The boardroom carried the heavy silence of a courtroom before sentencing. Matriarch Adelaide Turner sat in the patriarch's chair at the head of the long table, posture rigid, expression carved from decades of authority. The rest of the Turner relations occupied their usual seats along both sides, though today the air felt different, charged with something Mika couldn't name when she pushed through the double doors.She was late, and she already knew what was coming before her grandmother's voice cut across the room."Mika, why are you late again?""Traffic, Grandmother." Mika kept her tone even as she moved toward her seat. She knew perfectly well that Roland Turner had sent the meeting notice at eight-forty for a nine o'clock start, barely leaving her time to dress, let alone navigate morning gridlock. But explaining that would accomplish nothing, the old woman had never once sided with her against Roland."You're blaming the traffic?" Adelaide's voice sharpened

Curry and Mika pulled up to the Turner Estate as afternoon light slanted through the elms lining the drive. Mika sat in the passenger seat, staring at the villa's wide facade through the windshield. The house looked the same as always, grand, solid, its pale stone warm in the sun, but it felt different now, as though it had already been taken from her.She exhaled slowly.Starting today, this place would no longer be hers. The rooms she'd walked through every morning, the garden her mother fussed over, the study where she'd worked countless late nights preparing reports for Pinnacle Corp, all of it would belong to someone else's story.Going back to Pinnacle Corp was out of the question. Even if she were somehow reinstated, Roland would make her life unbearable, undercutting every decision and poisoning every meeting with a smile. Better to start fresh somewhere smaller, somewhere quieter, even if the salary couldn't compare.She turned to Curry before they got o

"Since my dear brother-in-law insists on being so utterly unreasonable," Roland Turner said, flicking his wrist in a theatrical display of outrage, "then don't blame me for what comes next. Consider this matter closed. I'd love to see whether Pinnacle Corp collapses without Mika Turner holding it together."He kept his expression tight with manufactured fury, but behind that mask his mind was already calculating. Nobody in that room would believe a word Curry Pitt had said. As long as the performance stayed convincing, the leverage remained firmly in his own hands.And sure enough, the moment Celeste Vale caught the edge in Roland's voice, she rushed to smooth things over with a nervous, placating smile. "Come on, Roland, why lower yourself to his level? He's a former inmate who hasn't seen anything of the real world. Don't waste your anger on someone like that." She waved her hand dismissively toward Curry, her voice climbing an octave higher than necessary. "Give it a li

The girl yanked her arm free the instant the tattooed young man seized her wrist. "Get your hands off me!" Her voice cut through the bass-heavy thrum of the bar, sharp with alarm.That was all it took to set him off. His open palm cracked across her cheek before she could pull back, the sound swallowed almost immediately by the pounding music, though it rang loud enough for those standing nearby to flinch."You come out here to work and then play the innocent?" He sneered down at her, flexing his hand. "You want the money but none of the expectations? The world doesn't work that way, sweetheart."The two sentences landed harder than the slap. The girl crumpled inward, burying her face between her knees as tears streamed silently down her reddened cheek. Her shoulders trembled, small and pitiful against the grimy tiles of the corridor outside the restrooms.The tattooed man swung his glare outward, catching the half-dozen onlookers frozen mid-step. "The hell are a

The kick landed like a thunderclap, and every person in the Spade Lounge felt it reverberate through their bones.Nobody there was unfamiliar with Hollis Fenwick. Anyone who frequented the bar circuit knew exactly who stood behind him, and that knowledge had kept Hollis untouchable for years. He'd bullied, extorted, and humiliated people in these very booths without a soul daring to protest. So when his body hit the floor with blood streaming down his face, more than a few silent victims felt something loosen in their chests for the first time in years."You're finished." Hollis smeared blood across his face with the back of his hand, his voice raw with fury. "I'm going to kill you tonight.""Don't waste my time talking." Curry withdrew his foot with casual indifference. "Stand up first, then we'll see." He dropped onto the leather sofa as if he owned the place, crossed one leg over the other, and reached for a glass of soda water. He took a slow sip without so much a