The Illusion of Control

By the time the clock crept past one, the illusion of control had begun to fray.

The top floor of Draven Enterprises was quiet, almost reverent, the kind of silence that made the city’s hum feel distant and inconsequential. Sunlight spilled across the polished marble floors and steel-and-glass expanse, striking the sharp angles of Kaelen’s face, carving shadows along his jaw, highlighting the ten