[Jake's POV]
The Cotai Strip was a jarring contrast to the gritty, diesel-choked streets of the Outer Harbour. Here, the air smelled of expensive cologne and ozone. Massive, glittering monoliths of glass and steel reached into the night sky, their neon facades turning the streets below into a perpetual, artificial daylight.
I stepped out of the back of a sleek, black Bentley S-Class, adjusting the cuffs of my bespoke midnight-blue tuxedo.
"Comms check," I murmured, looking up at the towering golden facade of the Grand Azure Casino.
"Loud and clear, Julian," Claire's voice replied in my ear, using my new alias. "Your legend is fully active. You are Julian Croft, a Singapore-based venture capitalist who just sold a proprietary AI algorithm to a European tech conglomerate for eight hundred million dollars. Your digital footprint is flawless. The Grand Azure's facial recognition software has already flagged you as a high-value target."
