The text message arrived at 11:42 PM.

Clara was sitting cross-legged on the plush, oversized sofa in Victor’s penthouse, a tablet balanced on her knees as she reviewed the *real* blueprints for the Oasis project. The penthouse was quiet, save for the rhythmic drumming of rain against the floor-to-

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 his hand th

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 wave of hea