By 9:45 AM, the sweltering New York summer heatwave had turned the asphalt of Wall Street into a shimmering mirage, but inside the executive boardroom on the top floor of Blackburn Global, the air was a freezing, sterile vacuum.
Elena sat at the massive, oval quartzite conference table, surrounded by twenty of the most powerful financial minds in the country. To her left, Ethan sat like a monolith of absolute power, clad in a fresh, charcoal three-piece bespoke suit. His jaw was a rigid line, his eyes completely clear of the dark, erratic hunger that had shattered their rules in the penthouse just ten hours prior. He had returned to being the untouchable corporate tyrant. Elena, wearing a sharp, emerald-green tailored dress, kept her hands folded neatly over her tablet, her face an unread
