[Jake's POV]
The conference room on the forty-eighth floor had always been too large for ordinary meetings. It had a long black table, floor-to-ceiling windows, silent glass walls, and a view of Manhattan that made every problem look smaller than it actually was. When I first took control of Vanguard, I liked that room because it made me feel like I had entered the world that used to look down on me. Now, walking into it after two years of exile, I could feel every empty chair like a question waiting for an answer.
Victoria had already sent the orders. By the time I reached the room, the building had started moving beneath us. Assistants rushed down hallways with tablets pressed to their chests. Security teams changed positions near the executive elevators. Legal staff pulled sealed folders from the archive room. Apex Tower was waking up to the impossible news that Jake Hart was alive, back in the building, and calling everyone important enough to matter.
