On the other side of the city, Franklin was just about to leave his office, one hand already gripping his coat, the other tightening around his phone as it buzzed in his palm.
He didn't need to look at the screen.
He already knew.
His mother.
For a brief moment, he considered letting it ring. He had just wrapped up a long, exhausting meeting.
Celeste had finalized the last of the procedures with Drake and the Blackridge Group, and everything had gone smoothly. The kind of success that should've left him feeling accomplished, grounded.
Instead, the moment his phone vibrated, something unsettled stirred in his chest.
Genevieve Roth never called without a reason. And when she did, she never stopped until she got what she wanted.
With a quiet exhale, Franklin answered
