in the Beverly Hills

custom-fitted suit. He swirled amber whiskey ov

study opened. His manager

la folder. It was the cleanup r

ipped open the folder and glanced a

wn creased h

he died. He didn't

ally unstable former assistant," Guillermo said.

against the hardwood f

doorway, wearing a silk

orking on so ea

tantly. The coldness vanished, r

ver, and wrapped his

lematic former employ

sted her head against his chest

her shoulder, his eyes darted back to the

at a downtown Los Angeles hosp

avy in the air. A heart monitor b

d, the girl's ey

aving as if she had just been pu

r skull. Memories that didn't bel

g into her scalp. Cold sweat soaked thro

in subsided. When she opened them, the

her that she had been saved by a clandestine organization, her face entirely reconstructed through agonizing surgeries. S

up. The IV line p

ed the needle out of her hand. A drop

the bed and stumbled tow

s of the sink and st

trikingly beautiful, but it was buried under

he cupped her hands and splashed

til it turned red, washi

face was clean. The fea

eyes hardened into

hospital room swung

marched into the room. She threw her designer

ack of papers and a sleek new smartphone onto th

out of the bathroom.

ng that Effa actually took a ste

ook at me like that. If you don't sign it, you owe the agency

access the digital banking app left open in the background. Her eyes scanned the recent deposits and the gl

mmediately spotted the predatory revenue

She had no money.

as a platform.

table. She pressed the tip against the paper an

back at Effa. It hit

tch the papers, look

hurried out of the room,

. She looked out at the sp

ms. She was going to tear Guille