The mahogany conference table in Elias Sterling’s office was so highly polished it looked like a dark, bottomless pool. Vivienne Vance sat perfectly still, her hands folded over a leather folio, watching her fiancé’s reflection waver in the wood.

Julian Thorne was sweating. It was a subtle sheen a

The Vanguard PR Anniversary Gala was still a week away, but the preliminary battleground had already been set at the apex of the Manhattan skyline.

The annual Global Communications Summit mixer was being held at a rooftop venue encased entirely in glass, offering a panoramic view of the glittering

Elias Sterling’s corner office was a fortress of glass, steel, and discretion. Perched on the forty-second floor of a midtown skyscraper, it was the kind of room where fortunes were quietly dismantled and legally erased.

Vivienne sat across from his mahogany desk, a crystal tumbler of sparkling wa