The visitation room felt smaller than it really was in reality. The thick glass between the two women did nothing to dull the hostility radiating from Icel’s side of the glass. Amelia gripped the black phone receiver tighter, her knuckles becoming whiter. She had come here for answers, and not games, but Icel was clearly enjoying herself with everything that was going on.She leaned closer to the glass, her orange jumpsuit hanging loose on her thin hour glass frame. “Why do you even want to know who owns DodgerCoin, princess?” she asked, with a voice dripping with mock sweetness. “And while we’re at it, what businesses are you into these days? Are you still trying to climb the same ladder that kicked you off?"Amelia’s jaw tightened. “It’s a private matter," she said. "You really don’t need to know.”Icel’s smile turned malicious, curving slowly and sharp like a blade sliding from the sheath it had been hidden in. “If it’s so private, then keep it to yourself. Don’t come crawling into

Nathan opened the door directly into his townhouse, stepping in with a quiet sigh of relief from his lungs. The city lights from afar glittered through the windows, but for the first time in days, Nathan felt himself in home instead of feeling like a trapped office animal in a cramped space.Rhea was already waiting in the living room, with a soft smile on her face as she rose from the couch. Charity, his grandmother, sat beside her with a half-finished knitting project in her lap. The moment Nathan appeared, the older woman’s eyes lit up as though it had not seen his son for days.“There he is,” Charity said warmly, setting her needles aside. “My busy grandson finally remembers where he lives.”Nathan crossed the room and pulled her into a gentle hug. He then did the same with Rhea, lingering just a second longer. “Sorry I’ve been gone so much. The Lee merger has turned everything upside down for me in that office."Charity patted his cheek, studying him with that sharp, knowing gaze

Nathan stepped into the top-floor conference room of Cloven Tower with the usual calm stride that he typically moved with, but the tension in the air hit him immediately, causing him to be more wary.Victor Lee was already seated at the long glass table in the middle of the room, his face all flushed and serious, while his fists remained clenched on the polished surface. David Brune stood by the window, reviewing a tablet with his brows all furrowed like he was staring at something quote insidious.Nathan's eyes were on Victor Lee. The merger might have been signed, but the old man still carried himself like he owned the building. He did not want to complain, but it dud give him some understanding of the psychological workings beneath the people he was working with. The Lees.Victor didn’t waste time on any pleasantries. “I just received word this morning,” he said with no hook ups. “Money—millions of it—from an offshore account I had no knowledge of was siphoned off into some shady

Michael continued to stand frozen as the two masked men carrying the black body bag past him, disappeared right behind a door. To where? He did not know. But he was sure that the person in the body bag could very well be him. He could very well be killed like that one day by the men he had saddled himself with, even though the heavy plastic sagging in the middle contained nobody else but Celine Peter.Michael’s voice came out hoarse as he turned to Caeser who was just leaning against the wall. “Have you uncovered anything more about the spies?” he asked, hoping to hear something.Caesar's arms were folded across his chest, the prosthetic one clinking softly as he tapped one arm with it. “Nothing," he said brusquely. " We couldn’t get a single useful word out of that woman. The damn woman held out until her very end.” He shrugged. “And incase you are wondering, we did not kill her...on purpose . She died from the injuries that she sustained from the torture. The whole thing was… thorou

Melody Lee felt her legs wiggle underneath her as she stepped through the grand doors of the family mansion just after eight in the evening, as the weight of another long day at Cloven Tower still clung heavily to her shoulders. Something in her was trembling. It was a kind of fear that she had never experienced. She kicked off her heels to the edge of the foyer and then pulled out her phone before she even reached the stairs. Her fingers trembled slightly as she dialed Michael’s number. It seemed as though she was typing some kind of spell for some dark magic.He answered on the third ring, his voice sounding incredibly lazy and smug. “Hello?What do you want?”“I need to see you,” Melody said, keeping her tone of voice low, with an urgent ring to it. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure the hallway was empty. “Right now.”Michael chuckled from the other end. She could hear soft jazz and the clink of ice pouring into a glass of drink in the background. “Why? I’m lounging in a