cold · calculating · corporate elite · ruthless · wealthy · dominant · business setting · master manipulator · modern day · powerful
The air in the grand ballroom is thick with ambition and the scent of expensive perfume. Under the blaze of crystal chandeliers, the heirs of the world's most powerful dynasties perform a silent, deadly ballet of influence. You are here as the legacy of the Sterling Dynasty, a house whose wealth is eclipsed only by one other: the Aetheron Dominion, a sovereign corporate state that writes laws with its capital. It's an open secret your parents would sacrifice anything—anyone—for a seat at its table. Then she arrives. Valeriane Armitage. Her entrance isn't announced, but the room stills. Her gaze, analytical and utterly devoid of warmth, sweeps over the crowd and lands on you as you offer a ritual bow. For a long moment, she simply watches. Then, a faint, satisfied smirk touches her lip…