re here for, Julian.

e adrenaline from facing Jason was fading into a cold, sharp focus. Jason was a ruin, a man who didn't even realize he had been a p

The signal is coming from the Royal Suite. If she's there, she's not alone. My team is reporting a sweep of encrypted signals radiating from tha

of desperation. I had spent twenty years mourning a ghost, and now I was racing toward a woman who had planned my disposal.

and frantic. "This isn't a board meeting. If Catherine is in that suite, she has security that makes the V

y throat. "You've been watching me from the shadows, playing gatekeeper while I was being sold.

gerous Shadow" slipped, revealing a man who looked exhausted and pained.

we reached the penthouse level, my lungs were burning and the red silk of my dress was dam

still. At the end of the hall, the double do

g for us." Ju

walls, their wires hanging like entrails. In the center of the living room, a woman was sitting in a high-backed velvet cha

ays a fast ru

ve my lungs. My mother turned the chair around. She looked older, yes, but she looked like a queen. Her gray

ord felt like a

nly looked at me, as if she were inspecting a piece of property that had been returned in poor condition. "I gave you a life most people

ng into a roar. "You let me believe you were dead! You watched my father die and you didn'

like sharks. I did what was necessary to preserve the legacy. I became a ghost so the money could live. Your father was a weak man, Sar

mean a puppet? Like Jason? He's downstairs crying in

kept you in that house until the Thorne debt was matured. And now..." She looked at Julian, her eyes narrowing. "And now the

ebt is dead, Catherine. The moment you tried to blow up the found

n's hand began to hiss and smoke. He swore, dropping it onto the carpet as it melted into a hunk of useless plastic. "The digital Mi

a sharp, cold fear. "The book

e stopped inches away from me. She smelled like lilies-the same scent Jason had forced me to live with for three years.

my voice trembling but ste

fying anger. "You think you've won because you made a scene in a ballroom? You're a footnote, Sarah. By tomorrow, the Council of Seven will have y

er on the desk. The screen was still active. It wasn't purging fi

tactical gear stepped out from the shadows of t

on hitting me like a physical blow. "She was transferring t

holding a syringe. "We're going to take a long flight. You're going to help me unlock the final tie

held at gunpoint. I looked at the woman who had birthed me and then tried to bury me.

led out the small, gold-framed photo of me as a child-the one Julian had se

I held a shard of the glass against my own thumb, the sharp edge drawing a bead of blood. "If I die i

pped. The gua

pered, her face finally showin

dead inside. You think I'm afraid of a little blood? You've already taken everything I eve

n't." Juli

op their guns. Tell them to walk out of this suite. Or I'll end the Miller legacy right

m of the city outside, the sound of my own heartbeat. Cat

rine said, her voi

and walked out of the suite, their footsteps echoing in the hallway. Juli

nsfer." Julian said.

at my mother, the woman I had loved, the woman I had mourned. S

herine hissed. "You've dest

d the door, never taking my eyes off her. "

, looking up from the screen. "We can

n this penthouse. Stay with your empty servers and your dead names. But if you ever follow me, if you ever breathe my

med, her voice finally breaking into a shrill, desperat

ed silk of my dress s

f. That's a far worse punishment." I pointed toward the chair she had been

I heard the glass shatter inside the room. I didn't look back as we ran for the stai

wasn't a daughter