The reservation, made three months in advance, was to celebrate my father’s sixtieth birthday at L’Obsidienne, one of the most exclusive restaurants…
**I. The Glass Fortress** The Sterling Estate sat on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in Newport, Rhode Island. It was…
I. The Hollow Victory The Gulfstream G650 touched down at O’Hare International Airport in absolute silence. It was 2:00 AM. Sebastian Hayes,…
I. The Invisible Woman The alarm clock buzzed at 4:30 AM in a cramped one-bedroom apartment in Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles.…
I. The Ivory Tower The sound of the paper tearing was the loudest thing in the room. It sounded like a bone…
The millionaire’s laughter cut through the boardroom like a slap. Marcus Thorne leaned back, the leather of his designer chair creaking—an obscene,…
He sat alone in the most secluded booth at Murphy’s Diner, a greasy spoon tucked away in a strip mall off Colfax Avenue.…
The morning fog—what the locals called “June Gloom”—hung heavy over Marino Bay High School the next day. It was a thick, gray…
When I got the text from my son, I felt like I’d been punched in the gut: “You’re not joining us. My wife…
The ceiling of the motel room was stained with a water mark shaped like the state of Ohio. Mason “Mace” Walker knew every…