dings a barely four years old co

architecture. They provided cutting-edge facial recognition software, encrypted communication systems, and

e glossy brochures. The dark money. The high-risk deals. The kind

"Precision. Pow

ing into a high-tech prison-one where you never knew which corner h

was now in th

a silly red-s

L – BOARD USE ONLY. Inside it? A chilling paper trail linking Grey Holdings to something far ugli

ather's

I opened the folder and saw my stepfather's name printed in bold, right next to tech

Thorne doing connected

that fil

rtantly-did Z

e, the strange way he always seemed to appear just as I was second-

t

omethin

ing da

k, I didn't go st

of Grey Holdings and took a good look arou

he quiet hum of automated lights above... it was al

th that p

cr

ad down as I passed Zane's office.

seen yesterday-the

d with

er, her voice a touch too perky for how little c

muttered, trying to open

grinned. "Grey's dea

glare anymore. It

ing lik

tter. No echoing heels. Just silence, like

I saw

or by his side, reading from a black folder. His

t glance

even

deliberately pretending not to see me, which only m

in that

a

corted out the second

archive with classified reports from a p

ave even known

she had stayed there. Read

was w

y in this building. And

she was working for-and who

ry Prescott sat quietly, typing with sti

n't loo

me even mo

v

into my inbox ju

signature. Ju

ld like to s

mach t

barely looked at me. I assumed

nt from my pencil skirt, and

d the door w

ide like he'd been

as he leaned over a table of blueprint drafts. A laptop

ike the a

he door,

bey

began, catching the panic on

"Then... wh

I sat, trying not to let

"One that requires a second pair of eyes on o

one wor

l be off the books.

y m

e foolish enough to open something you weren't

llowe

did

er in front of me. No red stickers thi

time. Because once you open

d at th

open

I walked hom

was quiet.

into darkness, flipping the l

was out

ll flash drive on

t left

lived

k on the wall mirror, we

ere w