The rain lashed against the floor-to-ceiling windows of Julian’s penthouse library, but Vivienne Croft didn’t hear the storm. The only sound registering in her mind was the rhythmic, frantic clicking of her own heels against the mahogany floorboards.

Pacing. She was pacing like a caged animal.

"

The Croft-Sterling building was a ghost town at three in the morning. The executive floors were dark, the expansive glass windows reflecting the glittering skyline of a city that never fully slept.

But Vivienne wasn't on the executive floors.

She stood in the elevator as it plummeted to the sub-

The elevator doors chimed, sliding open to reveal the top floor of Croft-Sterling Enterprises. For the last three years, this floor had been Vivienne Croft’s sanctuary, her war room, and her undisputed domain. Today, it felt like occupied territory.

Before she even rounded the corner to the execut