Part One: The Gilded Cage The crystal chandeliers of the Sterling Country Club cast a golden, unforgiving light over New York’s most elite. A charity gala for pediatric wings, they...
Part One: The Signing Three signatures. That was all it took to dissolve a five-year marriage. On a rain-lashed Tuesday in Manhattan, tech mogul Grant Halloway looked across a mahogany...
Part One: The Girl in the Rain Rain hammered the iron gates of Harrington Estate like fists against steel. The storm had swept in from the Atlantic without warning, drowning...
Part One: The Dollar and the Sack Silas Blackwood stood at the edge of the crowd, tall and silent, his heavy fur coat dusted with snow. He had not spoken...
PART ONE: THE SHAPE OF SILENCE The alarm had been set for 6:15 for eleven years, but I was almost always awake before it. This was not a discipline I...
PART ONE: THE SHOT IN THE DARK The neon sign of Rinaldi’s Prime buzzed with a low electrical hum, casting a blood-red glow over the rain-slicked pavement of Rush Street....
Part One: The Phone That Stayed Behind The roasted turkey was still steaming when the phone buzzed again. And again. And again. Clare Harlo looked across the long mahogany dining...
Part One: The Champagne Spill Get on your knees. Now. Richard Caldwell’s voice exploded through the ballroom. His hand gripped the waitress’s shoulder, pushing down hard. I said kneel, you...
Chapter 1: Thirty Seconds to Midnight The wind did not howl. It whispered, which was worse. A howl you could fight against. A howl you could curse and lean into...
Part One: The Quiet Exit The music was loud enough to drown thoughts, but not loud enough to silence what I felt. Neon lights flashed across the crowded club floor...