Chapter 32 - CH 32 - The Betrayal

The Grand Heritage Hotel was a temple of old money, a sanctum of whispered deals and inherited power. Its lobby was a cavernous space of veined marble floors, soaring ceilings adorned with frescoes of fat, contented cherubs, and the heavy, cloying scent of tuberose that clung to the air like a ghost. Adrian moved through it on autopilot, his polished Oxfords making no sound on the intricate Persian runner. He was a ghost himself, a specter in a five-thousand-dollar suit, his father's corrosive words a mantra echoing in the hollowed-out chambers of his mind. Smile. Lie. Remember who holds the power. He felt the phantom strings attached to his limbs, each one pulled with cruel precision by the master puppeteer who watched his every step with cold, assessing eyes.