Chapter 10

The storm broke exactly four hours later.

Clara had just returned to the penthouse, the adrenaline from her encounter with Julian still humming through her veins, when Victor’s private elevator pinged open. Victor stepped out, his face like thunder, a sleek tablet gripped so tightly in

Chapter 11

The serene, post-storm calm of the morning was shattered by the shrill ringing of Victor’s phone at 7:00 AM.

Clara woke up tangled in the expensive Egyptian cotton sheets, the heavy weight of Victor’s arm draped securely over her waist. The memory of the previous night rushed back in a

Chapter 12

The site of the future Oasis project was a sprawling, ten-acre expanse of cleared earth in the heart of Manhattan’s financial district. By eleven-thirty that morning, it had been transformed into an arena of corporate theater. Massive white pavilions snapped in the brisk autumn wind, she