Christ

ghts, passing through automated security checkpoints before pull

oor of the mansion flew open, and Stephen Hudson hurried down the marble steps. He was smoo

sity that bordered on reverence. He reached out with both hands to take my battered

y shifting the strap onto my shoulder and stepping

nstantly, his smile deepening into a posture of complete subservience. "Of course. Whatever you pre

red under his breath, "He

ed is the only thing keeping his spinal cord from

op of the short marble staircase was Sharon Hudson, draped in an eme

sequiel's worn sneakers. The disdain in her gaze was sharp enou

wn the stairs. "Are these the... distant relatives you insisted on boarding? I do hope our modest esta

offered no polite greeting, no deferential bow-only an i

uneasy shiver visibly ran through her

ance, keeping his eyes locked straight ahead a

in the grand fo

ort Miss Eliza and Master Esequiel to the executive suites on the second f

ward quickly, bowing low.

-two vast, interconnected suites complete with a private

sequiel tossed his backpack onto the sofa, retrieved an

already tapping out high-level decryption scripts. "Her private trust fund is

power on background noise," I said, setting my cu

e mansion's internal network. My fingers blurred across the me

rade firewall, bypassed the router's WPA3 encryption, and planted

emetry data cascaded

eaning back in the executive leather chair. "Now, let'