CHARLES POV

Power doesn’t forgive sentiment.

And I’d told her more than once that weakness always costs the most.

Now she was paying for it.

I watched the footage on my tablet for the third time.

Tatiana Chase, my beautiful, reckless pawn, was being shoved into the back of a police car.

The press swarmed around her like flies over a carcass. Flashbulbs lit her tear-streaked face, microphones jammed toward her mouth as she stammered denials.

I watched in silence, the city skyline reflected ...