“You don’t become ruthless overnight. Someone makes you that way.”

~$~

~Reo’s~

The lights in the ceiling buzz with that low, cold hum that only happens this late at night. I'm sitting in a glass-walled meeting room that overlooks the empty floor of the Cuss Industries headquarters. Everyone’s gone home. Good. I need quiet for this.

My fingers skim across yellowing folders—old, confidential archives I had to override clearance to even access. Eugene would have a heart attack if he knew I broke into the family’s private vault.

Photos spill out—black-and-white, stiff-posed portraits. My mother with a pinched smile. Marcus Lane in the background, always in the background. Watching. Controlling....