New plans

The screen glowed in the dim study, the only light in Ares’s mansion at that hour. Midnight wrapped itself around the house like a shroud, but Ares sat upright behind his mahogany desk, his sharp eyes fixed on the video call connecting. The signal was strong, crisp.

Then Julian’s face appeared—bronzed, relaxed, the faint murmur of waves rolling from somewhere in the background. He was leaning back on a terrace chair, the twinkling Dubai skyline glittering behind him like a ...