The executive floor was unnervingly quiet as Victoria made her way toward Arthur’s corner office. She walked with a deliberate, predatory grace, her heels sinking silently into the thick, custom-woven carpet. The administrative assistants she passed kept their heads down, their eyes glued to their m

The Montgomery Private Equity building stood as a monolith of black glass and steel against the night sky, a physical manifestation of its owner’s reputation. Silas Montgomery did not build things; he acquired them, stripped them of their rotting parts, and rebuilt them into impenetrable fortresses.

The annual Sapphire Charity Luncheon was the crown jewel of the city’s high-society calendar. It was a suffocatingly opulent affair held in the grand ballroom of the Plaza, where the elite gathered to sip champagne, trade gossip, and pretend to care about philanthropy. For Arthur Pendelton, it was t