he only ally she had left. She had counted every single one at first. Then she had stopped.

ailored white pantsuit, and the sharp click of her red-soled h

and pleading, but sharp and cold as ice. She took a deep breath of

she had been dragged into the back of an SUV.

ps precise, like a miniature CEO surveying his domain. He coolly pulled a silver, hard-shell briefcase behind him with one hand, his e

, her other hand occupied with a rapidly melting ice cream cone. The two of them were a co

s pocket. "You have chocolate on your face," he muttered with the air of a long-suffering CEO. He sighed-a

e boring on your face," she mumb

riking trio-a beautiful, powerful woman and two impossi

sy Sullivan, held up a simple sign th

gave her loyal assis

, her arm dipping unexpectedly from the we

lt our empire in Zurich," Mason re

-up questions. She had learned long ago

echoing a purposeful rhythm on the polished marble floors. A black

before sliding in beside them. The heavy door closed w

his backpack and pulled out a ruggedized tablet that looked like it belonged to

ook him less than ten seconds to bypass the firewalls

seat, Daisy turned and

e title on the cover: "Hawthorne Ph

gency. "They've called an emergency vote to bypass the SEC freeze by reclassifying and siph

gement and outright theft. She recognized some of the signatures. Men her father had trusted

es' to circumvent the freeze, leading to a series of offshore shell corporations owned by Frank Foster and Timothy Miller. It

escaped Chloe's lips. I

brother. She didn't understand what was happening, but she knew her moth

ng the edge of the cover. A brief flash of memory: the feel of cold marble against her palms, the taste of blood on her lip.

g a dark mark on the pavement. It veered away from the route to their Upper E

o security?" Daisy asked, her

ad spent five years preparing for this moment. She wasn't going to let them have a single extr

ck against the leather headrest and closed her eyes. For just a second, she was back in that empty apartment, signing her name on a piece of paper

as about