Chapter 98
Rose stared at the screens covering the wall of Herod Preston’s penthouse office. Six displays showed different angles of the Phoenix Grid construction site, live feeds that shouldn’t exist. Workers in yellow hard hats moved across the site like ants, unaware of the predatory eyes watching their every move.
“Your security access is impressive,” Rose said, stepping closer to examine a monitor showing the main control center where engineers hunched over computers. “How did you get these feeds?”
Herod’s mouth curled into the barest hint of a smile. “Money opens doors. Especially when those doors belong to underpaid security guards with gambling debts.”
He stood beside her, close enough that she could smell his expensive cologne. In the three weeks since they’d begun working together, Rose had grown to appreciate his attention to detail. Unlike the men she’d manipulated before, Herod Preston understood the value of patience. Of precision.
“And our man?” she asked, tapping a fingernail against the screen showing workers installing circuit panels.
Herod pressed a button on his desk. The center screen zoomed in on a thin man with ginger hair tucked under his hard hat. “James Walsh. Senior electrician. Twenty years‘ experience. Divorced. Two children he rarely sees. Massive debt from his ex–wife’s medical bills.”
Rose studied the man’s face. Ordinary. Forgettable. Perfect.
“And he’s completely bought in?”
“He believes he’s working for a competitor looking to delay the project.” Herod’s voice carried the confident tone of someone who had covered every angle. “He has no idea what will really happen when those modified circuits overload.”
Rose felt a thrill race through her body. Not just excitement something deeper. More primal. For twelve months she had lived in the wreckage of her carefully constructed life. Watching her fashion empire crumble. Feeling her grip on Stefan weaken. All because Camille refused to stay dead.
Now, finally, revenge was within reach.
“Show me the blueprint modifications again,” she said.
Herod slid a tablet across his glass desk. On screen, two sets of technical drawings appeared side by side. To Rose’s
symbols, and measurements.
untrained eye, they looked identical, a maze of linen
“The original is on the left,” Herod explained, pointing to specific sections. “Our version is on the right. The changes are subtle. Temperature sensors adjusted to report normal readings even when heat levels rise dangerously. Circuit breakers modified to allow power surges rather than shutting down. Backup systems reconfigured to fail simultaneously rather than sequentially.”
Rose didn’t fully understand the technical details, but she understood the result. “And these changes guarantee disaster?”
Herod nodded, eyes gleaming with something that looked unnervingly like excitement. “The system will appear to function normally during testing. The flaws won’t activate until full power runs through the grid for at least seventy–two hours. By then, the heat buildup in the main junction boxes will be unstoppable.”
“And the result?”
“Catastrophic failure. Multiple explosions across the grid network. Blackouts throughout the city. And most
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importantly…” he tapped the screen where Camille’s office was located at the Grid headquarters, “….complete destruction of Kane Industries‘ reputation. Your sister will be blamed for cutting corners on safety protocols. There will be investigations. Lawsuits. Criminal charges.”
Rose closed her eyes, savoring the mental image. Camille in handcuffs. Victoria Kane’s empire crumbling. Everything they’d built reduced to ashes.
“The timing is critical,” Herod continued, moving to the window overlooking the Manhattan skyline. “Walsh installs the modified circuits tomorrow. Final testing begins the day after. The groundbreaking ceremony is in three days.”
“And then?” Rose joined him at the window.
“And then we wait.” Herod’s reflection in the glass looked almost predatory. “Three days after the ceremony, the grid goes fully operational. Seventy–two hours after that…
“Boom,” Rose whispered.
“Precisely.”
Rose tried to picture Camille’s face when she realized what was happening. Would she know immediately that Rose was behind it? Or would the confusion and panic keep her from seeing the truth until it was too late?
“There’s one more thing we need to discuss,” Herod said, turning away from the window. “Walsh.”
Rose frowned. “What about him?”
“He’s a loose end. After the installation is complete, he needs to disappear.”
The coldness in Herod’s voice sent an unexpected chill through Rose. She had wished Camille dead, had hired men to frighten her into leaving town, but hearing Herod speak so casually about eliminating a man whose only crime was being desperate enough to take their money…
“Is that necessary?” she asked, surprising herself with the question.
Herod studied her face, his expression unreadable. “Having second thoughts, Rose? That seems unlike you.”
His tone held a challenge Rose couldn’t afford to fail. She straightened her spine, raising her chin. “Not at all. I’m simply being practical. A dead electrician raises questions.”
“A dead electrician in a car accident fifty miles from New York raises no questions at all. Particularly when his blood alcohol level suggests he was drinking heavily.” Herod returned to his desk. “That’s already arranged. I simply thought you should know.”
Rose nodded, swallowing the unexpected discomfort. This was war. Wars had casualties.
