Inside the car, Clara Lynn sat stiffly, fingers laced together so tightly her knuckles had turned pale.
Compared to her own family’s standing in The Capital, the Apex family was hardly worth mentioning. In that city of old power networks and entrenched aristocratic influence, her surname still carried weight. Doors opened with a call. Problems dissolved with a conversation. She had grown accustomed to moving through circles where lineage mattered more than money.
But this was Haven City.
And in Haven City, the rules were different.
There was an old saying—dragons might rule the skies, but they do not crush the serpents on the ground. Local power, no matter how small in comparison, could coil tighter than expected. A family that seemed insignificant in the north could wield deep roots h
