a De Lu

rough the hallway deserted me. My body slid down the cool, smoot

was over. But the tears didn't come

re, suppressed rage. My hands clenched into fists, my nails digging

silk drapes, priceless art. It wasn't a home. It was a cage. A

iling, two perfect strangers playing their parts. I stared at the man in th

ed, not to the photo, but to the fa

st my hands, revealing the paneled wall behind them. I found an almost invis

section of the wall slid away, reve

d my thumb to the scanner. It glowed gre

of cash. Just a single black portfolio a

inking onto the chaise lounge by the window. On the cover, embos

ay after our honeymoon, born from a lesson my own family's downfall had taught me:

every dirty dollar that flowed through the De Luca empire, every hidd

accounts, cryptocurrency wallets, and shell corporations, a fi

bers, the flowcharts, the exit strat

ated me. He had extinguished the last, foolish flicker of ho

fire from the god

al my future back

ded with pain. It was shar

It was untraceable. I dialed the

ered on the

altered to be neither male nor f

real name in a world Ale

state below. The manicured lawns, the fountains, the sprawling wings of

y huntin

y voice steady and

ent settle. Then I gave the command tha

Project Pr