DARIUS’S POVThe phone buzzed on the nightstand like a live grenade, and just like that, the world shifted. One second the room was still heavy with the warm, lazy afterglow of Iris’s skin and her soft breaths, and the next, her face locked down hard. That soft flush was gone, replaced by the kind of cold, razor-sharp accountant stare that could cut straight through glass. She didn’t need to say a word; the way her knuckles bleached white as she gripped the device told me the audit wasn’t finished—not by a long shot.I sat up fast, the chill of the room slapping my bare chest as I took the phone from her stiff fingers. The caller ID was just a string of zeros, encrypted and untraceable, the kind of line that basically laughs in the face of a firewall."Silas," I growled, pressing it to my ear."You always did prefer the dirty work over the spreadsheets, Darius," my father’s voice slid through, smooth as expensive oil. There was no shouting and no panic, just a calm so deep it was insu
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