She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 856

"Please, Sigrid. Just one more chance, okay? Let me serve you. Just one last time. After this, I swear I will never bother you again. And this—" He held up the phone. "I will delete everything right in front of you."

Sigrid looked down at him. Seeing a man who was usually so prideful completely debasing himself eased the murderous rage in her chest.

He had been wrapped around her finger for years. He was always like this—desperate, pathetic, entirely at her mercy. A dog she could summon and kick away at will.

Not like Lucian.

Lucian was a god on a pedestal. He always made her do the chasing. She never truly knew what he was thinking.

Biting her lip, she suddenly reached down, grabbed a fistful of Nathan's hair, and yanked his head back.

"One last time?" she demanded.

Nathan nodded, his eyes burning with fanatic heat. "One last time."

She stared at him for a few seconds before shoving him backward onto the carpet.

"Then let's see if you can still make it worth my while."

...

Two hours later, Sigrid walked out of the cabin, her legs slightly unsteady.

Nathan had kept his word, wiping his phone completely clean while she watched.

Smoothing out her designer gown, she took a deep breath, instantly slipping her icy, untouchable persona back on as she headed for the banquet hall.

She needed to find Lucian.

She had been gone too long. Would he be suspicious?

However, after sweeping the entire room, Lucian was nowhere to be found.

"Where is Lucian?" she grabbed a passing steward by the arm.

The steward blinked. "I haven't seen Mr. Shapiro, ma'am."

She asked several VIP guests. Nobody had noticed him leave.

Panic began to claw at her throat.

She checked their suite. Empty.

The outer decks. Empty.

The VIP lounge. Empty.

A cold, creeping dread slithered up her spine. Her first instinct was to scan the crowd for Loyce, but the pianist had vanished as well.

Fear gripped her heart. Had Loyce somehow kidnapped him?

"Find him!" she shrieked at her security detail. "Get everyone! Search this entire ship top to bottom until you find him!"

Within minutes, the luxury cruise ship erupted into chaos. Security guards ran down hallways, shining flashlights and checking every room. Guests peered out of lounges, murmuring in confusion.

"What's going on?"

"Mr. Shapiro is missing."

"Ms. Sigrid is losing her mind."

Amidst the frenzy, Loyce stepped casually out of a restroom. Watching the frantic guards tearing across the deck, her eyes narrowed slightly in calculation.

Meanwhile, Sigrid and her detail had marched down to the crew-only deck.

At the end of the narrow corridor stood a heavy, unmarked door. It looked like a standard utility closet.

"Did we clear this room?" the head of security barked.

"No, sir. It's staff only. Mr. Shapiro wouldn't come down here."

"Check it anyway!"

She lifted a finger, pointing to her own neck. "You missed a hickey."

Sigrid slapped a hand over her collarbone, her face turning from red to a sickly pale.

The bodyguards exchanged awkward, uncomfortable glances, unsure of what to do.

Grinding her teeth, Sigrid glared at Loyce with pure, unadulterated hatred, wishing she could tear her apart.

Just then, the heavy utility door creaked open. An older cleaning lady pushed a cart out. Wearing a mask and speaking broken English, she asked, "You need... cleaning?"

The lead bodyguard took the opportunity to peer over her shoulder. Seeing nothing but mops, buckets, and industrial shelves, he shook his head at Sigrid.

"Move!" Sigrid hissed, turning on her heel. "Check the lower decks!"

The security detail rushed past the cleaner, following their boss out of the corridor.

Silence fell over the hallway once again.

Loyce placed her wine glass down on a nearby ledge. The relaxed, lazy aura vanished instantly. She stepped into the utility closet, tapping her knuckles against a suspiciously clean section of the back wall. It sounded hollow.

Her eyes darkened. Pulling her arm back, she punched straight through the plasterboard. The flimsy fake wall crumpled, revealing a terrified Quintin on the other side.

"Damn, Loyce! You almost broke my nose!"

Loyce ignored him. The heavy scent of antiseptic and fresh blood hit her instantly. "Is Lucian in there?"

Quintin marveled at her terrifying intuition. Knowing there was zero chance of lying his way out of this, he nodded and pulled the false wall aside to let her in.

Heath and the combat surgeons from Blossom Hospital had just finished successfully extracting the microchip from Lucian's frontal lobe. The sutures were complete.

Because it was an awake craniotomy, Lucian was fully conscious. He spoke in a low, raspy voice. "Are we clear?"

"The extraction was flawless," Heath replied, wiping his brow. "But I'm worried the system will trigger an alarm now that the chip is disconnected..."

A voice cut in from the shadows. "There is a ten-minute delay before the kill-switch activates. If the chip is implanted into any living human tissue with a pulse, the biometric system will continue registering normal vitals."