The limousine glided to a halt in front of the Grand Atrium, its tires whispering against the rain-slicked pavement. Outside, the night was ablaze with the blinding flashes of paparazzi cameras and the glow of spotlights sweeping across the museum’s neoclassical facade. A towering banner draped betw

"Turn it off!" Marcus roared, his voice cracking with sudden, raw panic. He slammed his hands down on the podium, scrambling to snatch the blank paper away from the document camera. "Frank, cut the feed! It's a trick! She tampered with the document!"

But the massive screens remained blindingly whit

The scent of fresh magnolias and polished mahogany filled the expansive showroom of *Vance Fine Jewelry*.

Six months had passed since the night Victoria Hayes’s launch had spectacularly imploded in a shower of undeniable proof and public humiliation. Six months since Marcus Sterling had been escor