Prologue

In the late hours of the night, a man with silky chestnut hair, streaked by a single strand of grey, watched the sleeping woman vigilantly like a hawk. Her long curls were as dark as night, willing him to run his fingers to feel their softness. But he didn't do that. Instead, he maintained his distance.

It was the end between them. When she woke up hours later, he would be already gone.

The effect of his words still was fresh on his mind.

"Just like how you negate the effects of my power, you are my demise yet my match. We belong together."

Tank Zil stole one final glance at the sleeping beauty, condemning his fate as he sped towards the exit. Contradictory to how Chloe Patterson was completely consumed, his vitality was replenished from the act of their coupling earlier, something a normal person like her wouldn't quite understand.

Similarly, she wouldn't realise the meaning behind his words, either. Perhaps his hinting to her was just a rambling in her ears.

It had all started six months ago. He still remembered how he, Rudy and the others had made a perfect plan.

"One last time," Rudy assured, cheering with a glass full of beer. "We celebrate, take what we want and retire from this trade for good."

"Oh?" Tank had queried. "You sure about this? The Pattersons' mansion is highly guarded. How can you be one hundred per cent sure that we will succeed?"

Tank was a worrier, and Rudy knew that. But he had convinced him by reminding him of how he had used his tricks to get out safely each time. Naturally, as his second in command, Tank trusted Rudy.

Then, they went on with their plan. They had stolen many times, but Tank had done it for a purpose, and it was to incur his father's wrath. This time, like the other times, he was assured by Rudy that nothing would go wrong.

"What are we up for?" Tank leapt up the roof stealthily, casting down a long rope for his comrades to climb up slowly. His sinister smiles told a lot about his dark personality and his ambitious plans.

"The Fire Agate Gem."

Rudy never bothered himself by telling long tales. All he said was just one sentence, and everyone took his word for it. Tank knew that the Fire Agate Gem was worth billions. Contrary to the simple name it had, the gem was purely magical and existed for an indefinite period. He wanted Tank to get the gang and himself into the house, steal the jewel and then use his skill to escape.

Tank knew what he had to do for them to leave with the gem. He had done it almost a hundred times, and he would do it again. But he didn't imagine that he would have met Chloe Patterson that night. He had an unexplainable ability that worked each time.

"Wait." Rudy put an arm on his shoulder. "Let's see where the gem is."

The hacker in the gang traced the whereabouts of the Fire Agate immediately to a hidden spot inside a crack on Chloe's ceiling in her room. With a mental map of the mansion, he opened a window and slid right into the room adjacent to Chloe's, landing with a soft thud on the carpet.

"CCTV spotted. Disable them quickly!" he whispered through the microphone, responded by loud taps of the hacker's keyboard. The hacker was at it.

To his luck, the girl must have forgotten to lock the door. He turned the doorknob as quietly as he could. As he expected. she was still sound asleep. Perfect.

He located the gem with his keen eyesight. Then he somersaulted towards the ceiling and grabbed it with an insane gymnastic trick he had been practising for a decade, but only needed to use that night. Then he dragged open the window and tossed it right through the open window to Rudy, who was waiting outside.

"Now, run! Quick!" Rudy whispered loudly, his large head disappearing from the window. The exchange of hands told him the jewel was now with another person in the gang.

Tank heaved a sigh of relief, and got ready to leave from the window. But before he could do so, he accidentally stepped on a pair of spectacles that someone had placed carelessly on the floor. The impact created a cracking sound that caused the sleeping woman to jolt awake.

That was the first time he met Chloe Patterson, squinting at him with her adorable eyes, probably because he had broken her glasses. At the first glance, she was cute, but wrecking his life had its consequences. In her blindness, she pulled him in front of her and stared at him without a word, for a few long seconds.

The next thing he remembered was that someone had bashed his head with a baseball bat, and when he woke up hours later he was inside his prison cell.

He would never, never let Chloe Patterson off. At least, not in this life!