YEAR

t my skin. The conference room was immaculate, lined with pristine

the others that blended together in the d

, and now I was completing the finishing touches on the last bits of the puzz

heir arrogance was well-earned. ZCorp had been buying up smaller companies, getting their fingers into every lucrative pie they could. But

Gregor, said to me, grasping hands. His grip was firm but c

the discomfort that was seeping up on me. I didn't like the way such things

cess card being pressed into my hand by Gregor with a smirk on his face. "You've been invited to the g

and the same- masked faces in suits drinking and pretending to care about the other's good fortune. But this one? This one was special

y night. Next to me, my fiancée, Serena, shifted her weight

of asking questions like she already knew the answ

lip and then gave her a kiss. "Of course.

of thing," she said, arching an eyebrow. "But, I

ing out on the chance to mingle with more big shots.

rve how she regarded me, her future, her transition to everything she wanted out

office, my head spinning. The gala, the d

lapels out in front of the mirror, I glanced at the photo on my desk. It was a

uine. I hadn't thought about her for a while. She was the one who had walked out instead of agreeing that it was t

one. Water und

the gala and slipped it into

...

, energy palpable as men and women con

eared as though everyone belonged to something important. Serena was to my side, h

I did not particularly care to meet. All about networking, networking that w

t swung on stage. The room was silent. There was one pers

fr

under the light, stood the last person I would ever expect to see

an

. How? Why? What

as she took off her mask. Her face, the same one I'd once traced with my fingers in the

ith the grace of s

edged with steel. "My name is Liana Dav

pa

dn't b

s for the crowd. For the empire she now

men who thought titles made them gods, who thought the

feel the tension. Could feel her str

men who bled quietly behind curtains. Who learned s

ence is... it doesn't mean surren

she pla

noses. Stealing the future, one deal at a time. I'm here to confirm that the rumors are true. We've t

led across

y arm. "Wait... d

e some of you in this room stood in the way of progress, others-" her gaze s

. She knew exactly

glance, it was aim

an unveiling. It's a reckoning. We're not knocking on the door of the f

deas I'd once dismissed, whose voice I silenced in board meetings, thinking I knew bet

era

blade. "So let me show you how the

ted. "Dominic?" she said, but her voice sounded fa

nfidence in her voice, and the way she owned the s

there I was, paralyzed, and all that kept running through my

y heart felt as though it was falling as she

o walked up to Liana and took her hand in his, kissing it

wd faces blurred together and I struggled to make progress ag

s far f