The Apex Tower. One hundred and forty-seven floors of glass and steel and corporate vanity, built by Aegis Prime as a monument to everything the Hunter industry represented. Money. Power. The absolute certainty that the people at the top deserved to be there.
I stood at the observation deck on the hundred and forty-sixth floor, and New Vein City sprawled beneath me like a circuit board someone had doused in neon and prayer. Twenty million lives reduced to light pollution and traffic patterns. The harbor glittered in the distance, a dark mirror reflecting the skyline back at itself. Somewhere out there, three hundred miles across black water, Natalia was probably sharpening something. Emotionally or physically. Both options were terrifying and both were deserved.
The pendant was warm against my sternum. Not angry. Not cold. Just present. Watching.
Always watching.
