Chapter 97

Rose stared at the screens covering the wall of Herod Preston’s penthouse office. Six displays showed different angles of the Phoenix Grid construction site, live feeds that shouldn’t exist. Workers in yellow hard hats moved across the site like ants, unaware of the predatory eyes watching their every move.

“Your security access is impressive,” Rose said, stepping closer to examine a monitor showing the main control center where engineers hunched over computers. “How did you get these feeds?”

Herod’s mouth curled into the barest hint of a smile. “Money opens doors. Especially when those doors belong to underpaid security guards with gambling debts.”

He stood beside her, close enough that she could smell his expensive cologne. In the three weeks since they’d begun working together, Rose had grown to appreciate his attention to detail. Unlike the men she’d manipulated before, Herod Preston understood the value of patience. Of precision.

“And our man?” she asked