evator alone, the silver keycard tre

cking heels and muttered greetings hadn't begun yet. Outside, the city was wrapped in

keycard int

for Level

ted for on

he ste

r. Like it knew where she was going. Like it had carried secrets up an

ned, Emma wasn't s

nly no

t. Warm. Elegant. The lights were softer, the walls paneled with dark wood instead of steel. A

& Legal Holdings –

alked

y comforting. There were no interns, no assistants, no sound of tapping

l registry, coded with biometric access. She scann

it her like

Equity Trans

gal – Shelt

J. Hayes – Pr

ed on the

ng op

ss d

ard of Project Westfall. But it

ied an

Equity Trans

F op

scr

nies and shell corporations-many based overseas. There were hidden directives-suggesting board votes were

ed from last year-before Emma had eve

d long before his current reputat

urth page made h

ll Ho

on's

e generic names. Still, she couldn't s

coinc

e file and locked th

he hea

ator doo

ed, heart

t, coat over one shou

n," he said.

e me the

see if you

wed. "What

7 holds the company's legac

Cla

ed an e

contracts,"

not supposed to be afraid of what you find

anted me

nt you'd be. One who avoids uncomforta

him. "And whi

nto something betwee

ant someone who knows whe

ast her towa

ternoon. You'll be managing certain i

f I sa

, then lo

won

nswer. She di

he was

e. About Claire. About Level 27. About why, despite the war

and found another document-o

al – Internal Memo,

Claire

gal Division,

won't question it. And if Jack hesitates-remind him what's buried i

sta

l wasn't just a

s a t

ew. Cla

-Emma k

awing spaceships on the kitchen floor

upiter has like, six

" she said d

up. "You o

y. "Yeah, baby. Ju

her. "Did the b

laughed.

ited her into a world where the rules w

had sa

ept, Emma reopened the Clai

t at the bottom she h

nford – Pre-Nuptial

cli

a draft o

expected to

into his empire long befor

at the fi

all assets under Wrenford & Co., and veto power over Hayes Ente

o p

control-not just shares or perks. If she and Jack were ever en

ver tried to

haled s

d be like crossing into the rarefied air of t

as something

ttle

was a storm gathering at the edge of every meeting, every deal

alked into

to decide if s