The air in the executive boardroom on the 60th floor of Fox Tower was different than the Manor. It didn't smell like sandalwood or bleach; it smelled like power, cold coffee, and fear.
I stood at the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out over the city. From up here, the people looked like ants. No wonder Kai felt like a god. He didn't live in their world; he looked down on it.
"The board is waiting, Amara," Kai's voice came from behind me.
I turned. He was sitting at the head of the massive obsidian table, looking lethal in a charcoal three-piece suit. He had a file open in front of him—the medical results from this morning.
"Why am I here, Kai? I thought the 'vessel' was supposed to stay in the garden," I said, my voice dripping with the new coldness I had discovered.
"The vessel needs to understand what it's protecting," Kai said, gesturing to the seat at his right hand. The seat that was usually reserved for the Vice President. "My board thinks I bought a toy. I want them to see I bought an empress. Sit."
I sat. The leather was cold against my skin.
The doors opened, and twelve men in suits walked in. These were the power brokers of the city, the men who decided which businesses lived and which died. When they saw me sitting there—wearing a dress that cost more than their cars, with Kai's mark still visible on my neck—the room went silent.
"Gentlemen," Kai began, his voice dropping to that low, terrifying rasp. "Meet my wife. She is the newest member of the Fox Executive Committee. From today, her word is my word."
One man, older with white hair and a sneer, cleared his throat. "With all due respect, Mr. Fox... she was an auction item. A debt settlement. Our investors expect expertise, not a... distraction."
I felt the heat rise in my chest. Before Kai could speak, I leaned forward, resting my chin on my hand, mimicking Kai's predatory posture.
"You're worried about expertise, Mr. Sterling?" I asked, reading his nameplate. "I grew up in the shadow of my father's business. I watched him fail because he was weak and greedy. I know exactly how your investors think because I've spent the last 48 hours being studied like a map. If you think I'm just a distraction, perhaps you'd like to see the 'expertise' I've gathered about your offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands?"
The room went so quiet you could hear the AC hum. Kai leaned back, a slow, dark smile spreading across his face. He hadn't told me about the Caymans, but I had seen the files on his desk this morning while he was in the shower. I was guessing—but I was right.
Mr. Sterling's face went pale. He sat down and didn't open his mouth again.
"Meeting adjourned," Kai barked. "Leave us."
The men scrambled out of the room like rats fleeing a fire. Once the doors were closed, Kai stood up and walked toward me. He didn't look angry. He looked... hungry.
"You've been reading my private files, Little Fox?" he asked, standing behind my chair and spinning it around to face him.
"You told me to learn the business," I said, my heart thumping. "I'm just a fast learner."
Kai leaned down, his hands on the armrests, trapping me. "You're dangerous. You realize that? If you keep this up, I might actually have to start trusting you."
"Is that a threat or a promise?"
Kai didn't answer. He reached out and grabbed the edge of the boardroom table, clearing it with one violent sweep of his arm. Laptops, pens, and files crashed to the floor. He picked me up by the waist and sat me on the obsidian surface, my legs wrapping around his waist instinctively.
"This is a boardroom, Kai," I gasped, the cold stone hitting the back of my thighs.
"This is my tower," he hissed, his hand sliding up my leg, bunching the fabric of my dress. "And right now, I don't want to talk about investments. I want to see that fire you just used on Sterling turned on me."
He kissed me then—not with the clinical dominance of the lab, but with a raw, desperate passion that felt almost... real. My hands found his hair, pulling him closer, my body betraying me again, craving the very man who had stolen my freedom.
In the high-rise heart of the city, with the world watching from below, the Subject and the Scientist disappeared. There was only the Fox and his Queen, beginning a war that would burn the world down before it was over.