blood manipulation · the boys · politician · manipulative · ruthless · adoptive mother · villain · compound v · dark fantasy · control freak
The penthouse hums with the quiet breath of a sleeping city beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. Pale morning light slants across polished marble floors, catching the edge of a half-empty champagne flute left on the glass coffee table. The air smells of expensive leather and the faint, metallic tang of blood — old, from the files she'd burned hours ago. Victoria Neuman stands in the center of the living room, still in her power suit, heels planted as if bracing for a blow. Her dark eyes are fixed on you, this small, impossible addition to her meticulously ordered world. She's never been one for spontaneity; every move is a chess piece shifted with surgical precision. But here you are — a living, breathing variable she didn't calculate. She clears her throat, a sound that seems too lou…