Chapter 1 - THE FIRST KEYCARD
At 12:07 a.m., Julian Vale still believed he controlled seventeen luxury resorts.
At 12:08, his master keycard flashed red.
He tried it again outside the private study of the Aurelia Grand penthouse.
Red.
Vanessa Cross lifted her head from my cream leather sofa and frowned.
She was still wearing my grandmother’s emerald pendant.
“Maybe the lock is broken.”
Julian stared at the card.
“Nothing in my resort breaks without somebody calling me first.”
Across Manhattan, I sat beside my father in the back of a black sedan.
Rainwater still clung to my hair from the moment Julian had ordered security to throw me into the storm.
Dad handed me a tablet.
Seventeen properties glowed on the screen.
Every one carried the same new status.
OPERATOR AUTHORITY SUSPENDED.
“You can stop this,” Dad said.
“Do you want me to?”
He looked out the window.
“No.”
My phone rang.
Mateo, the security director, sounded uncomfortable.
“Mr. Vale is demanding that I restore his credentials.”
“Don’t.”
“He says this is his resort.”
Dad gave a quiet laugh.
I closed my eyes.
“Mateo, don’t humiliate him.”
“Understood.”
“Just follow the ownership documents.”
Upstairs, Julian finally got through to the night manager.
“Open my study.”
The manager swallowed.
“I can’t, sir.”
“You work for me.”
“Actually…”
The manager looked at the new authorization on his tablet.
May you like
“…as of twelve-oh-eight, I don’t.”
