I didn’t ask who they were.
I didn’t need to.
People like Alexander Sterling didn’t say they know unless the threat was real, organized, and already moving. Panic didn’t live in him. Calculation did. The shift I saw on his face wasn’t fear—it was prioritization.
He was deciding what to lock down first.
Me.
I watched him pace the length of the room, phone pressed to his ear again, voice low and clipped. Orders, not questions. His empire responding in real time.
Security protocols. Access points. Digital sweeps.
Containment.
I sat at the dining table, fingers folded loosely, observing the way the air thickened with intent. This was the man everyone feared—focused, decisive, lethal in his efficiency.
And for the first time, that focus was pointed inward.
At me.
When he ended the ca
