Chapter 20 - The Shadow in the MailThat evening, Maya returned to her penthouse.
The city lights shimmered through the enormous windows.
Everything was quiet.
Too quiet.
She walked into the kitchen.
A black envelope sat on the marble island.
No name.
No address.
No fingerprints.
Maya stared at it.
Her instincts told her not to touch it.
But curiosity won.
She opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Maya froze.
It was a picture of the moment she slapped Eleanor Vance inside the showroom.
But there was something worse.
The photograph had been taken from an angle none of the showroom cameras covered.
Someone had been watching.
Someone had been close.
Maya turned it over.
A single sentence had been written on the back in elegant red ink:
"Bravo, Maya. You took down the Vances. But they were only our pawns."
Her breathing slowed.
Below it was another line.
"Now you have my attention. See you soon."
Maya looked toward the dark glass windows.
Los Angeles stretched endlessly beyond them.
Somewhere in that enormous city, someone was watching her.
She should have been afraid.
Instead, a faint smile appeared on her lips.
Because the woman who had once survived the foster system, climbed through a world designed to keep her out, and brought down one of Beverly Hills' most powerful families had learned one thing above all else:
She was no longer running from danger.
She was ready to meet it.
Maya folded the photograph and placed it back inside the envelope.
Then she turned off the lights.
Outside, a black sedan sat motionless across the street.
Its headlights remained off.
And inside the darkness, someone picked up a phone.
"The first move is complete," the stranger said.
A pause.
Then a quiet laugh.
"Now let's see what the new queen does."
May you like
The sedan disappeared into the night.
And Maya Thorne's next chapter had already begun.
