Chapter 58: Damien's Calm

Calm, Marcelline would later realize, was the most dangerous posture Damien Odette ever wore.

It was not the calm of peace or acceptance. It was not even patience. It was the calm of a man who had already made his calculations and was simply waiting for the numbers to align.

From her office on the forty-third floor, Marcelline watched the city move with its usual indifference. Cars slid along glassy roads, people rushed into buildings that promised importance, deals were struck and broken without ceremony. The Odette Empire had been built on that same indifference, on knowing when to move and when to wait.

And Damien was waiting.

She didn’t know how she knew. There were no reports on her desk that screamed danger. No urgent memos. No boardroom confrontations. In fact, things were… quiet. Too quiet.

Her assistant had commented on it that morning.

“It’s been unusually smooth today, ma’am.”

Smooth. The word had sat wrong in her chest.

Marcelline leaned back in her chair and scanned the