CHAPTER ELEVEN “Jensen, please.” Her voice trembled on cue. Perfectly reharsed. “I made a mistake. A horrible mistake. I was scared, and confused, and Benjamin pressured me into all of it… please, just give me one more chance…” “No,” Jensen cut her off. Rose blinked, thrown by the lack of hesitation. “You don’t mean that. Two years, Jensen. You loved me.” She sniffled. “I did.” His voice stayed even, almost bored. “That’s in the past now. You made sure of that yourself, in a VIP room, in front of an audience, with another man’s hand groping you.” He shrugged. “Hard to unsee something like that. Even harder to care.” “You’re being cruel, Jensen.” Jensen scoffed. “I’m being honest. There’s a difference, but I understand the confusion. You’ve never experienced the second one.” Lana’s patience snapped instantly. She was behind Rose the entire time. “Don’t talk to her like that, you broke piece of trash.” She stepped forward, finger jabbing the air. “You think anyone

CHAPTER THIRTEEN “An empire,” Geena repeated, smiling like she’d been waiting all day to hear him say it. “Good. Because empires don’t run on sentiment, big brother. They run on leverage. And you’re about to get your first lesson in exactly that.” Jensen closed the folder. “Then teach me,” he said to her. “Start with whatever’s actually useful. Skip the parts where you dress it up as a metaphor.” Geena’s smile sharpened. “Fine. Next week, the three major families and Everest Corporation are throwing a charity dinner….” She stood up, walking toward the mini bar to pour herself a drink. “…Officially, it’s raising money for underfunded community programs.” She let the pause stretch. “Unofficially, it’s a cage match dressed in black tie. Everyone who matters in this city is going to be in that room, sniffing for blood, trying to figure out who’s actually running Whitmore.” “Meet me, you mean.” He said. “Meet you,” she confirmed. “They already know the company exist

CHAPTER FIFTEENJensen stepped into the VIP section.He wasn’t done spending yet.“Can I help you?” The salesman’s eyes swept over the bags from the menswear store, then over Jensen’s face.He frowned. “I’d like to see the special pieces.” Jensen“Listen pretty boy, those start at fifty thousand. This isn’t a pawn shop where you bring in your mother’s wedding ring and walk out with a story. Maybe try the food court. I hear the watch kiosk by the pretzel stand does battery replacements for five thousand dollars.”A woman browsing nearby snorted into her hand.“I didn’t ask for comedy,” Jensen said. “I asked to see the collection.”“And I’m telling you to leave before I call security and save us both the embarrassment.” The man leaned on the counter, smug. “This is the VIP session. Some random playboy cannot anything here. You can leave now. These things are above you.” He said to Jensen.“Things people like you gatekeep,” Jensen replied, “because the moment someone walks in without t

Chapter 17 "My mother used to say hunger has a smell.” Charlotte said, turning the bottle slowly between her fingers. "You don't notice it until you've been clean of it for a while, and then it hits you while walking past a restaurant vent. Cooking oil and rot, at the same time." Jensen kept his eyes on her. She took another sip of her alcohol before sniffling like she got something in her nostrils. “We lived in the Hollow district. You’ve probably never been there.” She smiled faintly. “Nobody goes there unless they have to. My father died before I could remember his face. My mother collected scrap to keep us fed: copper wire, old appliances, whatever people threw out that still had value if you knew where to sell it.” A pause. A long one. Like she was pulling the memories out from the darkest core of her soul. “Winters were the worst. We didn’t have real walls in half the apartment. Just wood boards nailed over gaps where the wind came through. I used to sleep in eve

CHAPTER NINETEEN “Told you I’d be back!” Jensen pushed off the brick wall and got a clear look at the army Benjamin had assembled. Twelve muscle men, heavily tattooed. “Twelve men,” Jensen said while wiping blood from his lip. “For one busboy. Did your father know you’d need a small militia, or did you not bother telling him you’re still this pathetic?” Benjamin’s smile wavered. “You only won before because some rich bitch came riding in on her Trojan horse. She’s not here tonight.” He spread his arms wide, theatrically. “It’s just you. Just you and the people who actually matter in this city.” “I don’t see anyone here who matters,” Jensen said. “I see a coward who needed a dozen strangers to feel brave for one night.” Benjamin’s smile cracked.. “Kneel. Apologize properly. Or I swear, you’ll spend the rest of your miserable life learning how to crawl instead.” “You couldn’t make me kneel with a gun to my head,” Jensen said. “What makes you think twelve id