Savage Gentleman: 10. The Glass Conspiravy

The city outside the hotel window had no stars, only the fevered pulse of rain and distant sirens.

It suited Evelyn; light, she had learned, was a luxury for people with nothing to hide. And she had alot to hide and to hide from. Little did she. Know that what she had to hide from - what she had to deal with was much more than she could have envisaged in her wildest dreams. She stood there for a long time after Lucas had finished speaking, watching headlights smear through the glass, trying to breathe through the weight of what she’d just learned.

Her father’s empire—her life—hadn’t been built on fortune or brilliance. It had been built on control. A lattice of false names, shell companies, and stolen technology buried under layers of elegance and charity. And she—his daughter, his heir—was the contingency. The perfect, polished mask to protect the secret if the rest ever cracked.

“Say something,” Lucas murmured behind her.

“What would you like me to say?” sh