The city bled away in the rearview mirror, replaced by winding roads and tall, skeletal trees swaying in the night wind. Jaxon drove like a man with one mission: get us out before the shadows caught up.

By the time we reached the gated drive, I was half-convinced we’d crossed into another world. The iron gates opened soundlessly, and the car rolled into a driveway that curved toward a glass-and-steel penthouse perched above the river like a fortress.

Inside, the air smelled faintly of cedar ...