Henrietta decided to take Ira into the city, to a f

ra in the grand foyer. The old woman pressed a

said, her voice low and laced with meaning. "Know your place.

had initiated a conversa

the locket. "I understand,"

Ira's, her warmth a buffer against the matriarch's c

s. They settled at a chic sidewalk cafe, where Sterling and Hen

air," she said, slippi

a low hum around her. She watched the parade of luxury cars and

tires hissing over a patch of pavement st

y water arced t

o late. The spray soaked the hem of her sim

creeched to a hal

and moved with the predatory grace of a wolf. He wore a flawlessly tail

arrett F

black tactical watch gleamed

lickered down to the stain on her dres

voice a low, arrogant rumble.

aching for a checkbook. It was clear this was their standard procedur

didn't even glance do

er head and

harp, analytical, and deeply penetrating, as if she were a surg

as used to being feared, respected, or des

snapped, his patience wearin

nnerving than any shout. Her eyes, calm and dis

idewalk was beginning to get under his skin, an unfamiliar and deeply unpl