Chapter 5 · The Name in the Vault

"You're not cleared for this floor."

His voice hit the back of my neck before I even heard the door. I froze with the ledger half-open on my knees, flashlight app still burning white against yellowed paper.

"Housekeeping runs supply checks on sub-level two," I said, not turning around. "Ma'am Corazon signed off on it."

"Housekeeping doesn't touch the vault." Jae Min's shoes stopped six feet from me. Close enough that I could hear the leather flex. "That door needs a keycard from operations. Or a code from the family."

I didn't have either. He knew I didn't have either.

I slid the ledger flat against my thigh, cover down, like that would fix anything. My heart was doing something stupid and fast, the kind of fast that has nothing to do with getting caught and everything to do with the fact that he'd followed me down three flights instead of calling security.

"I got locked in when the fire door reset," I said. "I was leaving."

"You've been in here twenty minutes.