His stare made me uncomfortable.

There were things I didn’t need to tell a stranger I’d slept with once.

I flashed him a flippant grin and changed the subject.

“What, worried I’ll die?”

“Then be gentler next time.”

“If you put me through another night like last night, I might die in your bed before I get my hands on the diamond.”

His eyes darkened.

The next second, he strode over, scrambled the combination I’d just cracked, caught my wrist, and pulled me away.

“Hey!” I protested. “We’ve only opened one door!”

“It’s time for the shift change. We’re going back for tonight.”

He leaned close to my ear, his voice low and rough.

“I’ll be gentle.”