“Any word on Victoria’s movements?” she asked, changing the subject.
Herod tapped another button. A new screen appeared showing Victoria Kane leaving her building, flanked by security. “She’s increased surveillance on you. My sources say her security chief is frantically trying to identify me.
“Will they succeed?”
“No.” Herod’s confidence seemed absolute. “By the time they figure out who I am, it will be far too late.”
Rose moved to the desk where several phones lay in a neat row. “And these are ready?”
“Yes. Untraceable. Use a different one for each call. Destroy them afterward.” He picked up one of the phones. The encrypted messaging app is already installed. Our communications will leave no trace,”
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Rose took the phone, their fingers brushing. The contact sent electricity up her arm, a different kind of thrill than thoughts of revenge. For a moment, neither pulled away.
“You’ve thought of everything,” Rose said softly.
“That’s why I survived when my family didn’t. Why I rebuilt while Victoria thought she had destroyed us completely.” Herod’s voice dropped lower. “Never underestimate the power of patient hatred, Rose. It burns cleaner than any other fuel.”
Rose understood. Hadn’t she nursed her own hatred for Camille since childhood? Hadn’t she plotted for years to take everything her sister had?
“So we’re set,” she said, pocketing the phone. “Nothing left but to watch it unfold.”
“Almost nothing.” Herod opened a drawer and removed a small box. “One final touch.”
Inside the box lay a silver pin shaped like a phoenix rising from flames, identical to the emblem Camille wore constantly.
“A gift from an anonymous donor to every major news outlet in the city,” Herod explained. “Arriving the morning after the explosions, with a note suggesting they investigate whether Kane Industries knew about safety concerns before the grid went online.”
Rose picked up the pin, turning it in the light. “My sister does love her symbols.”
“And symbols are powerful. Especially when they’re turned against you.” Herod closed the box. “The phoenix that rises from these ashes will be us, Rose. Not Camille Kane.”
Rose felt dizzy with anticipation. After months of humiliation, of watching Camille rise from the dead to claim a new identity and destroy everything Rose had built, the tables were finally turning.
“What will you do?” she asked Herod. “After?”
“Acquire what remains of Kane Industries at pennies on the dollar. Rebuild it in my own image.” His eyes met hers. “And you?”
Rose hadn’t thought that far ahead. Her focus had been so completely on destruction that she’d given little consideration to what came after. “I haven’t decided,” she admitted.
Herod studied her face for a long moment. “Perhaps,” he said slowly, “we might discuss possibilities. Over dinner.
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Rose blinked, caught off guard by the suggestion. “Dinner?”
“Tonight. My private chef makes an exceptional coq au vin His tone remained businesslike, but something in his eyes suggested more than simple collaboration. “We should celebrate our imminent success.”
Rose found herself nodding before she had fully processed the invitation. “I’d like that.”
Herod’s smile was brief but genuine. “Excellent. Eight o’clock.” He glanced at his watch. “But first, we should check in with our electrician. He should be installing the critical components within the hour.”
He pressed a button on his desk phone. “Bring the car around.”
Rose gathered her coat, her mind racing with unexpected thoughts. The plan was perfect. Camille would lose everything, her reputation, her freedom, possibly even her life if she happened to be in the wrong place when the grid failed. Victoria Kane would watch her empire crumble, just as she had once destroyed the Preston family. Yet as she followed Herod to the elevator, Rose found herself thinking not of revenge, but of dinner. Of the way
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Chapter 98
Herod’s eyes had lingered on hers. Of the possibility that destroying Camille might be not an end, but a beginning.
The elevator doors closed, carrying them downward. They stood side by side, not touching but somehow connected by the invisible threads of shared purpose. Of mutual destruction turned to potential creation.
“You’re smiling,” Herod observed.
“Am I?” Rose hadn’t realized. “I suppose I’m just looking forward to seeing Camille’s face when she realizes who destroyed her.”
“We,” Herod corrected quietly. “Who destroyed her.”
Rose met his gaze in the mirrored wall of the elevator. For the first time in longer than she could remember, she didn’t feel alone in her hatred. Didn’t feel like the only one who saw through Camille’s perfect facade.
“Yes,” she agreed as the elevator reached the ground floor. “We.”
Outside, a sleek black car waited, engine running. As Rose slid into the leather seat, she realized something else unexpected, beyond the thrill of coming revenge, beyond the strange new connection with Herod, she felt alive. Truly alive.
Soon Camille would know how it felt to lose everything. To watch your world burn around you while those you trusted turned away. To fall from the heights Rose herself had been pushed from.
And from those ashes, perhaps something new would rise after all. Something Rose hadn’t dared to imagine.
Not just vengeance.
But victory.
