ASHES OF HER MERCY
Ashes and Shadows
Lucian Vance' s POV
The third glass of Macallan didn’t burn anymore. It just sat in my stomach like liquid lead, heavy and useless, doing nothing to numb the phantom smell of burning oil that had been trapped in my nostrils for six months.
Outside the floor tovceiling windows of my penthouse, the New York skyline stretched out in a grid of cold, mocking lights. Vance Global ran this city. Or at least, it used to. Right now, on the dark mahogany desk behind me, three phones were ringing simultaneously on silent, their screens blinking like desperate distress flares.