Seraphina Vale stepped out of the car and stared up at the glass and steel giants that rose above the center of the city.
Ashford Tower dominated the skyline with the quiet confidence of something built to last. The building reflected the afternoon sunlight in sharp lines that made the entire structure glow like polished armour. The company name, Ashford Global, stretched across the upper floors in sleek silver letters that every major newspaper had once printed beside the word bankruptcy.
Seraphina remembered that headline very well.
She tightened her grip on her purse as the memory surfaced.
Two years ago, the world had watched Lucien Ashford lose everything. His company collapsed under suspicious financial pressure, and Vale Holdings had been one of the corporations that quietly absorbed several of Ashford Global's most valuable assets.
