Evelyn Mercer watched Ambrose Ward as he adjusted the cuff of his charcoal-grey suit. Internally, she was battling a wave of rare, sharp resentment that she masked with a professional smile. When she had been his age—barely twenty-nine—she had been grinding away sixteen hours a day in a toothless post in the northern territories, losing sleep over whether she’d ever manage to secure a Grade IV — Junior Administrator position. For her, that rank had been a mountain to climb, a decade-long struggle of navigating landmines and stonewalling by bitter superiors.
For Ambrose Ward, that same mountain seemed to be his mere starting line. In the ruthless hierarchy of the Midlands, some men were born in the valley, and others were born on the peak. Ambrose wasn't just on the peak; he was looking do
