~Narrator's~

“She always leaves the elevator looking like sin wrapped in silk.”

That’s the whisper that slips from the lips of a stunned intern as Adele Cuss steps out of the glass lift with her black shades still on despite the dark corridors of the 34th floor.

Adele smooths her curls, touches the corner of her lip with her finger, and gives the mirrored wall a quick, knowing glance. Her heels echo in slow clicks, like a countdown. She moves with that same seductive confidence that made her famous on magazine covers and billboards. But today—it’s different. There’s a buzz under her skin. Her lipstick is slightly smudged.

She slips...