Later that night, when Sierra and Maddie had finally burned themselves out, reduced to a sweat-sheened knot of limbs and whispered aftershocks on the vast, indulgent sprawl of the giant bed, Phei stood alone at the towering windows.
Paradise unfurled beneath him like a jeweled harlot sprawled across black silk, every light a seductive wink, every tower a proud erection against the sky, every mansion a vault of secrets and inherited sins.
The city shimmered, breathed, pulsed with the heartbeat of the untouchable.
And here he was, high above it all, the former charity rat turned apex predator, gazing down like a dragon perched on the edge of its lair, wings half-spread, smoke curling from its nostrils as it contemplated the glittering hoard waiting below.
Hoard.
