Silent Regret

You brought me here because I'm the only one

n't wait for him to show me the view of the glowing Manhattan skyline. I didn't wait for him to offer me a seat on the velvet furniture. I st

nter. He didn't turn around, but I saw his shoulde

w vibration that seemed to travel through the floorboards. "Most people are too

y person in the room who doesn't know the full story. Clara's father isn't just skimming money. I saw a name in th

ght the light of the setting sun, looking like liquid

decade of buried rage. "The man who took our house and eventually my father's life. You aren't just bu

eliberate click. He walked toward me, his steps silent and predatory, until

e lost his dignity. Vane used him to build the foundations of this empire, then discarded him like

e strand of my hair. The touch was unexpect

ervers better than the people who built them. I knew if I threw you a lifeline when Clara tried to

s ever could. "You waited for them to attack me so you could swoop in

up at him. "There is a difference. Clara would have had you at the bottom of the East River by mid

is pocket and laid it in my palm. It

You unlock this, and we don't just take the firm. We take Vane's head. But once that file is open,

My heart was a drum in my chest. I wanted the revenge. I wanted to see the look on Jul

have the money for a doz

, leaning down until his lips brushed my temple. "You

ve, the plastic edges biting into

down at the console, the screens flickering to life with lines of glowing green code, I felt the shift. I wasn't just his e

reaming past my eyes. "But there's a secondary trigge

d, standing behind me, hi

The backup generators hummed to life, bathing the room in a ghostly, red emergency glow.

I whispered, my

the desk and pulled out a matte black handgun

and terrifyingly calm. "I suppose Vane

red light. "Louisa, get under the desk. Do not move, do n

eo

harp, military crack that

d of the front door being blown off its hinges echoed through the penthouse. It was f

ess, I heard Keon move. He wasn't running; he was hunting. The sounds of a s

nce so thick it felt

ered, my voice

he shadows, but it wasn't Keon's steady gri

e bird," a raspy

Keon had given me. As the man lunged for my throat, I drove the b