offed, her

ant playing her

ing dramatically towards a

matic, a practiced smi

save us! He' s Julian Croft, heir t

oft, the

wn disappearance, stole

ard, radiating

perience in crisis situations. I will as

perate for a savior

ew J

ulian Kowalski, son of a dis

bezzling funds and flying re

son, it seemed. Bo

tasy, a carefully constructed lie to wo

k, my voice cutting through J

perhaps he can single-han

arrowing at me. Anger flashed across

however,

u, you insol

d, shovin

brass railing

' s crest, a unique piece commissioned for

nder the car

a man I vaguely recognized as a h

ened, fixed

s Thorne' s private crest! O

in feigned astonishme

ean, Ethan? E

look of pained reco

be a junior analyst at a firm my

ting the impli

ted. He even tried to sabotage my private he

aint, almost invisible

e the scars

ed by Julian' s apparent status a

ess transformed into s

abot

ng to get us