He Made Her Queen, Then Took Her Crown

Chapter 31: Smoke And Mirrors

Rowan’s private lift opened straight into the top-floor suite of Echelon Eight.

It still felt strange, riding up fifty stories alone. No chime, no polite “ding,” just doors that parted like stage curtains whenever the biometric scanner recognized his pulse.

Inside, Elena already had the war-room look on her face: hair twisted in a low knot, glasses perched halfway down her nose, one finger flying across a tablet while the other hand paged through three color-coded folders at once. She never seemed rushed, only calibrated.

Rowan stood before the glass, the skyline sprawled beneath him like a chessboard on fire — towers glowing, cars streaming through arteries of light. A faint smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth, subtle but real.

Elena saw it.

She’d been watching him for years, and she could count on one hand the times that smile had appeared like that — genuine, not calculated. The last time, if she remembered right, was the day he found out his secret investment in a failin