Clara pressed a trembling hand to her bleeding jaw, her mind racing at a million miles an hour. She stayed slumped against the boardroom table, playing the terrified victim while her brain calculated the damage.

*What does she know?* Clara thought frantically. *Does she know about Damian? Does she

The interior of Damian Thorne’s armored Maybach was a sanctuary of dark leather and silence, a stark contrast to the storm of adrenaline brewing in Clara’s chest. She stared at her reflection in the tinted window. The woman looking back at her was a stranger. Gone were the oversized lab coats, the m

The subterranean laboratory of Vance Innovations was a sterile tomb of brushed steel and LED lighting, buried three floors beneath the bustling corporate headquarters. At 6:00 AM, the silence was absolute.

Clara sat at her primary terminal, her fingers flying across the mechanical keyboard. Her si